How To Revive Dry Thanksgiving Turkey

Far too many of us know the doomed Thanksgiving misfortune. You've spent hours prepping the perfect turkey, painstakingly stuffing, basting, basting again, checking the temperature, basting again, and carving. Your guests, smelling the aromas of stuffing and sweet potatoes, are anxiously awaiting a savory and succulent bird. At last, everyone is at the dinner table and ready to dig into their plates with cutlery in hand as you carve into the turkey. You give the first slice a bite — and the turkey is dry.

It's part of the American experience. It's become ingrained within the Thanksgiving tradition — almost to the point where some people are ditching turkey altogether. Luckily, there are simple ways to salvage a dry turkey.

If you notice the turkey is dry, prepare a serving platter with a thin layer of warm gravy or turkey stock. As you slice the meat, place it into the stock or gravy, allowing it to absorb the moisture. Serve the turkey atop stock or gravy to your guests, and the stock or gravy will improve the texture and impart extra flavor into the meat.

The Barefoot Contessa has a repertoire full of unconventional tricks like smoothing out a potato salad. To prevent serving your guests dry turkey, Ina Garten sparked the idea of serving the meat within a layer of warm gravy in her recipe for make-ahead turkey.

In this recipe, she encourages home cooks to serve slices of their carved turkey on top of homemade gravy. Then, put the platter back into the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 to 30 minutes. The extra heat will increase the gravy's ability to seep into the nooks and crannies of the meat. Though her recipe calls for gravy, turkey or chicken stock works in a pinch.

A Thanksgiving feast always comes with leftovers, so this method also works well for reheating leftover turkey. Reheating leftover turkey in a microwave or oven without extra moisture will make the bird even drier than the day before, so warming it up with gravy or stock will revert the turkey close to its original, more desirable state.