Thanksgiving tips: how to carve a turkey - News, Weather and Sports for Lincoln, NE; KLKNTV.com

Posted by: Abigail Wood 

awood@klkntv.com

It's that time of year again: Thanksgiving means turkey, and if you're making a turkey yourself, we have a few tips to prepare you for serving it. Chef Ryan McCoy at Hy-Vee says the key to carving a turkey is a sharp knife, and confidence.

"You can't hurt it," he said. "It's going to taste delicious either way cause it's cooked and it's Thanksgiving, so don't be afraid of it."

So here's the low-down. After you've cooked your turkey so it's golden brown and 165 degrees inside, Chef Ryan says to start in on the breast meat, slicing diagonally down towards the leg.

He says to use smooth, long strokes, and to use tongs or a large fork to hold the slices so your hand isn't near the sharp blade. After the breast meat is all sliced, it's time for the dark meat.

"It should just come very easily off," he said. " And instead of slicing them I will just take it and pull the meat off."

No carving here, just strip the meat right off the bone.

"The only thing you really need to carve is the white meat, the breast. Everything else we can just pull apart," he said.

It's as easy as that. Chef Ryan did say the classic idea of carving the turkey at the head of the dinner table is a little unrealistic.

"In all practicality, it's a lot easier to do it in the kitchen."

He also says to let the turkey rest about 10 minutes before carving it to let the juices gather throughout.