12 Genius Thanksgiving Cooking Tips From Celebrity Chefs

Tyler Florence's mashed potato hack = genius.

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Cooking a Thanksgiving feast can be ~intimidating~...

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But lucky for you, celebrity chefs have some clever tricks that'll help you pull it off (and make your food taste 100 times better).

Here are 12 of their best:

1. Tyler Florence boils his potatoes directly in heavy cream when making mashed potatoes.

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He adds his potatoes to a pot and covers them with heavy cream. In an interview with PopSugar, he explained, "I’ll take that same cream and butter and add that to the potatoes and cook the potatoes in cream and butter." The results are super creamy, rich, and unlike any mashed potatoes you've had.

Get his recipe here.

2. Julia Child wrapped her turkey in buttery cheesecloth while roasting to give it a deep golden color.

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This way, you won't have to keep basting it with butter as it roasts ― and according to The New York Times, it "becomes a golden, burnished roast that cooks in two hours and slices like a dream."

Learn how to do it here.

3. Martha Stewart tears her bread into small pieces and dries it out in the oven before making stuffing...

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She dries it out just enough so it holds its shape and doesn't get too soggy. The hand ripping (instead of dicing) also gives it an unexpected texture that crisps up nicely.

Get the recipe here.

4. And she dry brines her turkey for 24 hours to season it and make sure it stays moist.

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Her dry brine only takes four ingredients to make and assures your turkey comes out nice and juicy.

Get the recipe here.

5. Wolfgang Puck uses a more traditional method and wet brines his turkey ― letting it soak for four hours before roasting.

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His method is more labor intensive, but it's a classic technique that helps keep your bird nice and juicy.

Get the recipe here.

6. Ina Garten spikes her gravy with Cognac to give it a subtle kick...

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She adds cognac (or brandy) along with chicken stock to deglaze her pan after caramelizing onions to make the base of her gravy. This builds a ton of flavor and utilizes all the delicious brown bits that form on the bottom of the pan (AKA fond).

Get the recipe here.

7. While Nigella Lawson adds allspice to hers which gives it an unexpected pop of warm flavor.

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Nigella takes her gravy to a whole new level by adding allspice, cinnamon, and clementine juice to transform her gravy into something entirely new.

Get the recipe here.

8. Jamie Oliver ditches the sad, canned cranberry sauce for a homemade version made with apples.

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He makes his own by cooking diced apples and fresh cranberries together with sugar and cinnamon to create something you'd actually want to eat with your turkey.

Get the recipe here.

9. Giada De Laurentiis finishes her turkey with a sweet and savory cranberry orange glaze.

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It gives the turkey a beautiful shine and vibrant flavor that is perfectly sweet and savory.

Get the recipe here.

10. Rachel Ray makes her pie crust a month ahead of time to get a head start.

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She gets everything prepped and ready and says, "The day before Thanksgiving, simply pull out the crust, fill it with your desired filling, then bake as instructed."

See even more of her time-saving tips here.

11. Emeril Lagasse makes his stuffing with chorizo to give it a spicy kick.

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Emeril kicks up the flavor of ~sometimes bland~ stuffing by rendering spicy chorizo and cooking his veggies in it. That way, the bread soaks up all the delicious flavor and creates a stuffing that is bursting with flavor.

Get the recipe here.

12. Marcus Samuelsson makes an unexpected variation of apple pie with cheddar cheese and cardamom.

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He plays off of the unusual (but popular) combination of apple pie and cheddar cheese by making a cheddar pie crust and filling it with cardamom-spiked apples.

Get the recipe here.

Let's get cooking ― you got this!

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