Forget Everything You’ve Been Told About Tenting Your Thanksgiving Turkey

Nothing ruins a delicious Thanksgiving turkey like soggy skin.

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Is the skin of a turkey the most healthy part to eat? Absolutely not. But, is it the most delicious part? Those of us who love us will tell you that it is.

Most of us have followed the unwritten rule of tenting our turkey with foil because it's something that our parents and grandparents always did and so we figure we're supposed to as well. But what if we were to tell you that tenting your turkey with foil at the end of the cooking process only completely undoes all of the work that the oven did to make the skin nice and crispy and dries out the meat?

When cooked improperly, turkey can quickly turn dry and so most people will tent the turkey with aluminum foil after it's cooked and while it's resting in an effort to keep the meat moist, but that's actually the very last thing you should ever do.

Tenting (or covering a turkey) after cooking won't just make your nice, crispy skin soggy but it will continue to cook the turkey and this is when the meat dries out. Instead, after you take your turkey out of the oven or roaster, set it to the side for an hour or so in order for it to rest without continuing to cook. The result will be nice, crispy skin and juicy meat as soon as you cut into your bird.

One other thing to note is that you should never stick your turkey back into the oven after it's finished cooking. An instance of people doing this is when they pull their bird out of the oven to let it rest before company comes and then they don't show up on time. Putting the turkey back into the oven will just dry it out.

The best way to reheat your turkey if company is late or things get away from you is to carve it, heat up stock or broth until it's nice and hot and then pour it over the meat to get it warm again.