Don’t forget to use your turkey drippings for Gravy and serve turkey with some of our favorite Thanksgiving sides including Perfect Mashed Potatoes, Classic Stuffing, and everyone’s favorite Cranberry Salad.
Whether you’re cooking our hugely popular Oven Roasted Turkey or using your grill or smoker to cook a Smoked Turkey, the end result is only as impressive as your carving skills! Carving a turkey can be intimidating, but I’ve got you covered with the simple steps you need to know to carve a turkey effortlessly!
What you’ll need:
A sharp knife. You don’t have to have a fancy chef’s knife to carve a turkey, but you will need a sharp carving knife. (I love my Wusthof knife set). A large cutting board. You’ll need a large enough cutting board to fit the whole turkey. I place my cutting board on a baking sheet with edges, to catch any liquid and drippings. A serving platter. Have a serving platter nearby to place the cut pieces of meat as you carve the turkey. Aluminum foil. Cover the carved meat with foil as you go, to keep it warm until serving.
Tips:
Let the cooked turkey rest! You’ve spent all this time preparing and roasting the perfect turkey, but one of the most important steps is to allow it about 30 minutes to rest! If you cut into the turkey before it has had time to rest the juices will run out, instead of absorbing back into the meat, keeping it moist. Carefully cut the skin. If you’ve achieved the goal of crispy skin on your turkey, then be sure to preserve the skin for eating by cutting it as carefully as you can (with a sharp knife or kitchen scissors) so that each slice of turkey has skin still attached. Save the leftovers. Everyone loves leftover turkey sandwiches served on homemade rolls the next day or to use in one of our many leftover turkey recipes. Use paper towels. The turkey may still be very hot when carving, so use use paper towels to protect your hand and to steady the bird while you cut. Remove trussing strings.
How to Carve a Turkey
- Remove the legs
Start with one leg and use your knife to slice through the skin and meat toward the leg joint while at the same time gently pulling the leg back and separate it from the rest of the turkey. As you gently pull it, listen for the joint to “pop”, meaning that the thigh bone popped through. You don’t want to cut right through the joint! Then gently cut away any additional skin and meat around the joint and remove the leg from the body. Set aside the thigh and drumstick and repeat this process with the remaining leg.
2.Remove the wishbone
Remove the wishbone next so that it’s extra easy to cut away the breast meat. Plus, then you can make a wish! Locate the front neck cavity of the bird (where the head would be) and cut away the skin from the opening of the neck so that you have a window into the neck cavity. The wishbone runs along the neck cavity in an upside down “v”. Use your hands to feel for the bone then gently cut along the wishbone and pull it down and out of the bird.
- Remove the breast meat
First locate the keelbone AKA breast bone that runs all the way down the center of the carcass, separating the two turkey breasts. Take your knife and cut down center on one side of the keelbone. Slice downward, following the curve of the breast bone and cutting and separating the breast meat from the bone until the entire breast is free. Set breast meat aside and repeat this process with the other turkey breast.
- Remove the wings
Gently pull the wings away from the body and use your knife to cut around the skin and meat and cut through the joint. Remove the wing, set it aside, and remove the other joint.
- Carve the meat.
Slice against the grain! The most important part of carving the meat is to cut it the correct way. Cutting against the grain means cutting the meat opposite of the direction that the natural muscle fibers run. If you look at each piece of your carved turkey meat, you’ll see its all “running” or pointing the same direction. Be sure to cut it opposite of this which will help ensure that the meat is tender and not chewy. Try to preserve the skin. Cut as carefully through the skin as you can (with a sharp knife) so that each slice of turkey has its skin still attached. Separate the drumstick from the thigh by placing it skin side down on your cutting board and cutting right through the natural seam of the joint. Keep the turkey warm: Cover it with aluminum foil while carving to keep it warm. Save the turkey carcass. Use rest remaining turkey carcass to make homemade broth or freeze the carcass and make broth another day!
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