Wegmans Turkey Carving Time Savers

Carving a turkey is one of the easiest things
to do in the world and really all you
need to do is make sure that you're set up for success.
Uh, which means you just have to have a perfectly roasted
turkey that's had time to rest after it's been out of the oven.
Have a knife that's comfortable in n your hand,
that's just gonna be long enough to go ahead
and get nice slices out of the breast.
And you need a platter to move the turkey to.
I think the days are gone where people are carving
the turkey at the tableside.
No disrespect to Norman Rockwell,
but I think it's a lot easier for you to do it in the back,
where nobody's looking.
Then you can arrange it nicely and you can work on all
the other things that go into your Thanksgiving meal.
So, I've got a beautifully roasted turkey here.
I'm just gonna go ahead.
I'm gonna take the breasts off first.
So, I'm gonna start on this side.
You've got the keel bone here, okay, or the breastbone
and you want to take the tip of your knife,
and your knife should always be sharp
no matter what you're cutting .
Take the tip of the knife, and really you're using
the knife as an extension of your hand
and you can really feel, through the tip of the knife,
where that breastbone is.
So, you're just gonna go ahead and make a cut
right down the side.
I use my hands in the kitchen a lot.
Feel free to use a fork, certainly.
At this point, you would use the fork
just to pull the meat apart ever so slightly.
And then just using clean strokes,
you're just gonna go ahead and cut all the way down.
And you see, you're gonna get a guide.
If you can see right in there, you can see I'm going right
up against the breastbone.
And at this point there's not gonna be any resistance.
So, you're just gonna use nice clean strokes with your knife
and then you can feel it.
So, I'll cut right down here, where the drumstick is,
just to release the skin.
All that's there is skin.
Make your last cut
and you've got a perfect turkey breast
sitting right on your platter, okay?
So, we're gonna do it on the other side again.
So, all I'm gonna do now is just turn the bird and I'm
gonna do the same thing on the other side.
Tip of my knife is gonna go right down.
And this is where the wishbone is on this side.
So, you're gonna follow right down, same thing.
Get in there with either your hand or your carving fork.
Gonna move right down again.
Always feeling where the bone are with the tip of your knife.
And you can really feel it, it's amazing.
And that's your guide for the whole thing.
So, I've got my clean cuts down, same thing.
I'm just gonna make one slice, just to release the skin
from where the drumstick is and then follow through
on the inside with my knife.
Another breast, right off, okay.
So, my breasts are removed from my turkey.
Lot of good pieces of turkey in here.
So, we're gonna keep that.
But, what I wanna do now is get the legs removed, okay?
So, same thing, always feeling with the bones.
And a properly roasted turkey, the bones are gonna be loose.
You're gonna feel it, so what you can do,
if you can see down here, that's where the thigh bone is.
Right with your hand, just go ahead with your hand
and pop it out a little bit, just to release it.
And the rest of it is just meat, so you can cut right through.
Okay, and then I've got my leg and my thigh all in one piece.
I'll show you again on this side.
I'll turn the bird.
Just gonna make a cut down.
Just enough so I'm startin' to see where that thigh bone is.
And I can see it right down here.
So, with my hand, I'm just gonna pop up.
Beautiful, there's my thigh bone.
So, with the tip of my knife, I'm just cutting right
around that thigh bone.
Okay, so that's done, I'll come back to those in a second.
At this point, you've got your turkey pretty much stripped.
But people often like to eat the wings.
Getting the wings off is almost the same
as taking off the thigh, okay?
It's gonna be cooked enough so you can really just,
with your hand, start to loosen it.
You'll see where that bone is and then you just gonna cut
right through it with your knife.
Okay, I'll show you again on this side.
Okay, twist until that bone pops out
and you can see it right in there.
And then you're just gonna cut right around it.
And then your wings come off again.
Lot of good meat left on the turkey.
I've just moved that to a platter and go ahead
and pick it off when people are ready.
Kay, so we're gonna work on the wings first
because they're in front of me.
There's a bone right in between.
Think about chicken wings, okay?
We've almost got like a drumstick and then
we've got the flattened part of it.
And right here, the bone is down here.
Okay, same thing.
You should be able to cut right through it.
If you want to keep the tips, keep the tips.
That's fine.
We've got a wing there.
And then we've got a drumstick there for people to naw on.
Okay, I'll show you one more time.
Same thing, just pop it right through till it's loose.
Cut right there.
Another wing, another drumstick.
Okay, now let's work on the drumsticks and the thighs.
Same idea here, we have a bone.
We've done raw--cutting up raw chickens before.
It's the same idea.
We've got a bone here that's very very soft.
Okay, that we're just gonna find with our knife, okay?
Same thing, you can just go ahead.
See, where it is right there?
That's the bone right there you're looking for.
And that's what you're gonna cut right through.
Right through that cartilage.
So, then you've got a drumstick and a thigh.
I'll show you one more time.
Okay, we're gonna cut through.
Then we're gonna prise until we can see where that bone...
You can see the split, right in there, okay?
Right in between there is where I wanna go.
You're not cutting through bone at this point.
It's just cartilage.
And then I've got my thighs.
This is my favorite part of the turkey.
So, I like to start here.
And there is a bone running through the middle.
But, you're just taking your knife with clean strokes.
Okay, and then your get beautiful slices of thigh meat.
Dark meat to me has more flavor, okay.
Same idea, right here.
The skin's intact.
You're just gonna go ahead and take your knife,
run it right down that thigh.
Okay, the bones gonna be running
right through the center, you can see it.
So, once you get down to it, but look look at that.
Beautiful slices of dark meat on the platter.
Okay, and then a breast.
Now, we've done all the hard parts, okay.
The breast is the easiest thing to slice.
So, I've got my breast and it's still very very warm.
And what I really like about this is
you can do it, as much as, an hour in advance,
get it all taken off the bone, keep it covered in foil,
pop it back in your oven right before you want to serve it
just to bring the temperature up a little bit.
You want believe the time that it saves you
because really when you're trying to get all that food
on the table during Thanksgiving, everybody,
I think that's when they're feeling the most rushed.
So, if you know your turkey's ready
just to be sliced like this, you won't believe the pressure
you're gonna feel taken off of you.
So, for your beautiful slices of turkey breast,
as thick or as thin as you like.
I like to do about half an inch.
But again, I've got a sharp knife.
It's long enough to cut right across the turkey breast.
Because my knife is sharp, my skin's staying intact.
So, everybody gets with their slice of turkey breast
gets a piece of skin right on top.
And to me, that's one of the best parts about it as well,
is that turkey skin that you get on top.
Carving a turkey for Thanksgiving, folks.
It's really that easy.
Just give yourself a little time,
do it a little bit ahead of time,
and that'll save you for all the other things
you need to get on the table.
Happy Thanksgiving.