Thanksgiving cooking tools we can not do without

A must-have for spatchcocking

Kitchen scissors (aka kitchen shears)

oxo

I use my kitchen scissors almost every day, but they're extra crucial on Thanksgiving, when they help me roast the perfect turkey.

Instead of roasting a turkey the usual way, I butterfly, or spatchcock my turkey. Using my kitchen scissors, I carefully remove the backbone and lay the flat turkey. The result is a quick roast (about two hours), perfectly cooked breast and the crispiest skin.

–Sharon Profis

$ 18.00 at Amazon

For impressive-looking cakes

An offset spatula

oxo

My signature Thanksgiving contribution is a layered spiced pumpkin cake studded with mini chocolate chips, the whole thing mounded and surrounded by tangy-sweet cream cheese frosting.

After years of frustration trying to frost the cake with a regular old table knife, I finally bought an offset spatula. Why did I wait so long ?! The cake looks more impressive, I wear less frosting and it only cost me $ 10.

–Jessica Dolcourt

$ 10.00 at Amazon

Make better gravy

A fat separator

oxo

So the turkey's done and resting out of the oven and it's time to make the gravy. The best thing I've found for separating the drippings from the fat is this separator from OXO.

For the contents of the roasting pan in the lid, which catches most of the onions and you have been in the pan for the roasting. Then wait a couple minutes to get to the top, while the good stuff settles below it.

Then just for the sake of your goodness, keeping the fat in the separator. Bang zoom, and you're done!

–Jim Hoffman

$ 10.00 at Amazon

Unconventional Thanksgiving

A nutcracker

Winco

My favorite Thanksgivings are the ones where I use my favorite cooking tool, and go to town on some fresh crab purchased from Fisherman's Wharf earlier that day. Grab some lemons and fresh dough, and dinner is served.

Yes, the only kitchen tool I can not live without a nutcracker, which I use to crack my own crabs I give thanks for Netflix, Dungeness crab and a deep dark stout. Happy Thanksgiving!

–Caitlin Petrakovitz

$ 6.00 at Amazon

Time-saving staple

A garlic press

iHomeInnovations

Garlic press. Why? Garlic mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving, along with green beans and roasted artichoke-eggplant dip as an appetizer.

It's an inexpensive tool that saves a lot of time.

–Connie Guglielmo

$ 10.00 at Amazon

Old-school workhorse

A vintage Pyrex bowl

Corning

My family's Thanksgiving is my grandmother's corn pudding. We can not have dinner without it.

The handwritten recipe goes back at least 60 years old and she's always baked in Old Orchard print Pyrex mixing bowl. I took over making corn pudding for Thanksgiving a few years ago, and still use a vintage Pyrex bowl for it.

These colorful bowls have stood the test of time, handle the oven like a field and scream nostalgia to me. If you do not have one, you can find them on eBay or keep an eye out for your local thrift store.

–Sarah Mitroff

Precision, every time

A kitchen scale

Salter

One of my favorite tools, especially during the holidays, is my Salter electronic kitchen scale.

Every baker needs one for getting measuring just right. Need 10 ounces of dark chocolate for those tiny molten chocolate cakes and do not want to guess? Pile it on the scale. Got a kid who likes to bake? They'll get addicted to using it while unwittingly doing math at the same time.

Note: I have had mine for a decade

– Anne Dujmovic

$ 30.00 at Amazon