Last year Gather hosted a live chat with the Butterball Turkey Talk hotline ladies and they provided some great tips on how to properly cook your Thanksgiving turkey. I have compiled the tips from that chat to share with all of you since I am sure most folks have similar questions about cooking a Thanksgiving turkey this year:
Q: How do I calculate how much turkey I need to feed my Thanksgiving guests?
A: Butterball.com actually has a calculator right on the homepage that you can use where you put in how many kids and adults are attending and how much you all eat. For 8 adults and 4 kids I was told I needed 20 lbs of turkey
Q: How long do I need to thaw my Thanksgiving turkey?
A: Again, you can use the thawing calculator on the Butterball site but you should definitely get thawing! If you are short on time, you should coldwater thaw your bird as fridge thawing takes a lot longer. You should NEVER thaw at room temperature.
Q: Is it safe to cook my stuffing in the turkey?
A: According to the answer from the chat, you can safely cook stuffing in your turkey as long as you cook the turkey to the right temperature (180 degrees in the thigh, and 165 in the stuffing). Also, stuffing a turkey adds 30-45 minutes more to the cooking time. Please remember though that the cooking times are just guidelines – your meat thermometer should always be the guide as to when to take the turkey out. When you can put the thermometer in the center of the stuffing and it reaches 165, the whole turkey is ready.
Q: Should I add broth in can to the pan or baste my turkey to make it moist?
A: As long as you don’t overcook the turkey (use a thermometer!) you don’t need to baste your bird.
Q: What is the proper way to roast a Thanksgiving turkey?
A: You should cook your turkey breast up, on a rack, in a shallow open pan at 325 degrees F. There are cooking guidelines for how long to cook the bird (i.e. a 20lb bird should cook 5 hours) but those are just guidelines. Your turkey is done when a meat thermometer (yes buy a meat thermometer!) inserted in the thigh reads 180 degrees. This is the Open Pan method.
Q: What wine goes well with turkey?
A: A dry and oaky chardonnay or a sauvignon blanc or a white burgundy.
Sources: Last year’s live chat with the Butterball Turkey Talk Hotline Hosts, Butterball.com
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Read more of my Thanksgiving 2009 Posts on Gather:
Thanksgiving Menus Ideas: Turkey to Dessert
Stuffing & Cranberry Sauce Recipes
And join the Gather Family and Food Essentials to share your own Thanksgiving recipes, traditions, tips and tricks.
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