How not to carve a turkey: 10 common mistakes and how to avoid them

You’ve labored over your Thanksgiving turkey for days, painstakingly brining, roasting, and basting until finally you’ve pulled a beautiful golden-brown bird from your oven. You’ve done everything right so far, but the final step - carving - can turn all your hard work into a scene from a horror film, your gorgeous gobbler shredded into unrecognizable, microscopic pieces of meat.

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Carving a turkey doesn’t have to be a dreaded task. It really isn’t that hard as long as you avoid a few common mistakes. Basically, if you can carve a chicken, you can carve a turkey - and if you can’t, you just need a little practice.

Set yourself up for success by arranging your tools. Use a large cutting board, because turkeys are enormous and you don’t want your bird hanging off the board and rocking back-and-forth while you are trying to carve it.

Keep your cutting board from slipping by placing a damp towel or paper towels underneath, and have some extra ready-to-grab towels on the side so you can clean up any running juices.

Now that you know how to start, read on to find out what you shouldn’t do while carving your turkey this Thanksgiving.

Angela Carlos contributed to this story.