WASHINGTON — A person isn’t born knowing how to prepare a Thanksgiving turkey.
Creating a holiday feast is usually a labor of love, and young people often relish the first chance to help make the dishes.
We enlisted co-workers at WTOP and Federal News Radio to ask their young children for suggestions on preparing the meal’s star attraction — the turkey.
Choosing the right-sized bird can be challenging.
Abigail, 8, suggested getting a 100-pound turkey. Amelia, 9, figured that for a larger group, a 5-pound turkey would be appropriate, although she clearly wasn’t planning on leftovers.
Six-year-old Alaina felt the turkey should be “10 feet” long.
As for seasoning for the bird, Henry, 6, didn’t hesitate: “Cheese — yum, yum.”
Spencer, 6, apparently doesn’t see a need for written recipes. “First, you taste it. If it’s not good, you do something to make it taste better.”
His 8-year-old brother, Gavin, was asked what special steps he would take to make the turkey extra tasty.
“Take off its feathers,” he said. “If you ate a turkey with feathers, it would be very, very, very, very, very gross.”
Heating the oven to the proper temperature is important, with kids recommendations starting “in the hundreds,” up to “900, so it’s not too cold and not too hot.”
Asked for their favorite part of the turkey, several chefs-to-be chose “the stuffing.”
Nine-month-old Isaac will eat his first Thanksgiving turkey. His pro tips? “Goo deh, deh, da da.”
Aly, 5, said her favorite part of the turkey is “the chicken.”
For 6-year-old Spencer, the tastiest part of the turkey is clear:
“In my opinion, I think the bone,” he said, assuredly. “That’s my opinion.”
