Turkey 101: how to prepare your Thanksgiving bird

It's not Thanksgiving weekend without that big ol' turkey on the table. Who better to give us some advice than the pros at Butterball?

If you’re wondering how to cook up the perfect main dish for your Thanksgiving dinner, you can’t do much better than to take the advice of Bill Nolan, a Turkey Talk Hotline expert at Butterball.

Nolan joined CTV Your Morning Ottawa on Friday to shed some wisdom on preparing your turkey dinner this Thanksgiving.

Have a plan

Nolan says his first advice to folks who contact the Butterball helpline is to make a plan.

“If you’re prepared before you go into it, it’ll make it that much easier,” he said.

“Know what you’re going to know. Know what temperature you’re going to cook the turkey at. Have a pan that’s the right size for the turkey. Know the steps that are involved in making the turkey. Make sure you have a food thermometer to take the temperature of the turkey.”

How to season your turkey

On the matter of seasoning, Nolan suggests first to make sure you’re seasoning both the inside and outside of your bird.

“The way I like to prepare my turkey is I will season it liberally with salt and pepper on the outside, and on the inside in that cavity if I’m not going to stuff it. If you’re going to stuff it, of course you’ve got your stuffing in there,” he said.

For those who aren’t stuffing their turkey, Nolan suggests placing ingredients in the bird’s cavity, both to imbue it with flavour and to keep it moist.

“I like to put things in the cavity. Maybe some citrus, lemon, oranges, even lime but that’s a little bit more south-western. I would do onions that are maybe cut in half. Things that are going to be aromatic, maybe some fresh herbs to flavour that breast,” he said.

By stuffing the inside with citrus, vegetables and other aromatics, you prevent steam from building up in the turkey and drying it out.

Lastly, Nolan suggests brushing the

outside of the turkey a modest amount of vegetable oil.

“You can keep it moist that way and the skin will crisp up nicely and that’s a great way to ensure it’ll be nice and flavourful for you when you take it out,” he said.

Optimum temperature for a turkey

According to Nolan, temperature is the most important aspect of cooking your turkey.

The Turkey Talk hotline expert suggests taking several different measurements.

For the breast, Nolan says you want to reach a temperature of 165 F, which is food safe and best for eating quality.

If you’re cooking stuffing, it should also reach a temperature of 165 F.

Nolan suggests taking another measurement in the thigh, but for this one you want to hit 180 F.

“So, there’s different temperatures to remember as you’re going through this, but it’s crucial that you do take the temperature of that turkey before you take it out and get it ready to carve.”

Right-side up, or upside down?

When it comes to the debate over which way to cook your turkey, Nolan is firmly in one camp.

“Right side up is what we recommend, there are people that cook it upside down, but we don’t usually recommend that because it’s a little bit hard to handle,” Nolan said.

“A turkey is curved on the top of it, so if you got it upside down it can flop around and it’s a little bit harder to handle. So, for safety reasons alone, it’s a lot easier to cook it with the breast side up and the legs sticking out there.”

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