Carving The Turkey

Turkey is the main attraction of the Thanksgiving Table. While you may serve a whole roasted turkey as a centerpiece of the table, sliced meat and carved turkey are easier to serve. Here are some tips on how to carve your Harter House turkey for Thanksgiving:

Equipments You May Need:

Warm serving platter

Pair of kitchen scissors

Flexible and sharp 10-inch slicing knife

Carving fork for arranging and serving the meat

Method:

Let the turkey cool for about 20 to 30 minutes at room temperature.

Put the turkey on a carving board using paper towels.

Cut through the trussing with scissors and remove all the string.

Remove the drumsticks by placing the knife against the thigh and cut down to the leg's second joint, where you apply the pressure with the knifepoint and twist it to sever the drumstick.

Make an oval incision in the neck cavity and remove the stuffing, taking care to leave the skin intact.

Transfer the scooped out stuffing into a serving bowl using a long-handled spoon.

Slice the thigh meat from the bone.

Cut carefully while placing the knife horizontally at the bottom curve of the bird's breast and slice in towards the rib cage from the top down.

Cut vertically through the breast meat while carefully preserving some of the skin on each slice.

Severe the wings from the first wing joint.

Arrange the carved turkey on the serving platter by placing the breast-meat slices in rows along both sides of the platter, the slices of thigh meat in the center, the drumsticks crossed at one end and the wings on top, facing each other with the skin side up.

Thanksgiving Trivia

Here are some interesting facts about Thanksgiving that each of us should know about:

The first Thanksgiving celebration can be traced back to the Plymouth Pilgrims in the fall of 1621.

The first Thanksgiving feast was held to thank the Lord for sparing the lives of the survivors of the Mayflower, who landed at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. The survivors included four adult women and almost forty percent children.

The Wampanoag chief Massasoit and ninety of his tribesmen were also invited to the first thanksgiving feast. Governor William Bradford invited them for helping the Pilgrims surviving and teaching them the skills of cultivating the land.

The celebration in 1621 lasted for three days and included games and food.

The president to proclaim the first 'National Day of Thanksgiving' in 1789 was George Washington.

Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor, campaigned to make Thanksgiving a National Holiday in 1827 and succeeded.

Abraham Lincoln announced Thanksgiving to be a national holiday in his proclamation on October 3, 1863.

The 'wishbone' of the turkey is used in a good luck ritual on Thanksgiving Day.

Puritans of Mayflower used to drink Beer. (My husband liked this fact!)