How To Cook The Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey
Find out how to brine and truss your turkey, marinade it, defrost it, cook it to the right temperature and carve it.
Turkey Dinner
Find out all about the history of it and regional variations.
The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal, generally centered around a large roasted turkey. The majority of the dishes in the
traditional American version of Thanksgiving dinner are made from foods native to the New World, as according to tradition the Pilgrims received these foods from the Native Americans. However, many of the classic traditions attributed to the first Thanksgiving are actually myths introduced later.Dickson, J.G. U.S. National Wild Turkey Federation The Wild Turkey pub. Stackpole Books 1992. p. 10
(Thanksgiving Day is November 25, 2009)
Is turkey a necessity at Thanksgiving?
Or do you try other options?
The first "Thanksgiving" centered on a meal that featured venison and wild fowl. Yet, many people insist on a Roast Turkey as the centerpiece of a Thanksgiving dinner. Many people have gone vegetarian. Others yet are getting more adventurous in the kitchen. What do you say, turkey or no turkey at Thanksgiviing?
Is roast turkey necessary at Thanksgiving?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byOf course, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.
I love Thanksgiving dinners that feature a main course other than roast turkey.
A Virtual Online Recipe Case
View 'Thanksgiving Turkey' bookmarks on delicious.com
Delicious.com offers the public a chance to 'bookmark' web pages, mark them with the appropriate 'tags' and share your bookmark collection with anyone. Here's what a delicious.com tag search brings up for the tags 'Thanksgiving Turkey'.
Sorry, we couldn't connect to the Del.icio.us. Please try again later.Who's blogging about their Thanksgiving dinner centerpiece?
Recipes, dinner plans and more
- Obama Hams It Up at Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon
- ... Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson took a very different path when brought the Thanksgiving gift from the Naitonal Turkey Federation. ...
- B'ville Christian Academy serves up turkey
- Grandparents, students and faculty were treated to a Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the trimmings in honor of all grandparents do and how they stand in ...
- Claims of Thanksgiving Excess Fueled by Feast of Fuzzy Data
- By CARL BIALIK Like a plump Thanksgiving turkey, two oft-repeated numbers about the holiday appear to be overstuffed. In the weeks leading up to ...
- LETTER: Disrespectful to call Thanksgiving 'Turkey Day'
- I am referring to calling Thanksgiving Day, ?Turkey Day.? I have seen it in the newspapers and hear it on TV. We are doing away with the value of these ...
Turkey Tweets (Not Gobbles)
Who's Talking Turkey Today?
-
- ItsFrankiebaby
- @LilWaisTightAss & just toss u in da fire, but I see imma have to slow roast your ass, left over thanksgiving turkey style, let's go!!!!!!
-
- uLoveNettie
- Deh ya ah eat.... I LOVE TURKEY...BEEN EATIN TURKEY EVERYDAY SINCE THANKSGIVING
-
- FreeListOrlando
- christmas turkey (orlando): i had placed a ad on for thanksgiving and now im doing it for christmas.im looking for ... http://bit.ly/8qrMn0
-
- Carmib09
- RT @PolarCoug: What did Tiger Woods' wife do with the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving?--She made him a club sandwich...
-
- PolarCoug
- What did Tiger Woods' wife do with the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving?--She made him a club sandwich...
Turkey Cook Books
How to Cook a Turkey: And All the Other Trimmings
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/08/2009) 
The Great Turkey Cookbook: 385 Turkey Recipes for Every Day and Holidays
Amazon Price: (as of 12/08/2009)
Wild About Turkey: Tantalizing Tastes of Turkey and All the Trimmings, With Recipes for Thanks-Giving......and Beyond
Amazon Price: $15.56 (as of 12/08/2009)
America's Test Kitchen: A New Way With Turkey
Extreme Coincidence.
One set into my crunchies routine, I heard a blurb about the next program, coming up on WTTW, Chicago's PBS station. It was America's Test Kitchen, and the episode was A New Way With Turkey! I quickly finished my abs exercises and watched the program.
A lot of the information found on this page can be found by viewing this excellent summary on how to cook a bird that's both moist and tasty.
Watch this episode of America's Test Kitchen and see for yourself!
You do have to register at the site (free) in order to watch the videos.
How Much Turkey Is Too Much?
Purchase about 1 pound of turkey for each person you'll be feeding. For example, a 12-pound turkey will feed about 12 people.
Different Breeds Of Fowl
Heritage Turkeys at Springfield Farms in Sparks, Maryland. See them at
The Black turkey has lustrous greenish black plumage. It is not extensively bred...
Bronze Turkey
Royal Palm Turkey
Blue Slate Turkey
White Turkey
Order Your Heritage Turkey Online
- iGourmet
- iGourmet supplies a variety of free-range, organic, heritage turkeys for sale online.
How long does your turkey need to defrost?
This depends on both the weight of the turkey and the method you are using to defrost it.
Defrosting the bird
You'll need to do this if its frozen!
In the refrigerator: If you are defrosting your turkey in the refrigerator, you want to be sure to keep it in its original packaging and place it in the bottom of the refrigerator (with no food underneath it). Doing this will prevent any liquids from dripping onto other food items and infecting them with food-borne pathogens such as e.coli or campylabactr. When using a refrigerator to defrost frozen turkey, allow 24 hours of defrost time for every 5 pounds of meat.
In cold water: When defrosting frozen turkey in a sink of cold water, keep the bird in its original packaging and fully submerge it in a sink of cold water (NEVER WARM OR HOT WATER). Change the water every 30 minutes to keep it cold. When using cold water to defrost a turkey, allow 30 minutes of defrost time per pound of meat.
In the microwave: If you're using a microwave to defrost your frozen turkey, you want to first be sure that the bird will fit in your microwave (especially if it has a rotating tray)! Microwave defrosting produces irregular results and sometimes creates "hot spots" which encourage bacterial growth. If you use a microwave to defrost your turkey, you must cook the turkey immediately after defrosting it.
NEVER THAW A TURKEY AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, ON A KITCHEN COUNTER OR OTHERWISE.
Injected Turkeys
Frozen turkeys like Butterball are injected with a salt solution already to retain moisture. Kosher turkeys also have been pre-treated with salt. Do not prepare them with salt.
Step 1
Marinate or brine your turkey.
Marinating A Turkey
(This video shows the preparation for a bird that is to be fried)
Chef's Corner: Marinate a Turkey
Turkey Marinade 2 cups water 1 cup apple cider 1/2 cup hot sauce 2 ounces bourbon or rum 2 tablespoons butter flavored oil or olive oil 3/4 cup of brown sugar 4 tablespoons minced garlic 2 tablespoons poultry seasoning 4 teaspoons salt Pour all ingredients into a blender. Mix on medium high until the salt and sugar are dissolved and the garlic liquefied. You can marinate the turkey in this marinade over night or inject the turkey with this marinade before roasting or frying. This makes enough for four 10-14 pound turkeys.
Runtime: 409
6468 views
2 Comments:
curated content from YouTube
A Turkey Injector
Ideal for marinading your turkey
Bayou Classic 5011 2-oz. Stainless Steel Seasoning Injector w/2 Stainless Needles: one for liquid marinaide, and one for minced herbs
Amazon Price: $30.23 (as of 12/08/2009)
When you fry turkeys, it is ideal to inject them with marinade prior to their frying.
Kosher Salt
When either salting or brining a turkey be sure to use kosher salt rather than table salt. Table salt does not do this job well because the crystals are too small.
Salting A Turkey
Add moisture to the meat of your fresh turkey
A technique is further shown on how to ice down your turkey prior to cooking it. The reason for this is that the legs are meant to be cooked to a temperature 20 degrees less than that of the breast and back meat. When you ice down the breast and back meat (by applying ziploc bags of ice to the inner cavity of the turkey and lining a bowl with ice-filled ziploc bags and resting the turkey over those), you are increasing the time it will take to cook to the same temperature as the legs.
View the article on salting and icing your turkey for more specific instructions on how to do this.
Tools For Separating The Skin From The Bird
Use a chopstick or the handle of a wooden spoon to easily separate the turkey's skin from the bird, so you can properly apply seasonings to the meat.
How To Brine A Turkey
In a saltwater solution
Step 2
Truss Your Turkey
How can cook different parts of a turkey to different temperatures?
Use ice and truss it.
How To Truss A Turkey
Including how to tie a proper "surgeon's knot"
How to Truss a Turkey-Food Network
Alton Brown teaches the proper technique for trussing a turkey. This video is part of Thanksgiving Videos with Alton Brown show hosted by Alton Brown . SHOW DESCRIPTION :This video is only available online at Foodnetwork.com
Runtime: 175
24426 views
11 Comments:
curated content from YouTube
Step 3
Cook Your Turkey
Be Proactive!
Make for a quicker and easier clean-up when you cover both the roasting pan and roasting rack with foil. Be sure to make a few holes in the foil covering the rack before placing the bird on it.
A good roasting pan
Recommended as #1 by the program "America's Test Kitchen"
Here is a listing of all the different roasting pans tested:
- Anolon Accessories Stainless Steel Roasting Pan
- Calphalon Contemporary Roasting Pan With Rack
- Cuisinart Chef's Classic Roasting Pan
- Farberware Classic Accessories Large Roasting Pan
- Granite Ware Oval Roasting Pan
- KitchenAid Gourmet Distinctions Roasting Pan With Rack
- Metro Roasting / Lasagna Pan
- Metro Stainless Steel Oval Roasting Pan With Domed Lid
This selection only included roasting pans that were flame-proof and could be used on the stovetop. They also had to be big enough to accomodate a holiday bird and roast at high temperatures (non-stick was out because of this reason).
Calphalon Contemporary Stainless Special-Value 16-Inch Roaster with Nonstick Roasting Rack
Amazon Price: $127.29 (as of 12/08/2009)
This pan proved the best value for the money, according to America's Test Kitchen. It performs well on the stove top, has sturdy handles that are easy to grip with oven mits and doesn't buckle.
Safe Temperature For Turkey
Both the stuffing and the bird should register as 165 degrees Fahrenheit on a meat thermometer for safe eating.
Stuffing Your Turkey
Some guidelines to follow
- Stick to just 1/2 cup or 3/4 cups of stuffing per pound of turkey. The stuffing will expand, so you should only lightly fill the bird's cavity.
- Feel free to pre-mix the dry ingredients for stuffing, but only add moist or liquid ingredients right before you are ready to stuff the bird and put it in the oven.
- Only stuff the turkey immediately prior to placing it in the oven.
- When serving stuffing leftovers, reheat them to 165 before serving.
You can buy premade stuffing mixes such as Stouffers or you can get creative here. Here are some ideas for Thanksgiving Turkey Stuffing.
- Cornbread
- Challah bread
- Apples
- Lemons
- Oranges
- Sausage
- Dried cranberries
- Celery
- Onions
- Garlic
- Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme (No joke, these are all excellent for poultry!)
Be Safe When Cooking Poultry
Use a meat thermometer
Taylor Digital Instant-Read Pocket Thermometer
Amazon Price: $11.41 (as of 12/08/2009)
Use what the professionals do when you purchase this digital instant read thernometer. When your health and safety is on the line, you want to be sure!
Step 4
Carve your turkey.
Remove the stuffing
Before carving your turkey, you want to remove the stuffing.
How To Carve A Perfect Holiday Turkey
With Chef Gordon Drysdale and Cooking.com
An Electric Carving Knife
Carve off thin slices of turkey with ease!
Cuisinart CEK-40 Electric Knife
Amazon Price: $49.17 (as of 12/08/2009)
Bring it from the oven to the plate in style!
Plated Up Turkey Dinners
The Final Presentation
Here are some flickr.com photos of various people's turkey dinners once they're plated up. Thanksgiving dinner is recognizable as just that, no matter what the side dishes, whether the turkey is served with cranberries or gravy and whether its served in neat, thin slices or chunks of meat.
Get the little ones ready to dig in.
Got turkey?
got turkey? Bib
Price: 11.99
Purchase The Tools Of The Trade Online
Roasting pans, electric carving shears, roasting racks, etc..
- Sur La Table
- Sur La Table is a cook's paradise. Purchase any kitchen gadget you can think of here, with all of the top brands represented: Calphalon, AllClad, etc..
Flavor Or Texture?
What is more important to you in a turkey?
Some people prefer a moist turkey (think Butterball). Others prefer a good taste rather than a bland (yet moist) bird. What do you go for?
What one thing do you think makes a turkey a winner?
Preparation? Type of bird? Method of cooking? Stuffing?
Put up what you think is the single factor that sets a turkey apart from all the rest. Is it a fried turkey? An organic, fresh turkey? A brined turkey? A salted roast turkey? A turkey that has been basted in butter? A turkey stuffed with citrus fruit (orange, lemon, etc..)? Put up your deciding factor here and vote the other entries up and down.
What did you think of these tips?
Did I leave out your special secret on how to cook a winning bird?
Let me know here if I've left out a tip or trick on how to cook the perfect Thanksgiving turkey. What is your favorite method of cooking a turkey? Do you even like turkey? Let me know any comments or suggestions you have - right here!
-
Reply
- kiwisoutback kiwisoutback Nov 3, 2009 @ 10:53 am
- Nice work, this looks great!
-
Reply
- AppalachianCountry AppalachianCountry Oct 16, 2009 @ 7:41 am
- Fantastic lens. Thank-you for all the great tips. 5 stars*****
-
Reply
- mbgphoto mbgphoto Jul 12, 2009 @ 10:21 am
- Great tips! I used to always get hung up on the defrosting part :) Lensrolling this to my Thanksgiving Traditions lens. 5*
-
Reply
- bdkz bdkz Jul 8, 2009 @ 8:56 pm
- This looks so good!
Some Other Thanksgiving Dinner Tips
See what these other Squids have served up for your Thanksgiving Dinner.
Here are a few other quality Squidoo lenses focused on Thanksgiving Dinner. Check them out!-
Thanksgiving Recipes and Links
-
Gobble, Gobble... Happy Thanksiving! I know your thinking Turkey again this year, but at least consider Filet Mignon or Ham... ok?
-
Thanksgiving Menu Ideas: Thanksgiving Leftovers
-
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. For me, it is a time to see my family in a relaxed atmosphere, for an entire weekend. And part of that atmosphere is created by the great meals that we eat. I need to confess that I do have a bias rel...
If you enjoy Thanksgiving dinner,
you're probably a foodie!
Everything Thanksgiving Turkey
Search results at large.
Not just roast turkey - more turkey recipes.
Turkey is great for other occasions too!
-
- PreventionMagOz
- Save time in the kitchen this Christmas! http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/prevention/recipes/recipe/-/6557056/turkey-in-half-the-time/
-
- jeffreyspets
- Fresh, ranged lamb and organic turkey recipes! Today we have: Lamb Oats & Carrots for dogs! 100% organic Turkey Meat Feast for cats!
-
- azrecipes
- Herb Stuffing [For a 12-Pound Turkey] recipe http://www.jittery.com/recipes/herb-stuffing-for-a-12-pound-turkey-recipe-57737.html
-
- KriziaMissK
- The Biggest Loser Season 8 recipes: Turkey and Black Bean Chili recipe: I have to say that I will eat the meat chil... http://bit.ly/7rqCZp
-
- sb302
- The Biggest Loser Season 8 recipes: Turkey and Black Bean Chili recipe: I have to say that I will eat the mea... http://tinyurl.com/yb598wx
Is this for you or will you be doing something else?
Thanksgiving also kicks off the Christmas shopping season!
The traditional approach to Thanksgiving is to have a robust turkey dinner and connect with family and friends. American football also plays a part in many people's idea of a traditional Thanksgiving.Some people are getting a jump start on the holiday shopping season by shopping the Thanksgiving Day Sales online (no rest for the wicked?). Shopping online is lightweight territory for some people though, who spend Thanksgiving night camped out to get first dibs on Black Friday Doorbuster Sales. Personally, I've never camped outside a store: the closest I've got was hitting IKEA at 7:00am several years ago dressed as a Christmas present in an effort to be one of the first 150 guest to enter dressed as a gift and receive a $100 gift card. By the time I got there, the line was snaking out of the parking lot: the people at the front of the queue had been there all night! Researching this shopping phenomenon though, it could be a somewhat festive adventure if you prepare properly and look at it like a tailgating party..
Here's a couple lenses I put together on both Thanksgiving Day Sales and Black Friday shopping.
-
Black Friday Shopping
-
Is it worth it to get up at the crack of dawn on a cold November 27 morning to get some good deals? The deals are phenomenal often, but the crowds can be dangerous and a little scary too! See what to expect for Black Friday shopping, find out what sa...
-
Thanksgiving Day Sales
-
It used to be that "Black Friday", the day after Thanksgiving, signaled the start of Christmas shopping. With the emergence of online shopping you don't even have to wait that long! Shop online from the comfort of your own home when you shop the Than...
by LauraSchofield
There are plenty of ways to save money online. You just need to know where to look and what to look for. Unfortunately, this takes time that mo...
(more)Explore related pages
Turkey Soup Recipe- Soup is good food. I know when it comes to cooking a Turkey I will get more than...
How to Cook a Turkey- Few meals inspire fear in the heart of the new cook like holiday dinners. ...
Homemade Thanksgiving Recipes- There's nothing like a homecooked meal on Thanksgiving Day. The turkey, the...
Family Thanksgiving Traditions- Thanksgiving is a time for reflecting on all your blessings from the past year,...
Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas- Both Canadian and US Thanksgiving are important holidays in the calendar, while...
Turkey's Last Stand- Tom here Hey, how goes it? Back in the 'hood, you probably know me as The Bird....
