How To Carve A Turkey (Or Two) In Less Than A Minute

So we celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday a little early at the office on Tuesday with some deep-fried turkeys.  While Ken Hayes deep-fried the birds out in back of the studios, I (was) volunteered to carve them.

Here are my tips for carving a turkey or chicken:

• First, let it rest for a good 15-20 minutes.  Pull your turkey from the oven (or from the deep fryer) and tent it with some foil.  When you let the turkey rest for a while, the juices have a chance to redistribute themselves and it'll leave you with more tender and juicy meat.
• Work with a sharp knife and a relatively large cutting board.  When you have the proper tools ANY job is easier!  An electric knife makes the job go fast - but - it can also lead to mistakes.  If you know what you're doing it's the only way to go.
• Cut the drumsticks away first.  That will leave you with a bird that's easier to carve.  If you start to pull them away from the body of the turkey, you'll expose the joint that you can cut through to sever them.
• Remove the breasts and slice them on their own - away from the rest of the bird.  There's less waste that way and it's easier to carve nice slices.
• Finally, tackle the dark meat.  You'll find sections of dark meat diagonally from where the breast meat was.
• Last but not least - save the bones for making your own homemade stock.

Happy holidays!

Special thanks to Ken Hayes for cooking and Tony Hart for the video help!