Ten Turkey Tips You'll Be Thankful For
We're all thinking about two things this time of year: turkey and eating turkey. To make both of these easier for serious eaters, we've compiled everything you need to know about turkey in one handy guide. Have a question we haven't answered? Leave a comment—serious eaters are always happy to help.
Serious Eats' Ten Turkey Tips You'll Be Thankful For
- What Kind of Turkey to Buy
- What Size Turkey to Buy
- Thawing Time
- To Brine or Not to Brine?
- Calculating Cooking Time
- Roast Turkey Recipes
- Non-Roasted Turkey Recipes
- How to Carve a Turkey
- Still need help? Turkey Hotlines
- What to Do with Turkey Leftovers (Yay!)
What Kind of Turkey to Buy
Last Thanksgiving, Ed grappled with all the popular turkey adjectives: organic, heritage, kosher, and basted, for example. According to our research, these terms still mean the exact same thing as they did last year. We make it easy for you to understand with How to Read Turkey Labels. More tips, after the jump.What Size Turkey to Buy
Count the number of carnivores attending. Since you want leftover sandwiches, assume one pound of whole turkey (unstuffed) per carnivore. Note: the bigger the turkey, the bigger the proportion of meat to bone. Figure about a pound and a half per person if you're buying the bird pre-stuffed.
Thawing Time
Don't forget to set aside enough time for your turkey to thaw! Here are some guidelines so you can plan accordingly.
Turkey Thawing Time in the Refrigerator (40 degrees F): Approximately 24 hours per 5 pounds.
| Whole Turkey Weight | Thawing Time |
| 8 to 12 lbs | 1 to 2 days |
| 12 to 16 lbs | 2 to 3 days |
| 16 to 20 lbs | 3 to 4 days |
| 20 to 24 lbs | 4 to 5 days |
Turkey Thawing Time in Cold Water: Approximately 30 minutes per pound. Change water every 1/2 hour.
| Whole Turkey Weight | Thawing Time |
| 8 to 12 lbs | 4 to 6 hours |
| 12 to 16 lbs | 6 to 8 hours |
| 16 to 20 lbs | 8 to 10 hours |
| 20 to 24 lbs | 10 to 12 hours |
To Brine or Not to Brine?
Certain turkeys are pre-brined, so don't waste your time. Check first. Kosher turkeys and some commercial brands like Butterball are "pre-basted" or brined. The ingredients should list seven percent of an added solution (water or vinegar). But be careful: pre-brining can mask other added junk like preservatives, so if you want to go au natural, buy a fresh one without additives and brine it yourself.
To brine your turkey, soak the bird in some salty, sugary, (insert spice here)-flavored water overnight. Dry it off, rub on some butter or oil, and throw her in the oven. Sure, brining requires some time, but when else will you commit such time for brining? At least try it if you don't have a stance.
Calculating Cooking Time
Your turkey is thawed, brined or not brined, stuffed or not stuffed. Now it's time to get it into the oven. Approximate cooking times listed below are for a whole turkey cooked at 325 degrees.
| Weight (Pounds) | 8 to 12 | 12 to 14 | 14 to 18 | 18 to 20 | 20 to 24 | 24 to 30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unstuffed (hours) |
2¾ to 3 | 3 to 3¾ | 3¾ to 4¼ | 4¼ to 4½ | 4½ to 5 | 5 to 5¼ |
| Stuffed (hours) |
3 to 3½ | 3½ to 4 | 4 to 4¼ | 4¼ to 4¾ | 4¾ to 5¼ | 5¼ to 6¼ |
Roast Turkey Recipes
- Lidia Bastianich's Roast Turkey
- James Beard's Favorite Roast Turkey
- James Peterson's Roast Turkey
- Cook's Illustrated's Slow-Roasted Turkey with Gravy
Non-Roasted Turkey Recipes
From the queen of greasy fingers, Paula Deen's deep fried turkey recipe.
Our grilling correspondent Josh Bousel suggests smoking the turkey.
How to Carve a Turkey
If you're a visual learner these video, illustrated, and photo tutorials will teach you how to carve your turkey like a pro.
- Video from VideoJug (pleasant British woman's voice narrates)
- Photo step-by-step from eHow
- Illustrated step-by-step from Cooks.com
- New York Times video with Ray Venezia, butcher at New York's Fairway Market
Still need help? Turkey Hotlines
If you find yourself in a bind on the big day, friendly folks will be standing by the phone to answer your last minute turkey questions. Don't be afraid to give them a ring; it could save the day!
- Reynolds Turkey Tips: (800) 745-4000; 24 hours
- Butterball Turkey Talk Line: (800) BUTTERBALL (800-288-8373); 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST on Thanksgiving day
- Honeysuckle White: (800) 810-6325. Recorded answers to FATQ (turkey questions)
- Foster Farms: (800) 255-7227; 24 hours
What to Do with Turkey Leftovers (Yay!)
Congrats! You did it! Now what to do with all those leftovers?
- Serious Eaters' Ideal Thanksgiving Sandwich Combos
- Robyn's rundown from last year
- Turkey Gumbo
- Nigella's Vietnamese turkey salad, turkey hash, turkey pot pie [Talk]
Wait there's more!
Thanksgiving is about more than turkey.
Don't miss Serious Eats' complete Thanksgiving coverage »
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16 Comments:
The turkeys look delicious, but I covet that roasting pan with the handles. Is it All Clad?
I have to give the entire SE staff a gazillion kudos for your thorough and creative coverage of everything Thanksgiving. Really a stupendous job! From the ridiculous to the sublime to the unbelievably delicious. Fun, funny, but mostly informative and inspirational. My thanks to all.
PerkyMac at 9:51PM on 11/21/08
@PerkyMac Thanks so much! Your comment totally makes my (and the rest of the team's) day.
Alaina Browne at 9:56PM on 11/21/08
Well now, Alaina, you just went and made my day! The praise is so well-deserved. It was around this time last year that I became a "regular" visitor and you hooked me, but this year you all went above and beyond. And we still have 5 days to go!!!
PerkyMac at 10:10PM on 11/21/08
I think its Mauviel. You have to get one Mauviel before you die. Such precision. This past summer WS was selling them 50% off.
There are two of my fav times of year to talk SE one is turkey talk and the other is cookie talk.
I am taking a few days off after turkey talk to gather the strength to cookie talk.
It is great talking turkey with you guys.
JerzeeTomato at 10:37PM on 11/21/08
@Jerz ~ gobble, gobble, gobble. Gobble?
PerkyMac at 10:42PM on 11/21/08
My family has always been invited out for Thanksgiving. This year my mom called and gave me the news that we would be cooking the mean together---for the FIRST time!
Since we don't turkey...ever...this is so helpful! I can't wait to hear about the results of everyone's "Turkey Day Olympics" on Friday!
veggieout at 11:12PM on 11/21/08
Well today is the day, as a Canadian, that I move from turkey to cookies! My girlfriend and I are getting together to do some baking - mainly rolled and cut cookies - some of which MIGHT survive to Christmas if our respective children do not eat them all up ahead of time.
Like Perky, I've really enjoyed the Thanksgiving coverage and learned a lot - probably the reason I found my Thanksgiving dinner that I cooked last week (my hybrid Canadian/American) to be the most relaxed and frankly tasty one I've ever done. Somebody out there suggested making stuffing with potato bread - I took that advice and it was the best stuffing ever! And that's just the start..... took Pioneer Woman's advice on squash..... I could go on and on!
Maureen at 9:54AM on 11/22/08
I don't cook much anymore, my husband does 99% of the cooking these days. He loves (at least he says he does!) getting snippets that I forward him from here -- from the LOLcats to the informative. He has been impressed with the Thanksgiving coverage.
Thank you!
Cassaendra at 2:23PM on 11/22/08
I used to use potato bread on and off now I use Wegman's W loaf. Once you have it you can never go back. I warn you LOL.
JerzeeTomato at 8:06PM on 11/22/08
ENJOYED the great instructional video from the NY Times (Ray Venezia) on how to carve a turkey. This was the best carving info and carved turkey display ever. We will definitely follow these video instructions! Thanks so much...
Sallie Beckes at 9:42AM on 11/23/08
Love all your tips for Thanksgiving, the turkey looks great. I am going to decorate somewhat like the picture,& use the helpful tips too. lt looks beautiful. .
Mira
mira at 4:29PM on 11/23/08
Good simple tips. With all of the hustle and bustle of this food season, we either need a quick pointer or have become so obsessed with the perfect meal that we would spend countless hours on research. I always prefer the former. Thanks for the info,
--mike
butson at 10:53AM on 11/24/08
I saw no mention of Grilled Turkey. We did this last Thanksgiving and it was so good. We just indirect heat grilled our turkey, breast side down. It was the moistest turkey I have ever had.
jadesteva at 10:38AM on 11/15/09
I love Lidia and altons recipies, it's hard to pick a fave
camponota at 2:22PM on 11/15/09
Last year I made a Turkey Osso Buco stlye. Number one my turkey was 40+ lbs cleaned. It was 55 lbs before it was cleaned. I don't have an oven that could possibly handle that, so I carved him and made good stock while braising vegetables, added marzano tomato giblets, neck and dark meat only in parts to 2 large roasting pans and cooked for quite a few hours.
when it was pull off the bone tender I made gravey with the sauce in the pan and reduced it to thicken and used an electric wisk to mash in the vegetables.
the breast were done on the grill.
it was awsome.
camponota at 2:28PM on 11/15/09
This gets me so excited for Thanksgiving!
s.barr at 7:32PM on 11/15/09