Famous chef says most people carve turkeys wrong and shows the right way to do it

Renowned Chef Mark Dommen share the secrets of turkey serving and explain that you may actually be "doing it all wrong!"

A highlight during Thanksgiving is definitely when the time comes for the carving of the turkey. But everything has to be just right, an arduous task that many painstakingly try to perfect every year.

Many days of gathering ingredients followed by hours of preparation later, the time arrive to enjoy the fruit of one's labors. But Chef Mark Dommen warn that if you don’t have a solid plan of action when it comes to the carving of the turkey, then “you’re doing it all wrong!”

The first thing you have to pay attention to is the sharpness of the knife you will use to cut the meat. Make sure it is freshly sharpened before the carving.

Chef Mark Dommen addresses the place the carving will take place next. According to him cutting the turkey in the dining room is not ideal, suggesting instead that carving of said turkey in the kitchen before sitting down for the meal is best. 

There will be no watchful eyes silently pressuring you into carving the perfect cuts, and by cooking the stuffing out next to the turkey, instead of inside it, both end up crispier adding to the aesthetics as well. 

For the critical part of how to cut the portions, Chef Mark goes on to explain that one removes the legs from the bird first. Once wholly removed the breasts can be cut off next with one clear slice along the keel bone.

Now one can easily create the sized portioned required by slicing in against the grain. Once all the sections are sliced off, they can be easily put back together to make it look great and easy to serve when the time comes.

The Kitchen Conundrums cook, Thomas Joseph also shared a secret to the perfect juicy turkey you can carve up using the pointers from Chef Mark. The technique is referred to as the ‘Upside-Down Roasted Turkey’ in involves many slices of bread, a generous amount of butter and lots of black pepper.Going by the method, you take the pan you have selected for the roast and cover it in sliced bread, the inside of the slices are buttered and seasoned with black pepper, along with the turkey.Place the turkey upside down in the pan and cook for 45 minutes at a temperature of 350 ° Fahrenheit. Flip the turkey over and cook for another 90 minutes.

The result will be a perfectly roasted turkey to enjoy at Thanksgiving.

For the sake of variety, we have another recipe to choose from. It comes highly recommended by those who have tried it, where praises are sung by many as the juiciest turkey they have ever had. The poster of the recipe, Kirsten from Augusta, Georgia represents the non-professional chef side of the population and the recipe is well worth the try.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons dried parsley

2 tablespoons ground dried rosemary

2 tablespoons rubbed dried sage

2 tablespoons dried thyme leaves

1 tablespoon lemon pepper

1 tablespoon salt

1 (15 pounds) whole turkey, neck, and giblets removed

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 orange, cut into wedges

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 (14.5 ounces) can chicken broth

1 (750 milliliters) bottle champagne

Instructions

Line a turkey roaster with sheets of aluminum foil that would be long enough to wrap the entire turkey with. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Stir the sage, rosemary, thyme, lemon pepper, and salt in a small bowl and rub the mixture of herbs into the cavity of the turkey, then stuff with carrot, onion, orange, and celery. Truss if needed, and place the turkey into the roasting pan.

Pour the champagne and chicken broth over the turkey, ensuring that champagne goes into the cavity as well. With that done, seal the turkey by bringing the aluminum foil over the top of the turkey. Prevent the foil from touching the skin of the turkey breast or legs if possible.

Now its time for the turkey to go into the oven for two and a half to three hours, until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear. Leave the turkey uncovered and continue baking until the skin turns golden brown, which takes between 30 minutes to an hour.

When inserting an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh, close to the bone, the temperature should read 180 degrees F (82 degrees C). The turkey is ready to be removed from the oven, cover it with a doubled sheet of aluminum foil and leave it to rest in a warm area for around 15 minutes before carving.