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If Thanksgiving is going to be your first to prepare dinner, you might want to make sure that the food you cook if actually safe to eat before you ensure it tastes good, especially if you are intimidated by preparing meat. In fact, I am pretty sure that some people who have been cooking for years who could make do with a few tips this year!
Defrosting a bird can take longer than you think!
Thawing out a turkey can be a pain, but if you asked someone to take out the turkey a few hours before cooking time and they forget, it may have been a lost cause to begin with. In reality, it can take up to a week to properly defrost your bird.
Generally speaking, it is often for the best to let the turkey defrost a day for every four pounds. If you have a 20-pound bird, that is around 5 days, says the folks from Butterball, according to Today. Even after defrosting, it can take three days to cook it. In other words, smaller birds are less work in ways you didn’t even realize.
Timing is different if you are using a fresh turkey!
If you prefer a fresh turkey to a frozen, then it is usually best just to purchase it no more than two days before you prepare it for your Thanksgiving dinner. In other words, do the opposite in case you get the opposite of a frozen turkey. It’s that simple! Keep it well-refrigerated, defrost it out accordingly and try to keep it in a container that will help to retain the natural juices.
There is always a time and place for soap and water!
Obey the Golden Rule of busboys everywhere! Wash your hands before touching anything you cook! Wash your hands before you eat! Just keep on washing your hands! Your grandmother was right! She was always right! That said, washing the turkey might be unsafe, as it can help spread pathogens onto other surfaces.
Basting is useless! Get under the skin!
Is basting is too time-consuming for you? Then, there is good news! Is it an utter waste of time, unless you are really into pan drippings. In which case, who am I to judge you?
Anyway, the folks at Butterball suggest that basting does not really change the meat at all, In fact, what you really need to do is smear herb butter under the turkey’s skin. To make it less messy, freeze the butter cut it out and spread it to different pieces of the bird.
Don’t use uncooked stuffing!
In some families, it is traditional to fill the bird with stuffing. In fact, I am pretty sure that is why they call it “stuffing” to begin with. That said, studies show that this is not the time to kill two birds with one stone. According to AJC, filling your dead bird before it cooks can causefood poisoning. Cook up the stuffing separately and either offer it as its own dish or shove it up your turkey after it has been cooked.
