--- ---  # How to Carve a Turkey by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 23, 2015 10:10 PM UTC  by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Nov 23, 2015 10:10 PM UTC Carving your [turkey](http://time.com/money/4124279/cheap-thanksgiving-turkey-prices/) once it comes out of the oven is one of the hardest Thanksgiving tasks any host has to confront. But it doesn’t have to be. Watch the video above from Southern Living for a helpful how-to guide from test kitchen director Robby Melvin. He takes you through the whole carving process, starting with removal of the legs and the thighs. And once you’re done he even shows you how to slice it for that perfect Thanksgiving table look. Thanksgiving: How to Carve a Turkey ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4125075/thanksgiving-turkey-carve-how-to/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4125075/thanksgiving-turkey-carve-how-to/"},"headline":"How to Carve a Turkey","datePublished":"2015-11-23T22:10:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:32.384Z","description":"Thanksgiving's toughest task made easy","url":"https://time.com/4125075/thanksgiving-turkey-carve-how-to/","keywords":["Living","Food"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt893db2a4934ae44f/69887284ab6d7763db6a7498/turkey.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt893db2a4934ae44f/69887284ab6d7763db6a7498/turkey.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"turkey","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4125075/thanksgiving-turkey-carve-how-to/","name":"How to Carve a Turkey"}}]}] ```