The Answers to All Your Thanksgiving Questions

More links in the pinned comment.

I tried to answer as many questions as I could!

0:00 Introduction
0:10 TURKEY
0:15 Tips for optimal cooking and browning.
1:18 Should I cook my turkey upside down?
2:10 Why you should use a sheet tray, not a roasting pan.
2:25 How a pizza stone will improve your turkey
2:59 How do I convince my family to let me spatchcock the turkey?
3:40 How dangerous is it to try a turkey?
5:05 How can I save overcooked turkey?
5:15 Dry-brining vs. wet brining
7:18 How salty should my brine be?
7:48 Can you use baking powder to make turkey skin extra crispy?
8:03 2007-era Kenji and a Dutch angle
8:55 How do you make turkey less boring?
10:04 How long should I let my turkey rest before carving?
10:55 How to cook a turkey for two.
11:50 How to make a “turchetta” (porchetta-style skin-wrapped boneless turkey breast
13:05 STUFFING
13:10 How to make extra-moist stuffing
14:18 What do you think about Stove-Top?
15:00 Is there a difference between stale bread and dry bread?
16:33 What should I put in my stuffing?
17:35 POTATOES
17:40 Can I make mashed potatoes ahead of time?
18:45 What's the best potato for mashed potatoes?
19:40 SIDES
19:45 Vegetables for folks who hate vegetables?
20:42 Can I used canned cream of mushroom soup in recipes?
21:59 What's a good Pacific Northwest flavor I can bring to Thanksgiving?
23:05 Whole cranberries in your sauce, or smooth?
23:42 What's a good cranberry sauce alternative?
24:33 What's the best bread for Thanksgiving?
25:08 My favorite Thanksgiving side?
25:48 How can I "elevate" my cranberry sauce?
26:45 How can I make a good fast gravy?
27:50 How do I prevent my gravy from getting lumpy?
29:24 What are some non-traditional dishes you recommend?
30:11 How fix broken gravy?
30:30 America's Test Kitchen suggests Better than Bouillon over boxed broth. Do you?
31:27 A PLANT-BASED Thanksgiving
31:35 What's a great vegan main course?
31:39 How to make great vegan gravy
33:44 PIE
33:49 How do I make a great pie crust?
35:55 How to give your apples great texture for pie
37:15 How to pick the right apple for pie
37:50 Canned vs. fresh pumpkin?
38:45 What's the deal with canned pumpkin?
39:40 LEFTOVERS
39:49 My favorite things to do with Thanksgiving leftovers
41:27 PLANNING
41:40 What can be made ahead?
43:50 How would you simplify Thanksgiving?
45:24 What are some bright dishes to go with Thanksgiving?
46:23 Go easy on yourself
47:05 THANKSGIVING FOR NON-AMERICANS
47:13 What are Thanksgiving essentials?
48:14 How does Thanksgiving compare to Christmas?
49:02 If you could redesign Thanksgiving, what would you change?
50:10 What is more common, turkey or ham?
50:41 RANDOM QUESTIONS
50:50 Traditions other than food?
51:47 Can I eat expired food?
53:12 Are brownies cookies?
54:20 My rule of thumb for determining if food [x] belongs in group [b]
54:48 I like Jacques Pépin's pie recipe. Should I try something new?
55:53 What's my go-to Thanksviging pot-luck gift?
56:51 Why does food taste better when you aren't the one cooking it?
58:31 That time Kevin Bacon wrote my name on his hand.
58:36 Kevin sees me. I know.

[JKenjiLopezAlt]

TURKEY/POULTRY:



























STUFFING:





MASHED POTATOES:





SIDES:




















GRAVY:






A VEGETARIAN Thanksgiving:





PIE:









LEFTOVERS:

















PLANNING:



RANDOM:

[foodwishes]

Great video with so many much-needed tips! I especially loved the part about how to prevent lumps in the gravy. :) Thanks for the shout out!

[johnr]

This is my Roman empire this is all I will think about until next thanksgiving

[ClarionMumbler]

"If the turkey is dry, that's fine, just enjoy each other's company." Kenji lives in a world very different from mine.

[zeophen]

I just love Kenji's vibe. The turkey is bad? Ok, enjoy each others company. Kids are making noise while your making a video? So what, they're having fun and you can still hear me. We're here because cooking is important, but there are several more important things. So chill, go with the flow, do your best and at the very least hope you're in good company.

[jano]

I'm from Germany, so Thanksgiving is not a thing in our tradition.

Still, I know I'm gonna watch this whole thing because I love Kenji explaining to me the science of how to roast a whole turkey, a bird that wouldn't fit in most central european ovens anyways (the traditional Christmas Bird in Germany is goose) and trying to come up with ways to incorporate his techniques into my cookery.

Thank you, Kenji. Love from Cologne.

[snooshi]

An hour of Kenji?!? It's been quite a week, and this is very much needed!

[Samurai]

This guy is so fkng cool. I'm a Chef and whenever I feel like I'm in a rut, or looking to learn more about things I don't know so much about, this is the guy I turn to. Endless inspiration in my opinion.

[ClarionMumbler]

I just finished the whole thing and I think this video has the potential to become a real classic. The density of actionable information is pretty amazing. I think this is something to book mark and watch every year at the beginning of november

[goodboimax]

I think this shows of how much i like listening kenji talk about cooking, I watched an hour long video about turkey making while not being american and knowing I'll never cook a turkey in my life

[johnspringer]

Another Kenji-told benefit of Dry-brining vs. Wet-brining is that dry brining helps desiccate the skin and reduce surface moisture. You can pat dry the wet-brined bird but it will never get as dry as the surface of a dry-brined, which will hurt your skin-browning efforts. In other words, all things equal-- a dry-brined bird will brown and crisp much better.

[Hillers]

We spatchcocked, dry brined (with added baking powder) and mayo rubbed this year. The best turkey we’ve ever made! Big Kenji fans in our house

[anto_]

Babe, hour long Kenji video just DROPPED

[aimeemorgado]

I work as a checker in a major grocery store. I hate the holidays- because some people are sooo horrible. But Kenji has gotten me excited and I will happily endure the next week of stressed, crabby cooks. Gonna remind folks WHY we do this is more important than the specific results. Let’s face it- we only remember the crazy stuff that happens, and never the perfect culinary and artistic table scapes . Have fun - enjoy yourself, love everyone, and be kind. Joy and prosperity to you all.

[Jodabomb]

My grandmother always put apple chunks, dried cranberries, and nuts in her stuffing and it really is incredible. The slight sweet-tartness balances the savoury flavour of the sausage and the stock wonderfully.

[christinecoe]

Mushroom (cooked in a fat) blended into gravy, can add potato starch, blend it with coconut milk, miso, soy sauce, other traditional seasonings. My blended mushroom gravy has been a hit with everyone.

[stevengarman]

wait a minute, am I falling in love with Kenji? or is he just incredible?

[cdfdesantis]

Like this guy - he cooks like me - uncomplicated, not afraid of shortcuts, creatively jazzes things up sometimes. Great explanations of why food does what it does, too.

[mayonnaiseeee]

46:48 pretty much - gravy fixes so many sins. Also thank you so much for putting this together Kenji - it looks like it was a lot of work from all the chapter notations, edited in clips/pictures, transitions, and your mega-comment with all the links. You are legendary.

[julysummer]

Kenji, thank you so much for this! Don’t need to look anywhere else. And thank you so much for being so down to earth. I can relate to you, even as a home cook.