Cleaning a Turkey
Follow along to break down your turkey and prepare it for eating immediately or wrapping and freezing.
Step 1: Make Your First Cut
Find the point of the breast bone, then make a cut through the skin directly on that point.
Step 2: Expose the Breast Meat
Using your hands, grab both sides of the cut you just made and pull the skin back to expose the breast meat.
Step 3: Begin To Cut the Breast Meat
Choose which side of the breast to remove first. Using your knife, make a quarter-of-an-inch-deep cut right along the bone until you can see a tender along with the breast lobe.
Step 4: Remove the Lobe
Continue cutting along the breast bone until the lobe is free and can be removed.
Step 5: Remove the Tender
Head back in and cut along the breast bone again until the tender is free and can be removed. Repeat the previous three steps to remove the breast meat on the other side of the bird.
Step 6: Move to the Legs
Cut the legs at the knee joint, where scale meets feather. Remove the lower leg.
Step 7: Expose the Thigh
Choose a leg on which to begin, then insert your knife under the skin and feathers. Cut upward toward the top of the thigh.
Step 8: Pull the Skin
Using your hands, pull the skin away from the meat.
Step 9: Separate the Hip Joint and Cut To Remove
Using your hands, press downward on the leg until you feel the hip joint dislocate. Use your knife to cut through the separated hip joint and remove your thigh. Repeat the previous three steps on the other leg.
