Holiday Dinner Tips and Tricks

Help and Techniques for Turkey, Gravy, Squash and Pie Dough

Nov 26, 2008 Ellen Wilson

Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners don't need to be filled with extra stress. Use these handy tips for saving time and fixing cooking mistakes and mishaps.

Turkey Tips and Techniques

Cooking a whole turkey needn't be a hassle. The key is to keep the white meat moist while roasting. Simply start by roasting the bird upside down. Yes, it's that simple!

Preparation for Basted Turkey

1. Preheat oven to 325 F degrees.
2. Don't forget to to remove the neck and giblets (turkey guts) from inside the bird cavity.
3. Fill empty cavity with onion, lemon, and whole sprigs of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. You'll have a fragrant and juicy meat.
4. Tuck the wing tips behind the turkey's back.
5. Season turkey with salt and pepper and place foil lined rack breast-side down.
6. Position pan so turkey legs point towards back.
7. Insert an oven proof meat thermometer into turkey breast to monitor the internal meat temperature.
8. When turkey temperature reaches 150 F degrees increase oven temperature to 375 degrees and start brushing turkey with your favorite glaze recipe every ten minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160 - 165 degrees.
9. After two hours remove turkey from oven and pull foil from pan and turkey. Place the bird breast-side up and roast for one hour.
10. Remove bird rom oven and tent with foil. Let turkey rest for a half hour so juices are maintained before carving.

Preparation for Cooking Turkey in Bag

1. Turkey should be cooked at 350 F degrees in bag for best results
2. Salt and pepper turkey, remove giblets and neck, and stuff bird cavity as in basted turkey recipe above
3. Roast turkey on V rack breast side down for first hour of cooking so the breast will baste naturally. Turn the turkey and continue roasting for the balance of the time according to bird weight.
4. The internal temperature of the bird should be 180 F degrees.
5. Allow the turkey to rest for twenty minutes before carving so that steam dissipates from white meat and it will not fall apart when carved. Resting the meat makes for a juicier bird.

Gravy Tips

Put too much salt in your homemade gravy? Don't worry, just add some instant mashed potatoes to repair the damage. And add more liquid to offset the extra thickening effect of the mashed potatoes.

Brown flour well before adding liquid to gravy to prevent lumpy gravy.

Add a small amount of baking soda to fix gravy that is too greasy.

Squash Tip

Save time and energy by sticking the entire squash in the oven. Simply line a cookie sheet with tin foil, and place squash on sheet. Cook for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour (depending on size of squash) at 350 degrees. Squash is done when fork is easily inserted. Slice open squash and allow to cool before scooping out seeds and membrane.

Pie Dough Tip

Tired of pie dough that is hard to roll out? Store pie dough flour in the freezer overnight. The chilled flour keeps the fat in the dough from melting. The dough then easily rolls out without sticking.

The copyright of the article Holiday Dinner Tips and Tricks in Seasonal Cooking is owned by Ellen Wilson. Permission to republish Holiday Dinner Tips and Tricks in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Holiday Turkey

Holiday Table

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