Keep everything clean - This is her first hack for making sure your guests donât get sick. That means washing your hands frequently, keeping your cooking area sanitary by wiping up âturkey juicesâ with paper towels, not cloth towels, and Martha recommends wearing rubber gloves, too.
Keep that turkey just cold-enough before cooking - âIf you bought a frozen turkey, thaw it in the original bag it comes in,â Stewart advises. âIf you have a fresh turkey, just keep it really cold in the coldest part of the refrigerator.â And todayâs the day to think about this because she says itâll take two days to thaw a large frozen turkey in the fridge. But wait to stuff it until the day youâre actually cooking it.
Use the right tools - Donât skimp when it comes to putting the turkey in the oven, Martha says those âfloppy aluminum pansâ are a big no and that we should be using a proper roasting pan with a rack instead. Then make sure to use a thermometer to check the turkeyâs center and the thickest part of the thigh to make sure itâs 165-degrees. And her final suggestion is to âGarnish beautifully, of course.â She is Martha Stewart, after all.