How long do you rest your turkey?

bwor

I was watching a Christmas special with Gordan Ramsey a few years ago and he said to rest the turkey for as long as you cook it.  That probably works well with a 12-15 pound bird, but when cooking at 20+ bird at 5+ hours, does it make sense to rest it that long?

How long do you rest it?

Asking selfishly as I am trying to decide what time I want to fire up my egg Thursday morning (I typically am up at 1-2a getting it ready).

nolaegghead

There are plenty of variables on how fast something cools (and remember that cooling from the center of a big slab of meat can take a while).  The only thing that matters is the meat cooled down to the 120-140F range. 

Why?  When you cut something that's really hot, the moisture in it turns into steam and that dries it out.  You can't eat 180F food anyway.  Let it cool down to a comfortable temp and it looses less moisture when you cut it and you can eat immediately thereafter.  The cooler it is, the less juice will run off it.  Some call that "re-absorption of juices", I call it gelatin/fat increasing viscosity.  

120F is ideal.  You need to keep food at that temp warm at that point. Conversely, when you pull out of the oven/egg, you want it to cool quickly so don't cover (covering also un-crisps the skin) and even put a little fan on it.

Also, Epstein didn't kill himself.

Hans61

Half hour-ish usually fine :-) 

Mickey

20 mins or so

littlerascal56

Rest it 20 minutes, then glove up and carve.  Goes to the table carved and ready to eat, and is quickly devoured by all.

northGAcock

My turkey is ready to go with no rest at all.

JohnEggGio

Just sayin’... “The Kitchen” today said 1-2 hours.

littlerascal56

All the food is devoured in the first hour.  After that, most of the guests are “cometost” and taking naps from the triptofan in in the bird!  No time for the turkey to rest.