Thanksgiving Dinner

There's nothing like being with family for Thanksgiving (last year that didn't work out). However, I just watched a Food Network special on the traditional Thanksgiving dinner and now I really, really want to try cooking a turkey.

So here are some tips I learned in case you have to make the turkey this year (and mostly so I'll have these written down for when we're in Timbuktu and we have to do Thanksgiving on our own):

1. Brine it. Yep, soak the turkey in saltwater. This will make it more tender and juicy. (I've done it to a whole chicken before and it was awesome.)
2. Don't stuff the turkey. They highly recommend having dressing instead of stuffing, because in order to get the stuffing to a high enough temperature you'll have to overcook your turkey. (Even if your stuffing is already cooked; all the raw poultry juices soak into it.)
3. You'll have to look up the actual cooking time temperatures, but they started it out at a higher temp and lowered it to 350 after a while. That way you get the golden-brown skin.
4. Don't forget that the turkey will keep cooking after you take it out of the oven. I can't remember what temperature they said to get it to (it was 145 or something). Don't remove the meat thermometer when you first pull out the turkey because all the juices will come spewing out of that hole. Just let it rest until the thermometer reads 165 degrees.

They also demonstrated the turkey carving and made it look super easy. And recommended russets for your mashed potatoes. And used red wine in the gravy (I don't know how people feel about that, though).

I just realized that I'll have to look everything up online anyway because none of this is quite specific enough. Oh well. I was excited.

Now I really need to go pack since we're leaving in half an hour.

Happy cooking!