Garner-based Butterball, which supplies one out of every three turkeys sold in the United States, has operated a Turkey Talk-Line since 1981 to answer questions from consumers about cooking everything from stuffing to their bird.
Each November and December, professionally trained turkey experts assist holiday cooks through questions that come in via the Turkey Talk-Line, Butterball.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, live chat and emails in the United States and Canada.
The Turkey Talk-Line has more than 50 staffers who answers questions from both English- and Spanish-speaking callers. On Thanksgiving, there will be about 10,000 calls, texts and chats. The hours on Thursday are 7 a.m. EST to 7 p.m. EST (Click on the link above for the phone number and the texting and live chat options.)
Many of them are frantic. Some are frustrated. Others are amusing.
“When you’re talking turkey, you have to get them off the ledge,” says Karen Wilcher, a Butterball Turkey Talk-Line expert who has been responding to calls for 12 seasons. I caught her right after a discussion with a woman who had questions about brining.
“We like to think we’re a trusted resource,” said Wilcher, who has a degree in restaurant management from the University of Illinois and previously worked in the Quaker Oats test kitchen.
Wilcher says the strangest call was a gentleman a few years ago who put his turkey on the back deck to thaw. When he went to retrieve the bird, a raccoon was nibbling on it. The caller wanted to know if the turkey was still good to cook and serve.
“I don’t think a raccoon is the proper guest,” says Wilcher.
The staffers keep up with cooking trends. When deep frying turkeys became popular, they went into the test kitchen to ensure the safest methods. Lately, it’s spatchcocking, which is cutting the turkey up the back and flattening the bird.
“But if you’re a family who likes to have the Norman Rockwell painting of a turkey on the table, spatchcocking is not for you,” says Wilcher.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Talk-Line was getting a lot of calls about thawing. Wilcher says those will continue into Wednesday, and then there will be more calls about cooking times and methods.
Wilcher’s advice? “A thermometer is your best friend. And have that timer ready. You don’t want to take any chances.”
As for her Thanksgiving dinner, Wilcher has been cooking some sides. But her sister, Roslyn Mitchell, will cook the turkey.
“We have been lamenting the fact that our grown children don’t do more,” says Wilcher.