I've never roasted a turkey before today. I had an emergency with a freezer thaw and had to cook a turkey in a hurry.
It had been in the freezer a bit and I was concerned that it would be dry. Having heard this before, I took a small bowl and poured in some beer, then mixed some rosemary, lemon, and garlic and placed this in the cavity to keep it moist. I then put it in a plastic bag.
After baking the turkey for three hours on 350 in my convection oven, I pulled it out and the bowl had nearly as much liquid as it did when I stared. (The turkey turned out well and we fed several friends).
So my question is, if the beer was in the oven at 350 for hours, and water boils at 212 and alcohol about 180, why didn't the beer all evaporate into the bag?
Best Answer
Beer is about 95% water, so it's not that important to worry about the alcohol's boiling point— you can pretty much say that the beer will boil at 100ºC and ignore the alcohol. An oven is an enclosed space, and when you're cooking stuff with water in it (i.e. most foods) the relative humidity of the oven quickly reaches 100%, which means the air can hold no more water vapor. At that point, while the beer may be evaporating slightly, it condenses back into the bowl.
Note that when you open the oven, the beer may start bubbling and boiling as the drier air from the room rushes in, allowing more liquid to evaporate.