Turkey Question (was RE: Food)

[doddiemoemoe]

 "Lee Storm(God Is The Healing Force)" <n2fgc at ...> wrote:
>
> Hi there,
 
 Okay, I need someone who's done a lot of turkeys and someone who's 
had one of the type that's been precooked.  I specify that because, 
this year, I ordered a prepared meal from our local supermarket 
which came with a pre-cooked 10.5 pound turkey.  The instructions 
for reheating stated not to put water in the bottom of the roasting 
pan and to place bird on flat rack.
> 
> When I opened the bag containing the turkey, there was lots of 
nice juice in there which I didn't want to discard, so I placed the 
turkey on the flat rack in the roaster and poured the juices into 
the pan, covered the thing with foil for two-thirds of the heating-
up process and then removed the foil for the final third to get it 
nice and crispy.  (I generally do that to all my turkeys, even the 
ones I cook from scratch. Gets 'em crispy but leaves
> them moist.)
> 
> Well, as I say, I had the juices in the bottom of the pan and my 
turkey was the most moist and succulent bird we've ever eaten.
> 
> So, please do tell why in the world the re-heat instructions say 
not to put water in the bottom of the pan?  I am really curious 
about that.
> 
> Here's hoping one of you Turkey Experts or house elves can find me 
an answer.
> 

Doddie here:

  And I actually have an answer for you... Most if not all of pre-
cooked turkeys have been soaked in some sort of brine always before 
cooking and sometimes after...

The reason why they said not to put any liquid in said roasting pan 
was because there would be so many juices coming from the turkey.

I typically will buy a fresh or frozen turkey..I always soak said 
turkeys...during the cooking process I ALWAYS have to empty out my 
roasting pan a couple of times during roasting..

I will stuff these turkeys with 
onion/garlic/apples/pears/orange/lemon/even a couple of cranberries 
if I opt to leave the lemon out... so this is a reason why I had 
additional moisture...

Typically if one gets a premade turkey their roasting pans are not 
so deep so if liquid in the turkeybag are added to said pan it will 
result in overflow...

I know this only because me mum combined my recipie(because she 
liked the taste of the turkey) with a premade turkey(because she 
like the moistness) and all ended up being dry due to the small fire 
in her oven..LOL

Thing is...just to watch the roasting pan and remove excess 
liquid...add it to the broth pot or save it to add to gravy in 
prepurchased store bought containers/pre-cooked turkey or otherwise..
(one can add up to a cup of broth for one can of store bought 
gravy...or, two cups for gravy from an envelope of powdered gravy, 
and as much as you want for homemade(I don't particularly care for 
giblets...but boiling the neck or even a wing in a pot will give 
enough gelatin to thicken said gravy.)..

However, always taste the salt levels...or it could be disastrous...
(seeing as your turkey stayed moist and their was still moisture at 
the bottom of the roasting pan I'm guessing..not much salt in the 
brine it was soaked in..)

Doddie..
(who hates that at one time in her life she was three credits away 
from also getting that BS in chemistry too *shudder* LOL)