Turkey

In life, we are occasionally presented with some tough choices. Choices that have a clear right and a clear wrong — but those options can start to get a little fuzzy if you look at them for too long. Yes, under certain circumstances, with a certain amount of stress and a certain amount of not-very-logical thinking, that wrong choice can start to look very (very) right. For instance, your turkey is frozen solid.

People feel a lot of pressure when it comes to making Thanksgiving turkey. While some make it the same way year after year, others are tackling the big bird for the first time and even doing a practice run. How long does it take to defrost? How do you brine or dry-brine it? When do you put it in the oven?

Three words: Thaw. The. Turkey.

When the holidays finally roll around, one thing you know you’ll be doing is eating a lot of really delicious food. Amidst all of the honey-glazed ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole, you’re sure to have your fair share of roasted turkey come Thanksgiving. One feeling many of us are familiar with is post-Thanksgiving dinner fatigue.

Psst: It's hiding in your kitchen drawer.

It’ll help you avoid the dreaded soggy skin.

Make your bird truly taste like Thanksgiving.

Bonus: You'll be able to have plenty of leftovers.

Including what to do if you forgot to thaw your turkey.

Save some time by not having to pick up twine!

Use this instead.

Dry, cold turkey will be no longer be a problem!

PSA: Moisture is the enemy of crispy skin.

It was super-juicy and delicious, too!

Plus, what to do instead.

Most cooks only cook a whole turkey once or twice a year. So it’s a kitchen task that fills them with dread; it’s so big! So unwieldy! So fraught with culinary terror! Well, the turkey shouldn’t be so scary, even though it is indeed very big. What is the very best way to cook a moist, tender turkey — on Thanksgiving, or any day of the year? Do you have a failproof method?Here are a few more posts on cooking that big bird.

There won't be a dry turkey in sight with this hack.

Basting is an easy way to add flavor and moisture — here's how to do it!

Every holiday season the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line receives over 3 million questions by phone, email, and chat from turkey-anxious cooks. (You can call and ask about any turkey — not just a Butterball.) I visited their headquarters in Naperville, Illinois, and it was exactly how you’d picture it: There was an aroma of turkey, and everyone was on the phone or computer talking with callers or researching questions.

Think big this Thanksgiving, even if your holiday table is small. Your future self will thank you.

Here's a method that requires zero special equipment.

Alert! Alert! Alert!

This is our least complicated string theory.

There's a better, safer way to get turkey-flavored stuffing.

Trussing is that final step in turkey prep when you wrap the turkey neatly in twine and tie the legs together. Your grandma trussed. Your mom trussed. You probably truss, too. But in a recent Fine Cooking article, food science gurus David Joachim and Andrew Schlosss explain that trussing…well, it’s just not that worth it.Joachim and Schloss say that trussing prevents hot air from circulating around the legs.

The last thing you want after your holiday gathering is everyone getting sick.

And where to find one.

You have turkey questions, and we have answers.

(We promise, this is the last discussion of turkey until next year.) To determine what size turkey to buy, count on each person eating 1/2 – 3/4 pounds of meat. If you want guaranteed leftovers, plan on 1 pound for each person. Remove the your fresh turkey from the refrigerator at least a half hour (no more than an hour) before putting it in the oven.

Has anyone tried brandy as a marinade for turkey? On an old Martha Stewart show I recall Martha Stewart was in the home of an elderly Cuban woman who showed her how she prepared her turkey. The woman either marinated it or basted it with brandy. She placed the turkey in a roaster with the breast part laying down basting in the brandy. Martha had never heard of this before but did comment on how delicious and tender this bird came out.I was wondering if anyone knew this recipe?

Dear Kitchen,I noticed that ground turkey is now sold in these bubble-like packages. Is it safe? What is it?Stephen(To All Good Questions)There is something a bit frightening about these meat packages. We’ve long been tough to avoid canned goods that have bulging sides, but this time it’s intentional.I emailed your question to Shadybrook Farms, a main seller of ground turkey in the stores here in NYC. Shadybrok is owned by agricultural giant Cargill.

Q: I’ve saved up quite a bit of bacon grease that I use sparingly in different recipes. I’m beginning to prep for my first big scale family Thanksgiving (15 people as opposed to my typical 6 or so). I was thinking of using bacon grease in place of butter or oil as a way of making the turkey a bit smokier. And who doesn’t like bacon?! I was wondering if anyone has basted a turkey with bacon grease and to what degree of success. Thank you!

Q: I baked a turkey breast, which was completely unthawed. Is it safe to freeze some of the slices from that turkey breast to use in a month or later? Sent by Thellma Editor: Yes, as long as the turkey breast was completely cooked through, you can freeze it for another time! Keep it tightly wrapped to prevent freezer burn. Readers, any tips on freezing cooked turkey?

Q: Despite your recent posts on how to shop at Costco, I got sucked into the bulk mayhem recently and bought eight pounds of ground turkey. I think I’ve cooked with ground turkey once. I stuck some in the freezer, but will need to use the rest soon. What do I do with all this ground turkey? Sent by Emily Editor: I think anyone that’s ever shopped at Costco has certainly been in your shoes at some point. I certainly have.

Cooking the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner is an important task. If you fall behind schedule on the big day, don’t panic (we’ve all been there) — here are five smart ways to help your turkey cook faster, so you can get it on the table in time. Skip cooking the stuffing in the bird. Not only can it pose food safety issues if not cooked properly, but stuffing cooked inside the turkey also slows down cooking time considerably, as it blocks the flow of heat.

Ground turkey is a versatile ingredient that can be rolled into meatballs, shaped into burgers and meatloaf, and crumbled into sauces. And in the right form, it proves to be the lean, lighter alternative to ground beef. It has the potential to make for a flavorful meal, as long as it’s used correctly. Ground turkey can be notorious for its dry texture and bland flavor, but just like ground beef, ground turkey can be purchased with different ratios of meat to fat.

If your Thanksgiving is a small-scale celebration, cooking a whole turkey for just a few people feels like overkill. No need to skip the turkey — just rethink your cooking strategy. Here are three ways to serve turkey this Thanksgiving without cooking the whole bird. If the highlight of Thanksgiving dinner for you is thin slices of turkey topped with gravy, look no further than a traditional roast turkey breast.

Thawing a turkey is a criticalfirst step Given those other factors, it can be weirdly difficult to tell whether, after all this time, your big bird is actually thawed all the way through. There are two ways to determine whether your turkey is completely thawed or not, and a few tips to follow if you find you have a slightly frozen turkey come Thursday. First, a few refreshers for everyone. The easiest way to thaw your holiday turkey is over the course of several days in the fridge.

As Thanksgiving draws near, perhaps the biggest question that looms is just how you’ll prepare your prized turkey. You could go completely no-frills and stick with nothing but salt and pepper, or you could embrace brining. But what about trying something new? This may sounds risky if you’ve had a tried-and-true method for countless Thanksgivings, but there’s not much risk at all if trying something new just involves any seasonings you already have in your kitchen.

There’s one tool that chefs around the world use and most of us don’t keep in our kitchens, but we should. This inexpensive disposable product can be found in grocery stores, drug stores, and online — and once you’ve got it in the house, you’ll surely use it for everything from pumpkin carving to turkey carving. Can you guess what it is?

Because ground turkey is so low in fat, it’s not exactly a meat with a reputation for big flavor. But I’m here to change your mind because I recently used it to make some of the most delicious meat sauce I’ve had in ages. And it’s all thanks to a trick that is going to make you a true believer in turkey meat sauce once and for all. Wanna know my secret?

I first saw the viral “microwaving a turkey” meme on Instagram, where my friend had posted a screenshot of her hilarious conversation with her mom. (If you aren’t aware of the trend, people are texting their moms asking how long it would take to cook a 25-pound turkey in the microwave in hopes of getting a funny response, then posting a photo of the conversation on social media.

“How long does it take to microwave a 25lb turkey?” Carlota Andrés messaged to the family WhatsApp. Her famous father, chef, and humanitarian José Andrés, responded, aghast, in a mixture of English and Spanish that encompasses a horror perhaps not able to be contained in just one language. In fact, the younger Andrés was simply enacting the same prank that other young adults around the country have been all week.

If you’re making your turkey in a foil pan this year for the ease of cleanup it promises, there’s one smart tip you need to make this cooking method not only easier on yourself but also just smarter overall. This tip falls under the “useful but obvious” category, but we figured if it’s something we find ourselves forgetting then you might too.

So, you’ve decided to brine your turkey this year. Great choice — you will not regret it one bit. This simple extra step means you are in for a juicy, succulent, full-flavored turkey. And now that we’re a couple days out from Thanksgiving, it is time to get started. Here is what you need to know. The Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving is a great time to start brining your turkey. As a rule of thumb, we always recommend brining the turkey for one to two days.

For the first 31 years of my life, I thought turkeys were like toothbrushes, pens, and matches — just things you got for free. Dentists hand out toothbrushes like they’re candy (hehe!), hotels leave out pens for the taking, restaurants practically beg you to take matches on your way out the door, and turkeys, well, my mom had never paid a dime for any of our Thanksgiving turkeys.

How many times do you think you’ll say the word “turkey” during the week of Thanksgiving? I usually say it twice: “When will the turkey be ready?” and “Why isn’t the turkey ready yet?” But the experts who man the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line say or type that particular word more than 5,000 times – and they’re ready to give their vocal cords and their texting fingers a break.

My friends, I am not a lover of the turkey, that mascot of a picture-perfect Thanksgiving. Like Norman Rockwell, I appreciate the propaganda effect of a gleaming bird on a platter; the trophy of the cook who has, by god, laid to rest Thanksgiving, her mother-in-law (and ghosts of grandmothers past) in one highly effective display of crackling burnished skin. But it’s all for show, like a military rally of puffer fish.

I will be forever haunted by memories of Thanksgiving 2015. While so much of my Thanksgiving was just right — my grandmother’s china, a pecan pie from a hip bakery, carefully cooked Brussels sprouts and chestnuts — one major element was missing. My turkey didn’t smell! No, my guests were not greeted with the fragrance of perfect heritage turkey roasting with apples, onions, and sage.

Q: My husband and I are moving next month, and I have a frozen turkey in the freezer that I’d like to use up before we go. I’d like to throw one last dinner party for some friends, but I need help finding a summer-appropriate turkey recipe that doesn’t scream Thanksgiving. I know deep-frying is an option, but I don’t have a deep-fryer and I’m a little afraid of all that hot oil.

You might think that brining is something you only do once a year with the Thanksgiving turkey, but think again! It’s an easy way to season meat and help keep it moist at the same time. While brining recipes usually assume you’re using fresh or thawed meat, did you know that you can actually wet-brine meat directly from the freezer? Since one common method of thawing meat quickly is to place it in cool water, you can use that same principle but just swap out plain water for brine.

Yes, that leftover Thanksgiving turkey, carcass and all, is going to be staring you in the face on Thursday night. Do you know the best way to take it apart and store it? Or do you just loosely drape some plastic wrap or foil on top, shove it into the fridge, and plan to deal with it another time? Let’s walk through the best ways to take apart and store your leftover turkey! The first thing you have to ask yourself, before you even touch the turkey, is what you plan to do with it.

Like it or not, turkey is the star of Thanksgiving dinner. If you pull your bird out of the oven to find it’s overcooked, you may have the urge to shed a few tears (been there, done that), but don’t panic. You’re not the first person to overcook a turkey and you certainly won’t be the last. Unfortunately there’s no way to turn back the clock and undo what’s been done. The good news, however, is that there are a few ways to salvage your overcooked turkey.

Turkey is certainly the masterpiece of the Thanksgiving table, presented with flourish and praise for the cook. Despite the idyllic image we’ve created of roasted turkey, it is essentially the same as roasting your Sunday chicken, albeit on a much larger scale. While there are lots of opinions about (and some sound advice for) roasting a turkey, there are just a few key steps to avoid for a terrific Thanksgiving turkey.

When I was at the grocery store last week, I noticed the meat department was selling plastic buckets for turkey brining that looked like the ones sold at hardware stores. They were probably about five gallons in size and two feet tall. How in the world would you fit that in your refrigerator? Unless you’re lucky enough to have a second refrigerator, the only way a bucket large enough to brine a turkey would fit in the fridge is if a lot of the shelves were removed.

It’s a little embarrassing to admit how long it took me, culinarily speaking, to get around to roasting a turkey for the first time. I had written two cookbooks and was well into a third before I actually attempted to roast a full-sized, naked turkey in all its glory. (Neither cookbook, I hasten to add, had much to do with poultry.) Are you a turkey novice too? Looking on from the side dish sidelines? Let me pull you into the game. A turkey may be big, but it’s not a big deal.

I love a good burger any time of year, but there’s something about summer that makes them even better. Lately I’ve been changing things up with lean, flavor-packed turkey burgers. Creating a good turkey burger can be tricky because ground turkey, while leaner than the beef in traditional burgers, needs a little extra loving care. Here are four tips for a juicy, satisfying turkey burger.

Is it just me or do turkeys seem to get bigger every year? Here’s the thing: bigger isn’t always better. In fact, if you’re feeding a crowd at Thanksgiving, my advice is to buy a second turkey rather than one of those mammoth ones, and here’s why. With a big turkey, you start running into some big problems. It takes longer to thaw if it’s frozen and then exponentially longer to cook. Plus, it tends to cook less evenly, leaving you with a platter of dry meat.

Of course you know that the iconic image of Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey, roasted brown and crisp-skinned, sitting proudly on a platter. But what you might not know is the science behind what goes on in the oven, the process that transforms a pale, flabby bird into something fragrant and irresistible.

duckquailturkey I recently picked up a few turkey eggs at my local market, struck by how big they were — between 25 and 50 percent larger than a typical chicken egg. They were pretty, too, with speckled brown shells. Cooking with them, the first thing I noticed was the thick shell, making them harder to crack (no suave, one-handed crack for me!). Inside, the yolk-to-white ratio was much higher.