Is there a “right” way to carve a turkey? Apparently there is. Stayed tuned and you’ll see why.
Just follow these steps, you can do it too!!
It’s contrary to tradition, but I guess there are good reasons not to cook your stuffing inside of the turkey.
One, it makes it more difficult to carve it nicely. Two, your stuffing can easily dry out after spending all of that time in the oven. The stuffing can also soak of too much of the turkey’s juices and that means a dry bird! Chef Mark Dommen recommends cooking the turkey and stuffing separately. Good points.
“I’m going to show you the right way to carve a turkey…”
I’m interested to hear his advice!
After a long day of cooking it might be appealing to use whatever is quick on hand to carve, but resit!
Chef Dommen warns not to just go at it and hack into the turkey. He also warns not to use a dull knife. His advice on where to carve?
“Carve in the kitchen…”
An interesting but important tip–don’t cut at the table. At the dining table, there are distractions, less room, less time, and more pressure.
Make things easy and cut all of that out of your day by carving in the kitchen.
After spending the day slaving away at making a fully cooked turkey, you deserve to give yourself a beautiful presentation for the big meal.
It’s easy to get all of the meat off by carefully carving. Taking some extra time here will ensure there are plenty of leftovers and you are not throwing good meat away.
“The worst thing people do is they carve their turkey without a plan of attack… “
Remove both the legs first. To me this seems counter-intuitive, I would naturally go for the breast meat first. Chef Dommen’s method is to follow what’s in the picture above.
Once the legs have been removed, Chef Dommen tells us to start by cutting along the bone that runs the entire length of the turkey.
It’s important to take the entire breast off as one complete piece. Remove one breast in one piece, slicing all the way down through the wing. Then, repeat the process on the other side.
“Presentation is important and you’ll want your turkey to look beautiful for your guests…”
*Pro-tip: when you slice the breast meat, cut against the grain.
The turkey carcass can be saved for stock. I really don’t like wasting food, and I don’t like adding to the landfill either. It’s a great idea to save the carcass for making turkey stock.
Turkey stock can be used in all kinds of soups, stews, and even rice. Once you’ve made the turkey stock, just freeze or can the stock and you are good to go!
This year, we are all going to have a good Thanksgiving–I can feel it! I am glad this turkey tutorial is around to help ease some of the stress.
“If you’ve done all these things correctly, you’ll have conquered your turkey and you’ll be well on your way to a less stressful Thanksgiving…”
It’s incredible to watch chef Mark Dommen’s presentation and plating of this turkey in the video!
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