Why Padma Lakshmi Starts Her Thanksgiving Turkey In The Middle Of The Night

When it comes to someone with Padma Lakshmi's experience writing about food and hosting culinary television shows — not to mention someone with such impeccable taste  — we're keen to listen to whatever advice they have to give. Lakshmi is generous with genius tips for cooking and entertaining during the holidays, and she's at it again with a turkey tip that very well might revolutionize your Thanksgiving routine in terms of both efficiency and next-level flavor. It might sound extreme, but channel your best patience skills and listen to the benefits: According to an interview with Food & Wine, Lakshmi starts cooking the star of Thanksgiving dinner at 1 a.m. the night before.

She seasons the bird and stuffs it with aromatics, and the stuffing itself gets prepped on its own. Her classic turkey goes in at 1 a.m. in order to both prevent any last-minute disasters and get a really juicy, well-cooked finish. Think about it: If you cook the turkey overnight and realize something somehow went wrong the next morning — Lakshmi says her bird is ready around 7am, depending on its weight — you still have time to figure out a backup plan, which isn't the case when the turkey's cooking until right before you eat. This allows a slow, low-temperature approach that is better for the turkey's texture. Lakshmi starts the turkey at 450 degrees Fahrenheit before lowering it to 300 degrees Fahrenheit after 30; then, the temperature stays there until it's done. 

Turkey is infamous for being all too easy to cook to the point of dryness. The longer you can cook it at a lower temperature, the better, which is something that starting the night before Thanksgiving allows. A slow cook gives you crispy skin and juicy, tender meat because the turkey is able to stay at a more even temperature throughout and hold onto that moisture. Traditionally, to cook a thawed 20-pound turkey to perfection, for instance, you'd be looking at around four to five hours. Keeping in mind a general rule of 15 minutes per pound of turkey, the more time you give yourself, the better. You can lower that heat and keep that moisture.

While it involves some late-night hours, Lakshmi's method removes a lot of the frenzied, last-minute stress of Thanksgiving cooking. You can take your time and know you have several hours to fix anything that still manages to go awry. The one thing to consider is that you will have to plan ahead for your Thanksgiving oven space. It's not like the turkey actually leaves the oven for good once it's ready at 7am, after all — that would be one cold turkey. Lakshmi keeps her turkey warmed in the oven all day on Thanksgiving with her attention free to focus on the sides — so you will still need some oven space for that warming.