My First Thanksgiving

Tips and Tricks

Guys. This will be my first year making thanksgiving dinner for my boyfriend and his dad. We've been joking that it's wife test #1. I tend to get pretty obsessive with entertaining others being perfect, so this is ranking pretty important for me. As such, I've done a bit of research on turkey-cookin' that I thought I would share!

When I first told multiple people, including my dad, that I was making dinner for the first time, they all said, "brine the turkey!" If multiple people say to do it, do it. Brining the turkey is basically marinating it, and infusing favors into the meat. I found this recipe that I'm using on Pinterest (obviously). Basically, I'm going to whip up this citrus herb marinade on Wednesday, and brine my turkey in it over night. On Thursday, I'll take it out of the brine, pat it dry, and add stuff some of the oranges, lemons, and herbs inside the turkey to further infuse those flavors. Here's the recipe I'm using:

Apple Cider & Citrus Turkey Brine with Herbs

You may have noticed that I said I was stuffing the turkey with lemons and oranges instead of stuffing. I found an article on common thanksgiving mistakes (I told you, obsessive) and stuffing the turkey with stuffing was one of them. By stuffing the turkey, you now have to cook the turkey longer, essentially drying out the turkey, in order to not have selmonella bread pudding. Yum! So, I'll be baking my stuffing separately. I'm using my grandma's stuffing recipe!

Here are some other tips from the article above:

Dry the turkey before roasting, inside and out.
Use a real thermometer.
Let the turkey rest for 15 minutes before carving.
The turkey takes FOUR DAYS to thaw, at least.

Did you forget that last one? Fret not. Buzzfeed has everything: How to Thaw a Turkey

Good luck to all you first timers! I'd love to hear the recipes you'll be using or what you're making!! Leave them in the comments below!