Turkey Q & A
This year, Thanksgiving is on November 27 (that’s a Thursday, in case you hadn’t noticed). Pick up a frozen turkey the weekend before (November 22-23) and you’ll have plenty of time to thaw your poultry popsicle. Butterball.com says to allow one day of thawing for every four pounds of turkey. That means if you’ve got a 12-pound turkey, it’ll need three whole days in the fridge. If you need to do it quicker, drop the whole wrapped turkey in a sink full of water and allow 30 minutes per pound. If you’re in a real hurry, get a fresh turkey, not a frozen one. And while you’re at the store, pick up a meat thermometer (the all-metal kind, not the quick read digital kind) and a fat separator cup for making gravy (ask the clerk – most stores have plenty of these around holiday time).

How big a turkey should I buy?
Plan on one pound per person. It sounds like a lot, but remember, the weight of the turkey includes the bones and the giblets.

Giblets? What are giblets?
Giblets are what you’ll find when you reach down into the recesses of your turkey. Yes, you two will be pretty intimate before this thing is over. Giblets are actually Tom's soft internal organs and make for delicious gravy.

After the turkey is thawed, cut open the plastic wrap and reach in between its legs. Inside, you’ll find the neck (long thing, bone in the middle), liver (soft, reddish and triangular), heart (only vaguely reminiscent of a valentine) and gizzard (don’t ask, just pull it out). I usually boil up the liver and feed it to my cat so she can have her own little feast. It doesn’t taste good in gravy anyway.