#Don t Stuff The Turkey And Other Tips From America s Test Kitchen: NPR

Listen to the Story

Jack Bishop recommends letting your turkey sit for at least 30 minutes before you start carving.

If there's one Thanksgiving mistake Jack Bishop sees more than any other, it's people rushing to carve their birds. Bishop is editorial director of the public TV series America's Test Kitchen. He tells Fresh Air 's Terry Gross, "Turkey needs to rest before you carve it. and a lot fewer juices will end up on the carving board."

Bishop and Bridget Lancaster, also of America's Test Kitchen. share their tips for buying, seasoning and cooking a turkey, and describe some of their favorite side dishes.

Interview Highlights

On buying, seasoning and carving your turkey

Lancaster: Don't buy too big of a bird — 12 to 14 pounds is kind of the limit. Any larger than that and you're going to have a really big problem cooking it evenly because. the breast meat tends to cook a lot faster than the dark meat. And it's also a problem of mechanics: It's really hard to get a 20-pound turkey into some of the more modern ovens.

After that, it's really making sure you season the turkey. We like natural turkeys, ones that aren't pre-brined or injected, so you either want to brine it — soak the turkey in saltwater solution — or you can rub salt under the skin. And that really, along with time, helps to season the turkey well. You do want to let either the brine or the salt rub do its job. Salting takes a bit more time. Twenty-four hours is a good period of time to wait. It slowly seasons it.