While you鈥檙e getting text messages from friends and family wishing you a happy Thanksgiving, the phones will still be ringing at , a free service available to people who are worried they messed up their turkey.
Oftentimes, the calls come pretty early in the cooking process. Usually, those mistakes aren鈥檛 ruinous.
鈥淭he one thing you really want to double check is making sure that turkey is already being thawed. It’s our number one question we get year after year,鈥� said Sue Smith, who answers calls at the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line. 鈥淪o if it’s still a little bit frozen, go ahead and start soaking it in cold water.鈥�
You want the bird in its original wrapper, breast side down and fully submerged in the cold water. The thawing process will take about 30 minutes for every pound, with the expectation that you鈥檒l change out the cold water in your sink every 30 minutes as well.
And don鈥檛 use warm water thinking you鈥檒l speed up the process even faster.
鈥淵ou want to keep that turkey safe, and keeping it 40 degrees and below is the safe way,鈥� she explained.
If the bird is close to thawed, but maybe not quite all the way, you can put it on the oven anyway. You just need to be mindful of the internal temperature of the meat, which is true regardless of how frozen your turkey is.
鈥淢ake sure that that breast reaches 170 degrees and the thigh reaches 180 degrees,鈥� Smith said.
She also recommends putting it on a flat rack so some of the drippings come off underneath the bird, as opposed to having the turkey swim in it. If that鈥檚 not available, she has a trick for that, too.
鈥淕et some aluminum foil and make kind of like a coil foil. Put them in little circles on the bottom of the pan and then put your turkey on top,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淭hat’s going to also elevate that turkey and that’s real important to just get that air circulation around that entire turkey.鈥�
Worried about that perfect, golden brown color when it鈥檚 done? Smith said coating it with vegetable oil or cooking spray will help with that.
And if you鈥檙e still stressed? Her advice is to delegate some of the cooking responsibilities.
鈥淲e always encourage their friends and family to bring their favorite side dishes, or drinks or desserts, and when everyone chips in a little bit, it cuts down on their to-do list,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淎nd it really takes some stress off of that host. But it also allows their guests to bring in a little tradition as well. And I think that’s what’s really special about Thanksgiving.鈥�
If you鈥檙e still not convinced you鈥檙e doing everything right, Smith said she has probably dealt with crazier circumstances than the one you find yourself in.
鈥淎 man called to say he cut his turkey in half with a chain saw and wanted to know if the oil from the chain would affect his turkey at all,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淲e did advise him not to eat that turkey. But it was so funny, he鈥檚 like, 鈥榃ell, great, because I have one on the grill and I also have one in the fryer, so I’m just not going to use this one.鈥�”
If you need any advice, you can just call 1-800-BUTTERBALL, text 844-877-3456 for some quick advice or go to for help.
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