The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

THE CLASSIC: STUFFED HERB- RUBBED ROAST TURKEY WITH GRAVY If you’ve got just one bird in your holiday roast ar ...

SERVES 10 TO 12 1 whole turkey, 10 to 12 pounds, neck and giblets reserved for gravy Kosher salt and freshly ...

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 recipe Classic Sage and Sausage Stuffing (here; optional) 1 tabl ...

layer of cheesecloth. Fill with the stuffing, then use twine to tie the cheesecloth into a sack. Remove ...

and allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes before carving. (If you stuffed the turkey, for pr ...

...

STUFF IT! You may have heard from various reputable sources that stuffing a bird before roast ...

than the turkey or chicken as the bird roasts, its raw juices can drip down into the stuffing, contaminatin ...

KNIFE SKILLS: How to Carve a Turkey STEP 1: REMOVE THE WISHBONE (See here.) STEP 2: SLICE THE LEG Once your ...

STEP 3: GET THE JOINT Once the skin is cut, pull the entire leg away from the body. It should separate ...

STEP 4: DIVIDE AND CONQUER Locate the joint between the drumstick and the thigh by moving them back and forth and f ...

STEP 5: REPEAT Remove the other leg and separate it in the same manner. ...

STEP 6: BONE THE THIGH Flip one thigh over so it’s skin side down and cut one side of the bone with ...

STEP 7: REMOVE THE BONE Repeat with the other side, taking as much meat off the bone as possible. STEP 8: ...

the platter. STEP 10: REMOVE THE BREAST Start by running a sharp boning knife down one side of the breastbone, u ...

STEP 13: SEPARATE THE BREAST Eventually the breast should fall completely away, held only at the bottom edge ...

STEP 14: SLICE THE BREAST Slice the breast meat with a very sharp knife on a strong bias to create wid ...

STEP 15: READY TO SERVE! Arranged on a platter, ready to be presented at the table. ...

THE EASIEST AND FASTEST: ROASTED BUTTERFLIED TURKEY WITH GRAVY As with butterflied chicken, cooking a tu ...

SERVES 10 TO 12 3 large onions, roughly chopped (about 6 cups) 3 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped (ab ...