Happy Thanksgiving Canada! We aim for half an hour. Up to an hour would be fine usually but room temp and other factors come into play. The time it is sitting out during the meal, etc. Often some elders are present and young children...the kitchen is active and warm, more room heat may be used so guests are comfortable. The fridge is stuffed and opened often rising its temp. The danger zone of 40-140 for bacteria growth is hard to keep track of. A half hour is plenty time for a gravy and getting a crowd to sit, and getting sides on the table. The first thing i do when i have guests for the day or a few days is lower the fridge temp. My fridge has a 'blast' button for the fridge and freezer. Used when you can predict heavy use. Our turkey is good, organic, cooked properly, but not really the star of the show. Tradition for sure, but the sides are what everyone wants. And leftovers. (i make thanksgiving sliders with the leftover biscuits) We platter up but the oven stays on for seconds if needed. All sides stay in the 275 oven. A carved platter of turkey, with both legs, the other breast side goes in the fridge right away to chill. The carcass goes right back in the oven to pick later and roast for stock and soup. A good rule is to keep it hot, or chill quickly and keep it cold. Here is a link that might be useful: shelf life advice

Cooking a turkey the day before is not something I would ever do. For me that would be the same as having leftover turkey. And roasting the turkey is probably the easiest part of preparing a turkey dinner. Now don't get me wrong. I love leftover turkey and always roast a turkey large enough so that I have enough leftover breast meat to have both hot turkey sandwiches and cold turkey sandwiches. But a roast turkey dinner, from a just roasted turkey tastes different than one made from a turkey roasted the day before and reheated. But if you are going to go a head and roast the day before, please don't carve the turkey until the day you are serving it. I've had turkey that has been sliced in advance and then stored in turkey broth or turkey gravy to keep it moist and it just ends up tasting like nursing home or cafeteria steam table food.

I love it for stock alone too! I use it for a base for soup like Joan down the road. In our house, turkey is not just for the holidays. I got this recipe years and years ago from the Washington Post food section and have been making it this way ever since. It is very flavorful and rich. I'm just going to type it up real quick with the basics. 1 turkey carcass Water to cover everything Carrot peeled and chopped Celery chopped 1 leek (white part only) thickly sliced Onion chopped Fresh garlic, peeled and smashed Bay leaf Small bouquet of fresh herbs (sprigs of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) White peppercorns chicken Bouillon or 1 TBS. chicken base (AND THIS IS ONLY OPTIONAL and I don't normally add it as my turkey has already been salted prior to cooking and I like to limit the salt) Trim all your meat from the turkey. If stuffed removed as much as possible. Cut the carcass down the breast bown and back to form 2 large pieces. Put the turkey carcass including the leg, thigh and wing bones in a large pot. Cover with water and add the other ingredients. Bring just to where the water is boiling. Reduce the heat and simmer away for hours. Strain and discard the bones and vegetables. Cool in the frig. and the next day I put into quart size or pint size containers and freeze for later use.

Just me, one dog, and seven cats. The bird will be first done on a Weber grill. Charcoal with some hickory wood... indirect heat. Wings for snacks, breast meat for sandwiches, and the rest with carcass will be boiled for chili meat. Dolly dog gets all the skin unless I nibble some extra crispy parts. Cats get a bit of lean meat because they are household members. Boiled clean bones will go out to the garden where Mr. Possum will munch them down. Chili meat will be cut half and half with beef... round roast. Enough for about four pots of chili so most will get bagged and frozen for later. I have a 12 quart chili pot so it takes a couple pounds of meat for a batch. Work gives me this turkey every year. I like boiling the carcass because it uses the bird down to the last bit. My oldest sister is doing T-day and Grandma is doing T-day part two. Making chili out of most of my turkey is a fitting way to eat it up. : ) lyra