Warming turkey breast

[dennisl]

I have a question about warming up turkey breast. This question has probably been answered somewhere but I didn't have much time to do research on it. Anyway, I will be smoking two turkey breasts tomorrow (Wednesday before Thanksgiving) on my pellet grill to serve for Thanksgiving day. I know I can foil the meat and put it in the oven to warm it, but I had another idea. I also have a Food Saver for freezing foods that I have used before for pork butts. My idea is to slice the turkey breasts after cooking tomorrow, then immediately seal it up with the Food Saver and put it in the refrigerator (NOT the freezer). Then on Thanksgiving day I will put the bags of turkey into a pot of water on the stovetop and get it good and hot that way. Seems that would keep the meat as moist as possible. Has anyone tried this before and how well did it work. Thanks for this great website.

[JGo37]

Potkettleblack is our resident expert on sous vide temps (I' quoting someone I just read elsewhere). I'll 'guess' here that you'll want to control the pot of water pretty carefully around the 135F mark, no hotter. You will want to bring it up to 'serve hot' but not add additional cooking time.

[Potkettleblack]

I wouldn’t pre-slice. And I wouldn’t dunk it in hot water without a thermometer. I’d just break em down to parts, and heat in a 350-450 oven.

[JGo37]

Would your answer be different if you had a heater?

[Potkettleblack]

I wouldn’t preslice. And I don’t use Sous Vide to reheat too many things, so probably not.

[dennisl]

So if I remove each half of the breast intact then put into zip lock back until time to put them in the oven?

[Potkettleblack]

That’s what I’d do. Or if you’re committed to bag reheating, without temp control, I’d go with the hottest tap water and individual pieces. 20-30 minutes up to an hour.

[dennisl]

Not necessarily committted to bags. Just thought it might help retain moisture vs putting in the oven.

[DeusDingo]

i think you would retain the moister if you don't cut it. hot food dries up pretty quickly when you slice it, especially lean meats

[dennisl]

Ok guys. I’ll warm it in the oven and slice when ready to serve. Thanks for your help.

[EdF]

Don't forget to drop the sealed bags in 50/50% ice/water while they're hot, before putting into the fridge!

[dennisl]

So put ice and water in the sink and let it sit in the sink until it cools off? Is that what you are saying?

[EdF]

Yeah, it gets the meat down below the danger zone, and it prevents the warm meat from spoiling other stuff in the fridge by raising its temp. Pretty standard SV method.