Hi, Ira here. Now that you've gorged yourself on leftover Halloween candy, you might be prepping for that next big food holiday, Thanksgiving, and stressing out about how to cook your turkey, right, to a safe temperature, but not dry it out.

Should you deep fry it, brine, break it up into pieces and roast? Lots of decisions, but never fear we and science

have you covered. We're dipping back into the SciFri archives to bring you some science-based

cooking tips to cut down on the holiday stress. With this conversation we originally aired back in

2016. Catherine, this turkey tastes half as good as it looks.

I think we're all in for a very big treat.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Why are you crying?

I told you we put it in too early.

It's just a little dry.

It's fine.

Here's the heart.

That's one of my favorite scenes in any movie.

That was, of course, Clark Griswold, Master of the Disaster Holiday Meal.

And while this scene from National

Lampoon's Christmas vacation, is one of the funniest, I think. It ain't when it happens to you,

is it? We've all been there. You've roasted a perfectly golden brown turkey. You've basted it for

hours. Cooked it low and slow and resisted opening that door every five minutes.

When you finally carve it up and take that first taste, you get that sad, stringy bite.

The one that makes it reach for the gravy, right? A glass of water.

Well, we're here to help you this holiday to become a master of your roast.

And I'm not just talking about the turkey. We're going to tackle side dishes, too, the unsung heroes of any Thanksgiving meal.

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