Do you know anyone.....

[Judy from Boise]

who carves the bird at the table (the classic bird on a platter look on TV). I can't even imagine it! How would the logistics work and be at all appetizing?

I do understand carving a rack roast at the table, that is completely different.

 

[minkydog]

I don't think I've ever seen a turkey carved on the table--what a mess that would be! I roast my turkey the day before the holiday and cut it up after it sits for about 30 min. It's very juicy and the next day I just warm up whatever we're going to eat at that sitting so I don't have turkey laying around the kitchen.

 

[OK!]

My dad carves up the turkey at the kitchen table with an electric knife and then puts what has been cut up onto the platter to be taken into the dining room for serving. There's usually not enough room (because of all of the people around) at the dining room table to wield the electric knife safely anyway.

 

[a1tinkfans]

My dad carves up the turkey at the kitchen table with an electric knife and then puts what has been cut up onto the platter to be taken into the dining room for serving. There's usually not enough room (because of all of the people around) at the dining room table to wield the electric knife safely anyway.

 

[FireDancer]

At our family Thanksgiving my grandma carves it with an electric knife in the kitchen first. In October though a bunch of my friends get together and do a Thanksgiving in October. We all bring side dishes and have a turkey. That turkey gets carved at the table for each person one at a time.

It has become a tradition for us to do it that way.

 

[Katy Belle]

I do mine ahead, cut it up in the privacy of my own kitchen. Put the sliced meat in broth and freeze until the day of our feast. My turkey this year was a real mess. I had visions of carving him at the table...ick. He was a very greasy bird!

One friend did carve the bird at the table, but breast meat only. Then took the rest of the carcass in the kitchen. I'm assuming they dealt with that later

 

[NotUrsula]

I do. I've always done it that way when I cook for immediate family only; it keeps the meat hot until you are ready to eat it.

I make the initial vertical cuts in the kitchen where I can work on the counter up close and get underneath the thighs to sever the joints, then I do the downcuts at the table in order to remove the meat.

When we do big extended family dinners we'll carve them on the sideboard, because there is just no room for the birds on the dining table.

I grew up in animal-farming family -- we don't find carcasses unappetizing as long as they are dressed and cooked.

 

[bumbershoot]

While I have never done anything with a turkey (other than eat it), and though I've been vegetarian since I was around 19, my mom/(first)stepdad certainly did carve it at the table! It was always a big deal when my mom would bring the platter (her Lenox pattern) to the table (of course our kitchen was about 5 steps from the dining room table), and someone would cut it and put the slices on a different platter.

Never seemed a problem, even when we had many friends over.

Then again, she didn't get the huge "birds", as she called them. Rather she got the kosher-killed free range organically raised turkeys ordered from the health food store...much smaller, much much much better, not some big ordeal of cutting as some huge thing might have been.

 

[Judy from Boise]

did she cut the drumsticks and thighs to get the dark meat? My DF is an excellent carver but we do it in the kitchen and onto platters........

 

[Micca]

I think my dad may have carved at the table, but that was long ago. We cut our turkey in the kitchen and we all serve ourselves in the kitchen rather than load up the dining table with food.

BTW, thanks for making me hungry again

 

[mominwestlake]

I have also always wondered if anyone carves the turkey at the table. We do not. My other question is how do you keep it warm? My 2 brothers carved the bird this year and it took them forever. They put the sliced pieces on a plastic platter so it couldn't even be put in the oven. The meat was barely warm by the time everyone got to eat it. I was happy for the help so I didn't say anything but I resolve to do it a better way next Thanksgiving. Cooking it the day before is an interesting idea.