Food on Shine

Top 10 most common turkey mishaps (and how to fix them)

We asked Every Day with Rachael Ray readers to share their top Thanksgiving troubles—then we turned to our test kitchen food team to help turn around all your big messes into big successes.

1. I forgot to defrost my turkey! Soak it in a brine solution. Unwrap the turkey, rinse well and place in the sink or a large container, breast side down. For a 16-pounder, dissolve 1½ cups kosher salt in 2 gallons of cold tap water. Change the brine every 30 minutes. This trick should halve your defrosting time to 15 minutes per pound. We tried this in our test kitchen with a 16-pounder—and shaved the thaw time from seven hours to four!

2. My turkey breast always turns out dry, every year. You're probably overcooking your bird. Make sure you use a meat thermometer, and take the turkey from the oven when the temperature reaches 155°. Once out of the oven, the turkey will continue to cook and the temperature will rise to 165°. Remove any stuffing from the cavity immediately, since a stuffed bird retains more heat.

 



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