Permit us to set a frightening scene: It’s noon on Friday, November 27th. You finally have an appetite again after yesterday’s glorious Thanksgiving feast. You don your most forgiving pair of pants, trundle down to the refrigerator, open its door, and see that it is completely, utterly bare. Maybe a few no-fat yogurts are kicking about. Maybe there's some bedraggled branches of dried-out thyme. But there might as well be tumbleweeds rolling by.
In other words, there is no leftover turkey.
How could this happen? Although it might sound outrageous to those who think a quarter-pound cheeseburger is big enough—or that a 16-ounce steak is downright indulgent—if you want leftovers, you want to bank on at least a full pound and a half of turkey per person, says chef Jonathan Waxman, chef of New York City's Barbuto and a well-known master of roast poultry.
Why on earth would you need that much? Think bones. The turkey carcass is not a petite one, and you’re probably looking at about ¾ pound of actual meat—and potentially less, with smaller birds—in every 1 1/2 pounds of turkey weight. If you are cooking a heritage bird, though, 1 1/4 pounds per person should be enough. "They seem to have denser meat and carcasses, with more pure yield,” Waxman says. In that instance, he thinks 1 1/4 pounds of turkey per person should be enough.
When Waxman is hosting more than ten guests for T-Day, though, he simply cooks two whole birds rather than a single super-sized beast. “This ensures that there are plenty of leftovers, plus two carcasses make a fabulous stock," he says.
We suggest you err on the side of caution—and more turkey. Even two pounds per person is not unheard of, especially if you have designs on not only sandwiches—drizzled with silky gravy, maybe stacked with mashed potatoes—but turkey gumbos, turkey enchiladas, golden-crusted turkey pot pie, or earthy turkey-and-mushroom risotto. Just remember: If you calculate wrong, you're stuck with those yogurts.
