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Turkey-carving tips for your Thanksgiving feast
Paul Kelly grew up on a turkey farm and continues his family legacy of raising top of the line poultry. He's also the World's Fastest Turkey Carver! Kelly joined LiveNOW from FOX with tips on how to select and prepare the best turkey for your family's Thanksgiving feast.
As millions of Americans gear up to cook their Thanksgiving feasts, the pressure is on to perfect that golden-brown turkey.
While the bird may take center stage, achieving turkey perfection isn't always as simple as it seems.
But, according to Paul Kelly, a turkey farmer and managing director at KelleyBronze Turkeys along with a Guinness World Records holder for the fastest turkey carver, it doesn’t need to be difficult.
"People freak about cooking a turkey," Kelly told LiveNOW from FOX last week. "Just think of it as a big chicken. We've all cooked a chicken before. It's just going to take a bit longer."
With years of experience in the poultry business – and a lightning-quick carving technique to his name – here are some of Kelly’s tips, along with some of the most common mistakes people make when preparing their holiday centerpiece.
Use a meat thermometer
Kelly said preparing a turkey can be as easy or as complicated as you want it to be, but using a meat thermometer is a must.
Family member carves Thanksgiving turkey. (Credit: . (Credit: John Moore/Getty Images)
"Time is purely a guideline," he explained. "The temperature of your kitchen makes a huge difference. The temperature of your fridge makes a difference. How hot your oven is makes the difference. The only sure way of telling whether your turkey is cooked or not and making it stress-free is by using a meat thermometer."
Older the bird, better the flavor
Kelly said that it is challenging to look at turkey in a bag and know whether it is a good one or not.
However, if you purchase a "heritage breed" bird, your turkey may have more flavor.
"Flavor comes with maturity, and if it's a heritage breed, it means it will have been grown longer," Kelly continued. "The older the bird, the better the flavor is what we say."
Don’t overcook
"The big thing for me is people overcook turkey," he explained. "You take it out, it looks cooked, but everyone freaks and thinks, ‘well, let's keep it another half an hour just to be safe.’ That's a disaster as far as the turkey goes."
And in the heat of the moment, many people want to dig right in to their delicious-looking turkey once they remove it from the oven.
But wait — suggested Kelly.
Experts suggest letting a turkey rest for 20 minutes to 1 hour before cutting into it, noting that letting the turkey rest is important to make sure the juices inside the turkey are fully soaked into the meat.
Thanksgiving dinner cheaper this year
According to numbers provided by Datasembly, a data collection company, this year’s Thanksgiving dinner will cost $50.58 on average, about $3 less than it cost in 2023, but roughly $10 more than it did in 2019.
RELATED: Thanksgiving dinner will cost less this year, analysts say
In addition, a recent Wells Fargo consumer report predicted a 16% drop in turkey prices from last year, but the savings may not be as significant for shoppers because retailers aren’t fully passing on the wholesale price cuts.
The report found that while wholesale prices are down a whopping 29%, supermarkets are keeping more of that gap to pad their margins. Analysts say retailers know you’ll still flock to buy that bird in November, and prices will likely dip more in the days leading up to the big feast.