While we never recommend going straight from the fridge to the oven without brining, seasoning, or trussing your bird, it’s not an uncommon tradition for some folks to pop the turkey in the oven without much fuss or fanfare.
If you’re in a laissez faire turkey roasting household, it’s possible that you’re forgetting this one important step.
Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Torie Cox
Remove The Giblets
Reach inside the cavity of your turkey once it’s thawed—or even partially thawed—and pull out a little sack of organs and pieces of the turkey. These are the giblets, and while they’re perfectly good to eat, they’re much tastier prepared separately.
While there’s technically no harm done in roasting your turkey with the giblets inside, it might be unpleasant to bake the little sack they come in, and it might prolong the thawing—and cooking—process.
What Are Giblets?
Turkey giblets are a shorthand term for the bundle of goodies found inside the cavity of the bird. Giblets are often found together in a bag, and they typically include:
Gizzard: You may be familiar with fried chicken gizzards as a staple of Southern cuisine—gizzards are also an important part of a turkey’s digestive system that help grind up and process their food. They’re also full of nutrients and flavors for soups and stocks.
Heart and liver: These organs are softer parts of the giblets, but they, too, can be chopped up and incorporated into a gravy or broth to flavor it. Some folks like to cook up turkey liver as they would chicken livers.
Neck: The neck is long and perhaps the most obvious of the giblets. It’s great used to fortify and flavor soups, sauces, and broth.
Why Turkey Comes With Giblets
When turkeys are processed and cleaned, the giblets are separated from the rest of the insides of the bird. The icky parts are discarded, and then the giblets, a nutritious bundle of odds and ends that are still good to eat, are tucked back into the cavity for safekeeping.
Some people discard them if they don’t like giblets, while others keep the giblets to make gravies, sauces, and stocks. Some people forget about the giblets entirely and leave them inside.
Caitlin Bensel, Food Stylist: Torie Cox
What To Do With Turkey Giblets
Giblet gravy is absolutely delicious. Not only does it cut down on waste, but the bits and pieces of the turkey’s most nutritious and hearty parts make for an excellently luscious, rich, and velvety gravy. With pan drippings from the turkey and lots of added aromatics, butter, and even chopped hard-boiled eggs. Drizzle it over Thanksgiving dressing, mashed potatoes, and, of course, turkey.