How to carve a turkey video, recipes: Thanksgiving 2012 step-by-step instructions

The easy way to carve a turkey. (CLICK THE PLAYER TO THE LEFT TO WATCH VIDEO)

First thing, use a sharp knife.

You separate the drumstick from the thigh. Put your fork through the bone, through where the tendons are, and cut through the joint. Lift the leg up and off and put it on your serving platter.

The you make a cut across the base of the breast. That way when you slice down the slices will come off in one piece.

You just slice straight across the grain. Stack them on a platter when you are finished.

You don't have to worry about cutting them lose at the bottom, because you've made the cut at the base.

Slice nice and thin.

Just keep stacking as you go, unless your family is grabbing it off the fork while you are cutting it.

Continue doing that until you've got the breast down to the breast bone.

Now that you've got it down to the breast bone you want to take the bird and just do a half-flip on it.

Place it down on its other breast.

You can take the wing off.

It's the same procedure as taking the leg off. You go into the joint and slice through the joint. Once you've got it sliced through the joint go ahead and take the wing and place that on the plate.

You've got access to the thigh because the turkey is up.

You slice the meat down along the bone on the thigh. Stack that.

And right under the thigh is what most connoisseurs consider to be the best piece of meat on a turkey.

It's called the oyster. It's just above where the thigh bone comes in and meets the hip joint.

And once you've got it carved you've got a beautiful, quick, easy presentation. But as chef Gordon Ramsay says, "That only lasts 30 seconds."

Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner.

Instructions by: Chef John Teitsch