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How to Carve a Turkey

By eHow Food & Drink Editor

Carve a Turkey

Rate: (64 Ratings)

After hours of preparation and anticipation, make sure to carve the turkey in a way that preserves the flavor and texture of the meat.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Aluminum Foil
Turkeys
Carving Knives
Curved Meat Forks
Cutting Boards
Electric Carving Knives
Serving Platters

Step1

Choose a sharp, thin-bladed carving knife. Running your knife along the bottom of the turkey, find the places where the thighbones meet the body.

Step2

Slip your knife into the joint to separate thigh from body on each side.

Step3

Separate the drumstick from the thigh using the same technique (cut through the joint, not the bone, wiggling the drumstick to locate the joint).

Step4

Running your knife along the bone, separate the meat from the thigh and drumstick'try to get as much as possible in one piece.

Step5

Cut thigh and leg meat into thin slices.

Step6

Use your knife to find where the wings and body connect.

Step7

Slip your knife into the joint to separate wings from body on each side.

Step8

Carve thin slices off one side of the breast, cutting parallel to the breast.

Step9

Repeat with the other side of the breast.

Tips & Warnings

If you are carving soon after roasting, cover the turkey with foil and let it stand for 15 minutes first.
Cut dark meat before light meat, as it will stay moist longer.
The key in removing thighs, legs, and wings from the turkey carcass is to run your knife along the carcass until you find the places where bones meet. By cutting between joints, and not through bones, you can disconnect bones without much fuss. If you try to saw through a bone, though, you'll take a long time, even if your knife can do it, and make a mess in the process.

Comments

JoeA said

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on 11/21/2007 What do you do with the carcass? - After cutting as much meat off as possible, we have a family tradition of throwing the carcass in the backyard. Within a few hours, a pack of turkey vultures congregate in the trees and begin picking at the carcass one-by-one. It makes for an exciting end to Thanksgiving.

Anonymous said

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on 1/18/2006 There are numerous reasons not to use a brown paper bag.

1. The glue and chemicals that are involved in the recycling process are very toxic for digestion.

2. Brown paper bags sometimes have metal shavings in them. You can find them with a keen eye.

The alternative to this is to cook in a manufactured oven cooking bag, which can be bought in the Saran wrap/foil section at the local grocery store.

Anonymous said

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on 1/4/2006 It's easy to carve perfect slices in the breast if you make a horizontal cut at the bottom first. Then, when you slice down to cut each breast slice, it will finish cleanly into the pre-cut bottom.

Anonymous said

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on 12/8/2005 You can reassemble the cut turkey to look like a turkey.
1. Keep the drumsticks and wings intact, do not cut them up.
2. Stack the breast slices in a neat pile with skin intact.
3. Put small odd pieces of dark thigh meat slightly toward one end of the platter.
4. Assemble the two sliced mounds of breast meat with skin slightly toward the other end on either side of platter.
5. Assemble the wings on both sides of the mounds of breast slices.
6. Assemble the drumsticks on both sides toward the other end of the platter next to the dark meet.

The final arrangement will have two mounds of breast with skin on top, with wings on the side and drumsticks on each side at the other end. Underneath will be all of the irregularly sliced pieces of meat.

Anonymous said

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on 12/8/2005 Make a flat cut under the breast, and then make another cut down the breast bone, and take the entire piece of breast off the bird. Then, cut down the breast. Much more manageable cuts of meat, easy to cut.

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