 Choose a turkey that is large enough for everyone in your group. You can purchase a whole turkey either fresh or frozen. When you purchase a turkey, be sure it's the last thing that you buy at the grocery store. Turkeys are either kept in the refrigerated case or in the freezer. You will want to get your turkey purchased, transported home, and back into cold storage as quickly as possible. It is not a good idea to leave your cold or frozen turkey in the car. Get your other shopping done before you go to the grocery store so your turkey does not sit around stewing in its own juices, possibly warming up to a temperature that would cause foodborne bacteria to grow. If you must transport your turkey for a period of time before it can be put into cold storage, then bring a cooler large enough to hold your turkey and keep a few ice packs with it to keep it cool. Exposing your turkey to temperature abuse is one of the three most common mistakes that people make when cooking at home. When it is time to defrost your frozen turkey to get it ready for cooking, don't make a very common mistake. Do not defrost your turkey on the kitchen counter at room temperature. If you do so, then you are temperature abusing the turkey and it can lead to an outbreak of foodborne illness among your family or guests. Instead, defrost your turkey slowly in the refrigerator. You will need to give the turkey one day to thaw for every four pounds of turkey that you have purchased. Keep the turkey in the original packaging and thaw while it sits in a tray or a large pot in order to catch any drips that could occur. Once thawed, your turkey should be cooked within four days. This method takes a bit of planning, but is less labor-intensive. The cold water method of thawing frozen turkey is done with the breast side down. Place the turkey in a container large enough to cover the whole bird, but do not take it out of its original packaging. Cover the turkey with cold water and change the water every 30 minutes. You may need to set a timer to help you remember. It will take about 30 minutes of cold water thawing for every pound of turkey that you have purchased. Turkey meat is delicious and nutritious, but what part of the turkey do you like best? There are several to choose from. In general, the parts of a turkey are the breast, the wing, and the leg. We can go into even more detail, so let's dive right in. Poultry meat, including turkey meat, is broken down into two broad categories, light meat and dark meat. The difference between light and dark meat is the red muscle fibers and how often they are used by the turkey. Dark meat contains red fibers or slow twitch muscle fibers. These muscles are used for lots of physical activity, like standing or walking, and need lots of energy. Muscle cells use oxygen to get the energy they need for activity. The protein myoglobin stores oxygen in muscle cells, so it is ready to be used. Myoglobin has a reddish color. The more myoglobin there is in the cells, the darker the meat will be. Light meat has fast twitch muscle fibers. These muscle fibers are used for quick bursts of energy like you get with flapping. When turkeys fly, they flap for a little while and then glide back to the ground and resume walking or running. Turkeys are not strong flyers and do not circle the skies for hours on end. Rather, they spend their days mostly walking around. The light meat on a turkey is found mainly in the breast muscle as well as the breast tendalline and the wing. You will only find about 10% of red muscle fibers in the light meat. Light meat also has less fat, more protein and slightly fewer calories than dark meat. The trouble with light meat is that it can easily dry out if it is overcooked. The official name for the turkey breast muscle is the pectoralis major. The breast tendalline is called the pectoralis minor. Both muscles help the turkey flap its wings. Let's look inside a whole bird cut in half so you can see more of what is going on. Can you see how large the pectoralis major or breast muscle is? It takes up a large portion of the turkey carcass. Can you see where the breast tendalline or pectoralis minor is hidden? See? It is hidden under the large breast muscle. If you take the skin off any turkey part then it is called skinless. The turkey breast can be cut in half to give you what is called a turkey breast half. If you leave the bone in the turkey breast then it is called bone-in turkey breast. If you take the bone out then it is called boneless. So this part is a boneless skinless turkey breast half. This cut of meat can be marinated and is a delicious cut of meat. Here is what the breast tendalline looks like once it's separated from the larger breast muscle. It is the most tender cut of meat on a turkey. It also costs more in the store because it is so well hidden on the turkey. It takes time and equipment to get to that particular cut of meat and that means it will cost more money. The wing can be broken up into three separate parts. The drumette, the flat and the wing portion. As you can see the bones in the drumette and the flat match the bones in our arms. There is one bone in the drumette and that is called the humerus which is also the same name for the bone in our upper arm. There are two bones in the flat which have the same names as the two bones in our lower arm. They are the radius and the ulna. Dark meat includes the leg, back and neck of the turkey. Dark meat has about 50% red fibers, more fat and less protein compared to light meat. In contrast with light meat you will find that dark meat is more flavorful, is juicy and is less prone to drying out if cooked for longer. Dark meat also has higher levels of zinc iron and vitamin C. In contrast white meat has more B vitamins. The leg consists of two parts the thigh and the drumstick. You may be familiar with seeing smoked turkey drumsticks sold at fairs or festivals or you may be lucky enough to have a grocery store that sells them. Turkey thighs are not something that you see very often in the store but the thigh meat is sometimes mixed with breast meat and ground up to change the percentage of fat that you find in ground turkey meat. Turkey back meat is again something that you do not find very often but if you are cutting up your own turkey meat then this is a piece that is terrific to use in stock when making your own turkey broth for soups or stews. Once your turkey is thawed you may choose to marinate the meat to add a unique flavor to the meal. Marinating your turkey will help make it the ultimate in juiciness and taste. Most folks will take a whole turkey and soak it in a brine containing salt, sugar or a combination of both. That only allows the marinade to cut the outer portions of the meat and does not send the marinade throughout the turkey. This year you may want to try injecting the marinade into your turkey. Doing an injection marinade sends the key ingredients of the marinade deep within the muscle fiber and ensures that almost every bite stays juicy and tender. Marinades actually do something to the muscle fiber. Over time marinades change the muscle fiber by opening up the proteins and binding to the water in the muscle fibers to prevent drying out. That is why marinating your turkey can make it juicier. Here is an example of a turkey breast that has been cooked without any marination. When you slice into this turkey breast you'll see that it is fairly dry. Here is an example of turkey breast that has been soaked in marinade marked with green food coloring. Only the muscle fibers on the surface have accepted the marinade. The rest of the muscle did not benefit from the addition of the marinade. Here is an example of a turkey breast that was given injection marinade, again marked with green food coloring. You can see that the marinade penetrated into the interior portions of the fibers and the meat stayed juicy after cooking. Poultry meat, including turkey meat, should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a meat thermometer and place it in the center of the thickest muscle, which in the case of the turkey, is the breast muscle. Do not touch the meat thermometer to any bones while checking the temperature. Rather, place it in the meat only. Some people like to place stuffing inside the turkey while it cooks. This is potentially a problem. As the turkey cooks, juices from the meat can soak into the stuffing. If the temperature in the center of the stuffing inside the turkey fails to reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit, then the stuffing has the potential to harbor foodborne pathogens. It is safer to cook the stuffing separately in its own container. Do not let your leftovers come to room temperature before putting them into containers and placing them in the refrigerator. Leftovers should be stored within two hours of cooking. Split up your leftovers into smaller portions and either place them in the refrigerator or freeze them. Why split up your leftovers? Small portions cool faster, which moves your leftovers out of the food safety danger zone. The temperature danger zone is between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Many kinds of bacteria use that temperature range in order to grow, which can lead to foodborne illness. By cooling your leftovers rapidly using these smaller containers, you can help prevent bacteria from ruining your holiday. Now that you have a good idea of how to have a delicious and safe turkey dinner, hopefully you will enjoy cooking turkey more often.