How Long Should Turkey Rest Before Carving?

[SmokingSteve]

Cook! Cut! Eat! No rest for the wicked and the good, moist, crispy Turkey doen't need it!

(To paraphrase a pastor I know) LOL!

[Polarbear777]

Peel off and eat all that crispy skin immediately, then who cares. :-)

[Potkettleblack]

Best answer.

[Dr ROK]

Only "rest" if your bird is done way too early and then we call it holding

[Steve R.]

It can rest in my belly. Carve that thing up already!

[tbob4]

I actually liked the video. Whether or not I would let it rest that long is irrelevant. It does give me some insight into how I will handle two smoked turkey breasts that I will be delivering to folks today. I was planning on slicing, putting in a pan and then into the Cambro. I am reconsidering. I am thinking I will Cambro and slice when I get there. Thanks for the post/question.

[fzxdoc]

Why would I want to eat lukewarm turkey on Thanksgiving Day?

Smoke, slice, and eat is how we do it at our house. Resting only happens for 15-20 min max if I'm busy finishing up the slippery dumplings or gravy.

Kathryn

P.S. The turkey skin yesterday was TDF. More crispy than well-cooked bacon and delicious. I kept sampling it while slicing the bird up.

[tbob4]

I tested your method yesterday with a caveat. I cooked two large breasts (4 halves). I pulled them both at the same time (13:45) and at the same temp. I immediately sliced the first and delivered it, with potatoes, stuffing and green beans, to workers in my Cambro the aid center in Chico. As I sliced, I tasted and it was very good. The other turkey breast I put in a pan, covered and put in a faux Cambro and it rested for two hours before slicing. It was definitely moister but the skin had gone soft. For the breast meat alone, I preferred the rested. For the appearance I preferred the one I delivered. Because this did not meet all of elements in the video, in which the turkey rested on a counter, I don't know if it is a fair comparison. I do know now that I can help my wife more with the tasks in the house when serving turkey for crowds in the future. Thanks again for posting. It was a fun experiment.

[Potkettleblack]

This puts me in mind of something I read recently from Alton Brown. Dry cure/brine, says he, makes the best turkey, but wet brine makes turkey that’s better leftovers for sandwiches, so he wet brines.

[tbob4]

Potkettleblack - sounds like I have a new experiment. Thanks!

[Strat50]

Having cooked many hundreds of birds in my 40 year+ food service career, maybe I can help a bit. If you cook at a lower heat(225-300 or so), pull your bird when about 50 degrees short of your target temp, then increase heat to about 375-425 and continue cooking your bird until your internal temps are to your liking. Then rest for about an hour, then refire until your skin is the way you like. If your meat is the way you like, but the skin is too soft, a torch will crisp things up fairly quickly. It all depends on your personal balance between succulent meat, and crispy skin.

I have served many a bird(chicken, turkey, duck, etc.,)where softer skin was desired, or vice versa. From a bit of a weird point of view here, think of your cook as a reverse sear situation. Cook the meat, then address the skin. Yes, more methods exist, but this technique should get you into the ball park.

Good tidings from Houston, Alaska

[jacmac422]

due to emergency I ended up doing my parents Turkey while they were our of town. It was brined for about 4 days and I dont know if this made the difference but it cooked in about half the time that it would normally take. I ended up having to let it rest for about 3.5 hours. I then put it under the broiler for a few minutes at that time. It was hands down the juiciest turkey I have ever had and the interior was still really hot. I will be resting for a long time going forward. I used the Gordon Ramsey method above for cooking. The reason I had to go back into the broiler was because the bacon made it so the top skin had not browned at all.

[fzxdoc]

Interesting. I knew it had to taste good or Ramsey wouldn't have been so enthusiastic about it. But food safety recommendations say that 4 hours between 140°F and 40° is the limit. So say the turkey sits around for an hour or two after you carve it 3.5 hours in--you'd have to decide if the leftovers are safe to eat.

[jfmorris]

I just watched a Gordon Ramsay video on Youtube where he claims that the bird should rest uncovered for as long as it cooked. The guy is a world-renowned chef so I guess I should try that? Just trying to get all of the timing down for turkey day.

That’s just CRAZY. If a turkey cooks for 3 hours, rest it for 3 hours? It would be in unsafe temperature territory and dried out to boot.

That said, both my turkeys went into faux cambro for the trip to the in-laws, and the first one was carved after resting about an hour, and still had crispy skin. The second one was carved about 40 minutes after that, and was still hot, but the only decent skin was on the legs and wings at that point.

i think resting in cambro is different than resting out on the counter though.

[JeffJ]

A buddy of mine texted me on Thanksgiving - he cooked his turkey for several hours at 200 degrees in his Green Mountain pellet cooker. Says it came out perfect - didn't need gravy according to him. Very interesting.