So you’ve bought and thawed your Butterball. Now what? Whether you’re a novice cook or experienced chef looking to save some time, there are a few apps and gadgets that can take your kitchen to the next level. Here are the best tech tools that can teach you how to cook a turkey — or maybe how to cook one even better.
How to cook a turkey: The tech guide
Combo baster and infuser – $11.95
One of the first steps in learning how to cook a turkey is perfecting your basting ingredients and technique. If you want your bird to be tender all the way through, just attach the infuser to the end of the baster and fill with your preferred beer, wine, or mix of spices.
MultiTimer – Free with in-app purchases
How to cook a turkey? How about how to cook an entire Thanksgiving meal. No one makes just one dish for Thanksgiving unless it’s a potluck — so you’ll probably want more than one timer going. The MultiTimer app is free and allows you to set up to six timers at once, enough for a turkey and all the sides. It also allows you to set intervals within the timer, which can be helpful for recipes with time-specific and repeated steps.
Portable Smoker – $35.99
If you’re looking for a way to add more flavor to parts of the holiday bird (or ham, no judgment), but prefer a smokier flavor, this portable smoker is for you. How to cook a turkey (or again, ham, whatever you prefer) doesn’t have to be as simple as throwing it in the oven, and this portable smoker helps you get creative. Develop flavors by smoking different cuts of the meat and marinating others. The smoker is cordless as well, perfect for being circulated around the kitchen.
Meat shredding claws – $5.99
So you’ve learned how to cook a turkey — now what about carving up leftovers? One of the best things about the holiday is leftovers! With these handheld meat shredders, extra turkey can be pulled into the perfect texture for sandwiches and whatever else you want to make. After the holidays, these can also be used to grab large cuts of meat off the grill.
AnyList – Free with in-app purchases
No longer will you find yourself in the middle of following a recipe but missing an ingredient. AnyList allows you to organize items on a list by categories, including recipes. Alternatively, entire lists can be named as specific recipes, with the itemized ingredients being accounted for under that specific list if you’re not into uploading recipes. Figuring out how to cook a turkey, or even just Thanksgiving sides, will be just a little less stressful.
Google Home or Amazon Echo – (around $99.99)
No, neither the Home or Echo are specifically made to teach you how to cook a turkey, but a few crucial features make these devices incredibly useful for the task. For starters, you can set as many timers as you want, and you can do so without using your hands — just shout out to the smart speaker and it’ll set itself. You can also ask the devices for input on cooking: You can literally ask “how to cook a turkey” and the devices will read advice from cooking websites. You can get more specific, too: Try “how long should I cook a frozen turkey?,” or “how hot should the oven be for roasting potatoes?” Google’s tech is more primed for internet queries, but both devices have these capabilities. New versions of these devices run around $100, but if you want an older unit you can save some cash.
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