How to Cook a Thanksgiving Turkey

Notoriously easy to overcook (and undercook), famously bland, and intimidating to handle, turkey can make even the most seasoned cook lose their cool. But as a wise man once said, a path is formed by laying one stone at a time. Scroll down and learn how to make the best Thanksgiving turkey of your life, step by step.

You might be hosting Thanksgiving for the first time. You might be doing a scaled-down version this year. Either way, you'll need to know where to score your Thanksgiving turkey, and of course, which size and variety to shop for. To find the exact bird you're looking for, think ahead—you'll want to put in an order at a farm or butcher shop, scope out options at the supermarket, and/or check out birds online a few weeks before Turkey Day to have your pick. And remember, for a scaled-down turkey feast, you can always theturkey-breast route而不是买一只鸟。

如果您将火鸡在冰箱中解冻，这是迄今为止最不动，最不弥补的方法 - 每五磅火鸡每24小时就可以进行24小时（有些人喜欢在融化的另一天，以安全起来）。只需将鸟以原始包装的形式冷藏，然后将其固定在烤盘中，以捕获任何滴水。如果乳房感觉嫩嫩，鼓声在其插座上摇摆，腔不再霜冻，则融化。

Note: If you want to盐水your thawed turkey (see below), you'll need to start thawing your turkey at least two to three daysfurtherin advance to account for brining time. So if you want to brine a 12-pound frozen bird, start thawing it in the refrigerator a week ahead of time.

如果您没有时间进行冰箱路线，或者您的冷藏火鸡在感恩节早晨仍然有些寒冷，请选择冷水方法。填充库存锅或其他大容器，甚至是您的水槽！寒冷的water (using warm or hot water could lead to food-safety issues). Immerse the bird, still in its original packaging, in the water and let thaw, changing the cold water every 30 minutes. The turkey will need about 30 minutes per pound to thaw, which means an average 12-pound turkey will take six hours.

请记住，请确保将火鸡从冰箱中取出大约一个小时，然后准备烤以帮助它更均匀地烹饪。

If you want to ensure that your roast turkey turns out juicy and flavorful (and who wouldn't?), you most definitely want to brine your bird. Set aside two to three days for the task, make sure you've have the gear for the job (hint: a dry brine is way easier to set up than a wet brine), and make sure that you know how much salt to use—and what kind!

If you're not already baking your stuffing (ahem, OK, yourdressing）在土耳其外的单独的砂锅菜中，我们鼓励您尝试一下。它足够难以确定火鸡的内部温度，而不必担心也可以确保填充馅料。在腔中添加芳香剂会使您的火鸡味道更好。添加馅料只会使馅料变得糊状 - 当它分开烘烤时，您的馅料可以发展出每个人都为之奋斗的酥脆的褐色边缘。

But if you insist on stuffing your turkey, we're not going to stand in your way. Just a few words of advice: Don't try to pack in too much. Stuff both cavities (the larger one and the smaller neck cavity) loosely to avoid undercooked stuffing. You'll need about 1 1/2 cups for every pound of turkey. And take the internal temperature of the stuffing before pulling the bird from the oven—it should read 165F just like the actual turkey should.

有无数的方法可以烤火鸡 - 可能是因为家庭厨师总是为避免过度煮过乳房而在确保深色肉煮熟的同时挣扎。一般游戏计划是在烤盘内的架子上烤制（可能是燃烧的）火鸡。无需捆扎它；这只会使烹饪需要更长的时间。为了帮助从锅滴中制成大量的肉汁，您可以在锅中散布大量切割的芳香蔬菜和草药，以及几杯水，以防止蔬菜灼热。

But no matter what method or oven temperature you go with (andwe've got plenty to choose from），一件事保持一致。您需要烹饪火鸡，直到插入大腿最厚的温度计（避免骨头）读取165f至170f。确保使用good-quality instant-read thermometer并对这两个大腿进行了几读 - 您永远不想开始为饥饿的客人雕刻火鸡，只是发现它在烤箱中需要20分钟。

Once you've nailed the temperature on your turkey, there's just one final hurdle—carving it like a pro. First, be sure to let the turkey rest on your biggest cutting board for about 45 minutes (in the meantime,做肉汁）允许烹饪烹饪并帮助果汁重新分配。然后锐化一个薄薄的切片刀片，并遵循此简单的策略，以进行清洁切割，在每个人的盘子上看起来都很好。

Those golden-brown vegetables and savory drippings left in the roasting pan? Money in the bank. Set the roasting pan across two burners over medium-low heat, and scrape up all those flavorful browned bits. Next, strain them into a tall, narrow container and skim off the fat, which you can use as part of the roux to thicken your gravy. Either way, save those pan juices—you'll use them, along with some broth, to make a gravy tasty enough to convert the sulkiest turkey-hater.

我们不会与第二天土耳其三明治的原始美丽争论。但是您不需要我们告诉您如何制作其中之一。如果您想在感恩节的火鸡剩菜剩饭中做一些不同的事情，请查看这些广泛的想法剩下的火鸡和中国鸡蛋面汤到土耳其鲁本哈希。