When it comes to Thanksgiving, the most important “guest” at the dinner table is the turkey. All the others attending the feast will be “keeping an eye” on that turkey. Therefore, you really want to make sure that you choose the right size and type of turkey in order to create the ideal Thanksgiving dinner experience. The following are some tips to help you with your Thanksgiving turkey.

1) Knowing in advance how many other guests will be attending your dinner is an excellent idea and it will save you much headache. On average, individuals (especially males) can consume approximately two pounds of turkey. As a rule, it is always better to have some left-over food rather than not having enough. You would never want anyone leaving your house hungry. If  left-overs don’t sit well with you, just remember that you can always doggy bag whatever is left for your guests to take home with them.

2) A younger turkey is usually a better choice since they tend to be more tender and juicy than the adults.

3) When packaging the turkey, the skin is marked with an A, B or C. You definitely want to pick an A graded turkey since these are the ones that are just about bruise, blemish and feather free. As the letter decreases, so do the skin conditions.

 4) Choose a turkey with a pop up timer. The timer ensures that your turkey cooks to perfection.

 5) You’ll notice that you can choose a turkey from either the refrigerated or frozen ones. Both options are okay but there are some pros to refrigerated turkeys. First and for-most, there is no thawing time. Another benefit is that refrigerated turkeys are normally a bit juicier.

6) Storing your turkey properly can either be beneficial or detrimental to your health. If you are buying your turkey in advance, freezing is a better option since it can be stored for a long time while you can only keep a turkey in the fridge for a minimal amount of days. So, if you opt for a refrigerated turkey, do not buy it more than one to two days prior to Thanksgiving in order to be guaranteed optimum freshness.

7) If you choose to stuff the turkey, it’s extremely important to stuff it properly in order to steer clear of illness. A meat thermometer is crucial to be sure that the stuffing reaches the right, safe temperature. Many times, the turkey will reach the right temperature while the stuffing will not. Therefore, make sure the stuffing reaches a minimum of 165°.

 That’s just about it folks! Good luck, bon appetite and Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Posted Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 1:47 pm EST, in Food Quality, General, Holiday, How-To, Refrigeration. Follow responses with the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response or trackback from your own site.