Mrs. Cubbison's Thanksgiving Tips

After you've thawed the turkey, the first thing you'll need to do is to remove the neck and giblets, which are usually stored in a sealed bag in one or both of the bird's cavities. (Make sure you check both cavities before cooking the bird, as there could be bags in either or both cavities.)

Some cooks simply throw the neck and giblets out, but they are both useful for cooking.

In order to understand their uses in the kitchen, it's necessary to first understand what the neck and giblets are. The neck is exactly what you'd think - the turkey's neck. The "giblets" are the turkey's edible internal organs: the liver, heart, and gizzard.

Traditionally, giblets were often chopped and mixed into the stuffing before being cooked in the turkey. Today, the USDA recommends that giblets be cooked separately from the turkey, so if you want giblets in the stuffing itself, you should use a strategy that allows you to cook the giblets on the stovetop, to be added to the dressing later.

Another common use of giblets is to add flavor to the gravy. In this case, the giblets may either be cooked separately, or put in the bottom of the roasting pan, to cook with the juices that will run off from the turkey during roasting.

The neck is less versatile in the kitchen than the giblets, but can still be cooked to add its flavor to the turkey gravy, either in the roasting pan or on the stovetop. Some cooks like to simmer the neck and giblets in water in a sauce pan while the turkey roasts, often adding flavorful ingredients like onion, celery, and bay leaf. The giblets will be finely chopped before being added to the gravy (or the dressing). You can either scrape the meat from the neck, finely chopping it as well, before adding it to the gravy, or discard it, its purpose having been simply to add its flavor to the giblets as they cooked.

Some people will exclude the turkey liver from the stuffing and gravy due to its strong flavor. In that case, you will want to learn to identify the liver from the other organs included in the giblets. The liver will usually be the largest of the the organs, and often the darkest in color -- a very dark mahogany red. (Though the liver can be a variety of colors, depending on what the bird last ate). Rarely you will find more than one liver included in your giblets, and on other occasions you may find kidneys, which look somewhat similar to the liver, but are much smaller.

If you choose not to use the liver in the gravy, you can discard it, or else prepare it separately, many cooks preferring to pan-fry the liver. (Seek a good recipe for this if you want to try this.)

Back to top

When your frozen turkey is defrosted, or your fresh turkey is ready to be prepped for roasting, you can remove the sealed packaging from the bird. You'll want to wash the bird under cold running water in your sink, but first you need to remove the neck and giblets (if any), which are usually found in a small sack, stored in one of the turkey's cavities.

Set the neck and giblets aside for the moment, and take the turkey to your empty sink. Run the cold water at low pressure. (You don't want water splattering all over your kitchen counter, potentially spreading bacteria in every drop). Rinse the entire surface of the turkey, and run water through the cavities as well. If you are going to cook with them, remove the neck and giblets from their sack, and rinse them under cold running water, too.

When you're finished, put the turkey on a cutting board and pat it dry using paper towels (not a cotton dishcloth). Pat the neck and giblets dry, too. Discard the paper towels. Remember to thoroughly wash down your sink with soap and hot water (as well as any other surfaces or utensils the turkey touched or dripped on) after the turkey is washed.

With the turkey defrosted, and washed, you're ready to move on to the next step: seasoning the bird.

Back to top

Most cooks like to season their turkey in some manner before roasting it. While turkey meat properly cooked is quite juicy and appetizing, many find it a little bland without some help from the cook. Seasoning can range from a simple dry rub with salt and pepper, to a basting with a wet seasoning, to brining the turkey in a salt bath for several hours before roasting. Let's take a quick look at the possibilities:

DRY RUBS

If using a dry rub you may wish to first lightly coat the skin of the turkey with cooking oil or melted butter. This will help keep the skin moist during roasting, and will also cause the skin to brown up nicely.

Once that step is done, you can sprinkle or rub a mix of seasonings over the surface of the turkey. Some like a simple combination of salt and pepper, while others will include ingredients like garlic powder, paprika and seasoned salt. If you don't feel like experimenting, find a recipe for a turkey rub that appeals to you.

Some cooks like to lightly coat the inside of the turkey's cavities with kosher salt, in addition to a seasoning rub. This will add some flavor, but more importantly, will help the meat retain moisture throughout the roasting process.

WET RUBS

A wet rub is simply a mixture of seasonings combined with melted butter or cooking oil in order to give it the consistency of a paste. If you are applying a wet rub to the surface of the turkey, it isn't necessary to additionally coat the turkey skin with oil or butter since that's being delivered with the rub itself. Some cooks like to apply a wet rub under the turkey skin, between the skin and the meat, so that the flavor soaks right into the meat. If you go this r oute, you may additionally wish to give the skin a light coating of oil or butter, for the reasons stated above: to retain moisture and help the skin brown up nicely.

Wet rubs can include the same types of dry seasonings you'd use in a dry rub, but could also use familiar liquid seasonings like Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar or white wine.

For both dry and wet rubs, there are an endless number of recipes, because everyone has their own little secrets that make the turkey turn out just the way they like. Spend some time exploring recipes and then start making your own.

BRINING

To brine a turkey is to soak it in a salty liquid for several hours, or even overnight, before roasting. The liquid base of the brine is usually water, but it can also contain vegetable stock or even fruit juice. In addition to salt, the brine may contain other seasonings, like brown sugar or dried sage.

You brine a turkey by submerging it in your brining liquid, after its thawed. The entire mixture -- brine and turkey -- must be kept well refrigerated this entire time. If you are brining in a large pan or other container, you will need plenty of room in the refrigerator. You might need to weigh the turkey down to keep it immersed in the brine. If your pan is too shallow to immerse the turkey, turn the bird regularly while it's in the brine.

A convenient option is to use a brining bag. Like a giant sandwich bag, you simply put the turkey inside then fill it up with your brine, before sealing it and putting it in your refrigerator. If you choose to use a brining bag, make sure to get one that is heavy duty and has double seals. A split bag or a leaky seal in the refrigerator is a disaster, spreading uncooked turkey juices over all your other food. A brining bag is about the last place you want to cut corners when buying your Thanksgiving supplies. Get a good one. As a precaution you may still want to place the brining bag in a pan or tray, just in case there's a leak. Put the brining turkey on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator to further guard against a disastrous leak.

Do not use a garbage bag as a brining bag. Garbage bags are not designed for food and may have been treated with chemicals that will leach into the turkey.

Most brine recipes will suggest brining for 8-16 hours, but no longer than a full day.

Most brine recipes call for the turkey to be rinsed with cold water after being removed from the brine, to avoid excess saltiness. (Check the specific recipe you are using.) If you apply additional seasoning (like a dry rub) to the turkey, don't add any salt to the rub, since the turkey should be adequately salty from the brine. Don't brine a kosher turkey, as they've already been treated with salt, and don't brine a self-basting bird for the same reason.

Back to top

When your turkey is ready to roast, and your oven is preheated, it's time to put the bird in the roasting pan.

For a pan, you should ideally choose a roasting pan that is no more than 3" deep, with a rack that holds the turkey suspended from the bottom of the pan. This rack will allow the warm air to circulate freely under the bird, so that it cooks more evenly. You can use either a basic flat rack, or a v-shaped rack that is big enough to hold a turkey.

A stainless steel pan, rather than a non-stick one, is recommended, as it will do a better job of browning up the drippings for a pan gravy.

Place the turkey breast-side up on the rack. If you are inserting an oven-safe thermometer into the turkey to gauge when it's done, make sure that you place it in a manner that will be readable once the pan is in the oven.

Your oven should be completely pre-heated to 350° F before you place the turkey in the oven. For a normal home oven, you will need to put the oven rack into one of the lowest positions so that you can fit the turkey inside. Once all this is done, put the turkey in the oven.

Back to top

Whether to cook the stuffing inside the turkey or separate from the bird is an ongoing debate. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends cooking the stuffing in a separate casserole dish, in order to minimize the potential for food-borne illness caused by bacteria. Yet, preparing the stuffing inside the bird is an integral part of the Thanksgiving tradition for many us, and the stuffing might taste better to some if it is cooked inside the turkey. Certainly it is possible to cook the stuffing inside the turkey without incident, as long as you take precautions and educate yourself about the dangers associated with stuffing a turkey.

The first thing to note is that you should never stuff the turkey until immediately before you are ready to place the bird in the oven. This includes having the oven already pre-heated. As soon as the stuffing is in the bird at room temperature, it is an environment that encourages bacterial growth. Stuff the bird, then go straight into the oven with it. It's an easy and important rule to remember.

Secondly, do not overstuff the turkey. The stuffing will naturally expand as it cooks. Just loosely filling the cavity of the turkey will allow the stuffing to cook properly. If there is leftover stuffing, instead of packing it inside the turkey, prepare a small, lightly-greased casserole dish and cook the extra stuffing in it, alongside the bird in the oven.

Finally, when the turkey is finished roasting, you will check the temperature of the bird with a meat thermometer to make sure it's completely cooked. If you've cooked stuffing inside the turkey's cavity, you need to also check the temperature of the stuffing. Place the meat thermometer in the center of the stuffing, making sure not to touch turkey itself. The temperature needs to read at least 165° F for the stuffing to be safely cooked. Let the thermometer rest in the stuffing for 10 or 15 seconds to be sure you are getting a good reading. If the temperature is less than 165° F, you will need to put the turkey back in the oven (even if the meat itself is done according to your thermometer), and cook longer until the stuffing is fully and safely cooked. It's not safe to eat stuffing that has not been cooked to at least 165° F.

Obviously this reveals a downside to cooking the stuffing in the turkey: you might be forced to overcook the meat somewhat in order to get the stuffing up to a safe-to-eat temperature.

If all of these precautions seem like more worry than it's worth, you can make a delicious dish of Thanksgiving dressing in a separate casserole dish. Lightly grease a casserole dish, fill it with stuffing, and cook it in the oven alongside the turkey. You might wish to add some extra turkey stock, chicken stock, or butter to your stuffing recipe if you cook it separately, in order to compensate for the absence of the turkey juices that would have naturally drained into the stuffing in the center of the bird. Consult a good recipe for cooking your Thanksgiving dressing in a casserole dish to get some creative ideas about how to get the best results.

Back to top

Trussing a turkey is simply using butcher's twine to tie the turkey into a compact shape before roasting it. While trussing is not absolutely necessary to cooking a Thanksgiving turkey, it has several advantages:

• it makes for a nicer visual presentation of the bird to your dinner guests when it comes out of the oven
• it can help the meat to cook more evenly
• it can help the skin to brown more evenly
• it can help contain the stuffing inside the bird if you are roasting a turkey with stuffing inside it.
• it can make the turkey easier to carve after roasting.

To truss a turkey, start with a length of butcher's twine (err on the long side, since you will be able to trim away any excess twine at the end of the process). Wrap the center segment of twine around the neck bone of the turkey (on the underside of the turkey, with the breast sitting on top), then run each end of the twine up and alongside the bird so that the wings are held firmly in place against the sides of the turkey.

Next, run the twine under the rump of the bird, then back up and over the two legs, which are crossed one on top of the other, and tie the string off tightly in place at the crossed ankles in order to hold them in place throughout roasting. (Chefs usually recommend using a 'surgeon's knot' when you tie off your twine here.) Once you've tied the knot, trim off any extra lengths of twine left dangling.

Different cooks have variations on how the twine should be wrapped around the turkey, with some liking to tie an extra knot under the bottom of the breast in order to plump up the breast visually. The basic goals, regardless of which method you use, are the same: to tie the wings in against the sides of the turkey, and to hold the legs crossed in place in front of the cavity.

You should truss your turkey before you oil the skin, as the oily skin will make it difficult to hold the twine in place as you wrap it around the bird.

Back to top

How long does it take to roast a turkey? Obviously it depends on a few factors: the size of the turkey; whether or not it's stuffed; whether you are basting the bird (because opening the oven door to baste lets heat out and slows down the cooking); and, most importantly, what the temperature is in your oven.

Let's start with the last point: setting your oven to 350 degrees doesn't mean it's 350 degrees in the oven. You should get a good-quality oven thermometer, placed inside your oven so that you can easily read it, in order to keep an eye on the temperature inside. It's not at all unusual for oven thermostats to be off, even far off, especially in older ovens. And it's especially important when cooking a big turkey to know exactly what the temperature is inside your oven, as cooking at a temperature that's too low could be dangerous.

A turkey should be cooked at no less than 325° F. We recommend 350° F, as this allows a little wiggle room in case your thermometer is a little off, and will speed the cooking time a bit. You can cook a turkey at a higher temperature, but preferably no more than 425° F.

To estimate how long it will take to cook your turkey, see our turkey roasting calculator. But remember, this is only an estimate. There is no way to judge whether a turkey is done except to measure the temperature with a good meat thermometer. A turkey isn't safe to eat until it's been cooked to 165° F, and the USDA actually recommends cooking your turkey to 180° F. This latter figure is very conservative, and may result in the meat being drier than some like, but it does protect cooks whose meat thermometers might not be perfectly calibrated. If you are aiming for closer to the 165° F temperature that restaurant chefs might cook a turkey to, it's very important that you make sure your meat thermometer is perfectly calibrated. See our brief article on calibrating a meat thermometer for instructions.

An important thing to remember when measuring the temperature of your turkey is that the internal temperature of the bird will continue to rise for about 15 to 20 minutes after you take it out of the oven. The temperature will rise between approximately 5 and 15 degrees during this time. Thus, a professional chef who is extremely confident of his oven temperature, and of his meat thermometer, might take a turkey out of the oven when it measures as low as 150° F, knowing that it the temperature will rise to 165° F out of the oven. A home cook would be wise to be considerably more conservative than that, but the main point is, that if you wait until the turkey measures 180° F (the USDA's recommended temperature) while it's in the oven, it could rise to over 190° F after you take it out… and that's likely to make for a pretty dry turkey.

Whatever temperature you choose as your target, it's important that you actually get a good reading from the thermometer from the center of the thigh (not touching the bone) that is at least 165° F. Until the meat measures at least that on a thermometer, it is not safe to eat.

There are numerous factors that will affect how long it takes to get a turkey up to a safe, done temperature in your oven:

• what the oven temperature is
• whether you are basting (opening and closing the door to baste the turkey can let a substantial amount of heat out of the oven, slowing down the process)
• whether your bird was truly finished thawing when it went in the oven…. it's a fact some people either mistakenly or because they run out of patience put the bird in the oven before it's finished defrosting.
• whether the bird is stuffed. A stuffed turkey will take longer to cook, by at least 30 minutes.
• how good the heat circulation is in the oven. Using a roasting rack in your pan increases heat circulation under the bird and thus reduces cooking time. If the turkey is particularly large compared to the size of your oven it can reduce heat circulation and increase roasting time.
• Using a foil tent to protect the breast from over-browning will increase cooking time.
• Even the color of your roasting pan affects the cooking time. A dark pan will cause the turkey to cook more quickly than a shiny pan.

As you can see, with all of these factors, many of which are unquantifiable, there is truly no safe way to judge whether your turkey is cooked except to measure its internal temperature with a meat thermometer.

Back to top

Should you baste your turkey while it bakes?

If you are basting the turkey in an effort to make the meat juicier, you are probably wasting your time. Basting the turkey has little if any effect upon the moistness of the meat. It will mainly cause the skin to brown up a little more crisply, and may add some extra flavor to the skin. The skin is quite effective at blocking moisture, however, so don't expect any of the juices you baste over the turkey to seep down into the meat.

The moistness of the meat is primarily determined by cooking to the proper temperature. An overcooked turkey is going to be dry… that's just the way it is. You can do some things before roasting that will influence the final outcome more effectively than basting. Brining the turkey -- soaking it overnight in a salty, seasoned liquid -- will add saltiness to the flavor, but it will also cause the turkey to retain more moisture while it roasts, meaning a less-dry turkey.

Alternatively, a light coating of kosher salt on the inside of the turkey's cavities before going in the oven will have a similar effect, helping the bird to retain moisture during roasting.

Finally, a kosher turkey, which has been treated with salt as part of the koshering process, will likewise retain more moisture while cooking due to the salt content.

The downside to basting is that each time you open the oven, heat is escaping, meaning that the time to roast the bird increases, and the oscillating temperature in the oven may lead to a less satisfactory, evenly-cooked turkey. As an alternative to basting, you can apply a light coating of cooking oil to the turkey's skin before it goes in the oven. This will help produce the same sort of nicely crispy skin that basting does, without periodically opening the oven door during roasting.

Back to top

It is a good idea to calibrate your meat thermometer, especially if you haven't used it in awhile, or have dropped it since you last used it. There are two ways to calibrate a meat thermometer: at freezing point and at boiling point. To calibrate it at freezing point, completely fill a glass or pot with ice, and then add cold water. Use crushed ice if there is some available. Let the glass stand for a few minutes (to thoroughly chill the water to 32 degrees), then use your meat thermometer to measure the temperature of the ice water. If it doesn't read 32 degrees, your thermometer needs to be calibrated.

To calibrate at the boiling point, fill a sauce pan with water, then bring it to a boil on your stovetop. Insert the thermometer into the center of the water (in every direction, so it's neither near the surfaces of the pot nor the top of the water). At sea level, water boils at 212˚ F, and that's what your thermometer should read. If you are above sea level, water boils at a lower temperature. For example, at 8000 feet, water boils closer to 196˚ F. If you are calibrating your thermometer using the boiling point method at a high altitude, use a reliable source to calculate the boiling point of water in your locale before performing the test.

If your calibration test reveals your thermometer to be out of alignment, adjust the nut on the backside of the thermometer with a small screwdriver, then test it again. For an electronic thermometer, see the manufacturer's instructions on resetting the thermometer. Usually there will be a button you can push while it is at freezing or boiling temperature to perform the calibration.

Back to top

Thanksgiving just isn't Thanksgiving without plenty of delicious gravy to compliment the turkey and dressing. And if you've just roasted a turkey, there's no better way to make gravy than to use the pan drippings to make a great-flavored pan gravy.

You can start working on the pan gravy as soon as the turkey comes out of the oven. Since the turkey needs to sit for about 20 minutes to allow its juices to settle before carving, this is the perfect time to get started on your pan gravy.

What you'll need:

• A heavy medium-sized sauce pan
• A whisk (preferably, a flat roux whisk)
• 2 to 3 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 2 liquid measuring cups

To begin, move the turkey from the roasting pan to a cutting board. Return to the roasting pan. If you used a roasting rack, remove this from the pan. What's left in the bottom of the pan are juicy drippings, liquid fat, and the crispy brown bits from the turkey that have cooked to the bottom of the pan. The first thing you want to do is to separate the fat from the rest. This is not all that difficult since the fat naturally rises to the top.

Scrape the pan well with a spoon or a flat gravy whisk to get all of the good browned bits off the bottom of the pan. These are full of great flavor and are a key to great tasting gravy.

Once that's done, pour all of that -- the liquid drippings and the browned bits, into a glass measuring cup. Let it stand for a couple of minutes to let the fat rise to the top. When the fat has gathered at the top -- you'll be able to see it clearly separated from the rest of the drippings -- take a metal spoon and remove the fat to a separate glass measuring cup. When you're done, note how much fat you've got in the measuring cup.

For this gravy, you'll want 1/4 cup of fat. If you have more than that, pour out the extra until you've only a 1/4 cup left in the fat measuring cup. If you have less, you will want to supplement the fat with some additional butter to bring the total amount up to 1/4 cup. (1/4 cup of butter is equal to a half-stick of butter, a good starting point for your calculations for how much butter you'll need.)

Add the fat (and any butter you need to reach 1/4 cup total) to a heavy sauce pan on the stove. Bring the pan over medium heat. Melt the butter (if any), stirring it with the turkey fat. Now you will slowly sift in 1/4 cup of white flour. Once you begin adding flour, you will need to stir the mixture of fat and flour constantly while the flour cooks. Use a whisk to stir if you have one.

You are making a roux, which will be the basis of your gravy: what gives it thickness and body. As the flour cooks, it will slowly turn brown. The color of your roux will be the color of your gravy, and you probably know what a delicious gravy looks like, but if not, wait for the color to change to a rich medium brown. You want it well-cooked not only for this nice color, but also because the flavor of uncooked flour is distinctive and not what you want in a great turkey pan gravy.

Once the roux is fully cooked, nice and brown, you are ready to add the rest of your drippings from the first liquid measuring cup -- all that was leftover when you removed the fat. Add enough chicken stock to your drippings so that the total volume is 3 cups (drippings plus chicken stock).

Add the 3 cups of stock and drippings to the roux (still over medium heat), including all of the browned bits you scraped from the roasting pan earlier, still stirring constantly with your whisk to prevent lumps. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.

Now let it simmer a few minutes, allowing it to thicken, while you stir occasionally. If you cooked giblets for the gravy, chop them finely and add to the simmering gravy. When the gravy has reached a nice consistency, it's time to pull it off the heat, pour it into your gravy boat, and serve. If you time it well, you or another family member can begin carving the turkey as the gravy simmers (remembering to stir it occasionally) , and everything will be ready to serve nice and hot at the same time.

Back to top

Your turkey is perfectly cooked, your guests are assembled, and now the moment of anticipation has arrived: it's time to carve the bird. Let's go through it a step at a time.

First of all, you'll need a carving set: a two-pronged fork, and a sharp, unserrated slicing knife. Choose a cutting board with a perimeter well to capture the flavorful juices of the bird, if possible.

Before cutting into the bird, let it stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes to allow the juices to settle. If you carve it too soon out of the oven, most of these juices will run out, leaving dry meat.

Once you are ready to carve, if you trussed the bird, snip and remove the trussing twine with a pair of kitchen scissors, then carefully remove the string from around the turkey. If you used any skewers to hold the cavity closed, remove these as well.

With a long-handled spoon, scoop the stuffing from the cavity into a serving dish. If necessary, you can make an incision at the neck of the turkey to reach into the cavity from that side to remove the remainder of the stuffing.

You'll start cutting the turkey by removing the leg and thigh from each side of the turkey. Cutting through the thin layer of skin holding the thigh to the body of the turkey until you see the hip joint. Insert your knife tip into this hipsocket and cut to sever the whole leg from the body. Pull the leg free. Repeat on the other side of the turkey.

Now to separate the drumstick from the thigh, cut between the two until you reach the joint. Gently feel with the knife until you find the seam between the drumstick and thigh at the joint, then cut through. It may help to pull the two apart until you can see the joint before cutting through it.

You can slice the meat off the drumstick, or serve them whole.

Next, you'll want to slice the thigh meat. The trick here is to remove the thigh bone first. Scrape the meat away from the bone gently until you can see its outline. Then, run the tip of the knife around the edges of the bone to separate it from the meat. Once done, remove the thigh bone cleanly. The remaining thigh meat can now be sliced neatly and easily into serving-sized portions.

Now it's time to remove the wings. Just like removing the thighs, you can gently pull on the wing and easily cut down to the ball joint that attaches it to the body. Probing with your knifepoint, find the joint and twist the knife while gently pulling on the wing until they separate. You may need to slice through some tendons once the joint is separated in order to pull the wing free. The wings can be served whole.

Now you're ready to slice the breast meat. The most common way we see turkey breast served at Thanksgiving is making thin slices from the side of the breast, working inward toward the breast bone with each slice. While this is the most obvious method of slicing the breast, we prefer a different method.

Take your knife and finding the breastbone at the top and center of the breast, slice right down the length of the turkey on one side of the bone. Make repeated slices, working your way deeper each time, until you are able to cut all of the breast meat from one side of the bone free in one large chunk.

Now remove that meat to a sepate cutting board (or free space on the main cutting board you are using), and you can easily slice this boneless meat into handsome medallions that will retain more juices than the thin slices of breast meat that are so familiar. Cut the breast meat against the grain for easier cutting and better-looking pieces of meat.

Once this is done, repeat with the other side of the breast. Arrange the breast medallions on your serving platter, and you're ready to eat!

Back to top

Anytime you cook a Thanksgiving meal, you're going to have plenty of leftovers. It seems pretty straightforward what to do with them, but there's actually a wrong way and a right way to store your food.

Most importantly, your cooked food should sit at room temperature no more than two hours before being put in the refrigerator or freezer. With all the festivities surrounding a big holiday meal, this is easier to lose track of than you'd think, so note the time that you take the turkey and stuffing out of the oven, and start your mental timer. Leaving the food sitting on the table longer than two hours risks the growth of bacteria that could lead to food poisoning. If you happen to be in a climate where the indoor temperature is 90° F or higher, you should leave the food standing out for no more than an hour before refrigerating.

When you package the food up for the refrigerator, use clean, small, shallow containers (no more than 3 inches deep) and break the leftovers up into smaller portions. This will help the warm food cool down more quickly and evenly to a safe temperature. If you have numerous containers to put in your refrigerator, don't stack them all against each other. Leave some space around each container so that cold air circulation can freely cool each container. A cluster of warm food containers pushed together in a corner of the fridge can insulate each other from the cold air and prevent the quick refrigeration that is needed to ensure food safety.

Separate the turkey, the stuffing and side dishes into their own containers. You should never refrigerate stuffing inside the turkey. It's also recommended that you finish carving the turkey before refrigeration. It's okay to leave turkey wings, thighs and legs whole, but separate them, and cut the rest into smaller pieces.

Date leftovers when you put them in your refrigerator with a small piece of tape on the container. You should never eat leftovers out of the fridge that are more than four days old. If you don't plan to eat the leftovers within four days, freeze them instead. Gravy should be eaten within one or two days of refrigeration.

When you decide to eat the leftovers, heat meats and stuffing up to 165° F. Make sure that dishes are heated throughout evenly. Stir dishes as they are reheated to help them warm evenly throughout. Heat liquid dishes (soups, gravies, sauces, etc.) to a rolling boil.

If you inadvertently leave your leftovers uneaten for more than four days, throw them out. Bacteria that grows in food can be tasteless, invisible, and odorless. Don't risk making yourself and your family ill by eating a turkey dinner that's been in the refrigerator too long.

Back to top