Crave

Tom and Brian name the tech they think was a turkey in 2009 and get a few turkeys from listners of the show as well.

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(Credit: Cuisipro)

Now that Thanksgiving's just around the corner, it's a good time to take stock of the equipment in your kitchen to make sure you have everything you need to pull off the big feast. We've put together a three-part series of gadgets that can help with every stage of the meal. Today we'll focus on cooking the bird, with side dishes on Thursday, and desserts on Friday.

Dual baster/injector
The bulb baster is a tried-and-true turkey tool used to keep the skin of the turkey moist and flavorful. Recently though, there's been a trend toward injecting turkeys with combinations of juice, water, herbs, and spices to boost the flavor of the meat. Cuisipro now has a device that marries the old with the new. This dual baster/injector has two interchangeable heads: one with an injecting needle and one with a shower-like baster.

(Credit: Maverick Industries)

Digital thermometer
Since every oven is different and turkeys at Thanksgiving tend to be big, a meat thermometer is essential for making sure the bird is cooked all the way through. A digital thermometer takes the guesswork out of determining doneness, so you don't have to overcook your turkey to make sure it's safe to eat.

This Maverick Redi-Chek remote thermometer allows you to simply select the type of meat you're cooking and how well you want it cooked. It monitors the temperature of the meat as it cooks, then sets off an alarm when it has reached the proper temperature. Lots of digital thermometers do this, but the Redi-Chek's best feature is that it comes with a remote pager that operates within a 100-foot range, meaning cooks don't have to miss out on the Cowboys-Jets game while they monitor what's happening in the oven.

(Credit: Wrapables.com)

Silicone trussing
If you're starting to think there's a silicone alternative to just about everything in the kitchen...well, I think I have to agree.

Wrapables.com has a silicone "looplace," which can be used to close the turkey cavity. It's dishwasher safe and comes with a mesh bag for storage and for running through the washer. The company's food loops can be used to truss the turkey (and to keep wrapped or stuffed meat and fish nice and tidy during cooking).

(Credit: Amazon.com)

Turkey lifters
Lifting a finished turkey from its roasting pan can be tricky business. For large gatherings, a turkey can weigh upwards of 20 lbs. and is usually perched atop a pan of blazing hot grease. Moving a hot turkey from the roasting pan to a cutting board or serving platter should always be a two-person job. But turkey lifters can help give you about as good a grip on the bird as you'll get, the key being getting support underneath the bulk of the weight.

These Norpro lifters are available at Amazon.com, but their fork design is pretty standard, and similar utensils can be found from other suppliers. Bed Bath & Beyond has another style that's designed to help cooks airlift the bird out of the pan.

(Credit: Black & Decker)

Electric knife
Even the most skilled carver won't be able to serve good-looking, evenly sliced turkey without a sharp knife. So make sure you have a quality carving knife ahead of time so you don't end up hacking your perfectly cooked Thanksgiving turkey into a mangled mess.

Purists might prefer a manual carving set, but electric carving knives will make quick work of any big roast and they can help carving newbies or people who don't have a lot of hand strength turn out nice, even slices. This Black & Decker EK800 Slice Right gets America's Test Kitchen's nod as the best one available today.

Fat separator
When making gravy from scratch, the fat needs to be separated from the lean drippings. The easiest way to do that is to let it cool down so the fat starts to solidify on top and can be spooned off easily. But that, of course, takes time that might not be available at that stage in the game.

(Credit: Sur La Table)

This OXO fat separator allows you to separate out the fat while the drippings are still hot, so you can get crackin' on the gravy right away.

Fire extinguisher
It's always a good idea to have a fire extinguisher on hand and easily accessible from the kitchen, but it's especially important during the chaos of Thanksgiving cooking and particularly for those deep frying their turkeys.

The HomeHero is not just a stylish fire extinguisher. It can also be integrated into a networked fire safety system that uses dual smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. When one alarm goes off, all alarms in the house go off. And when a fire extinguisher is in use, the whole house is automatically alerted that there is a fire. What's more, rather than simply setting off a beeping alarm at an ungodly decibel level, a voice recording calmly instructs residents on what immediate steps to take. The HomeHero fire extinguisher was named one of 2007's IDEA design award winners. When it becomes available, it will be sold exclusively at Home Depot for $25 a piece, according to the Daily Olive.

(Credit: Coolest-Gadgets)

So you've gotten a "Weemote" to limit your kids' TV hours, but what happens when they get bored of Nick Jr. reruns and want to go online? Even if they've exceeded their allotted time, you know they'll try to find a way to sneak in a few games, especially if they're boys.

Those are situations that could call for the "Best Net Guard," a parental control device that comes in the form of a remote similar to one used to lock and unlock the car. If you're doing dishes in the kitchen and hear something that sounds suspicously like a computer game in another room, you can punch the "Off" button to shut down the PC wirelessly up to 75 feet away, according to Coolest-Gadgets. Combine this with the "Covert Clicker" for the telly, and you'll be in full control of your household in perpetuity.

We at Crave don't advocate such remote parenting on a regular basis, of course, but something like this could be useful in heading off early addictive behavior. Or you can just take the kids to the park and leave the dishes for later.

(Credit: Amazon)

This is my first year cooking Thanksgiving dinner, and I had heard so many turkey horror stories that I issued an ultimatum to my dinner guests: we're having chicken. (I know, isn't it awful of me? I must hate America! I hope I don't get my Colbert Nation membership revoked!) Luckily, I was met with a rather agreeable response. As it turns out, there are plenty of people out there who don't think turkey tastes all that good anyway. So it all worked out on my end.

Unfortunately, I realize that there may be other Thanksgiving novices out there whose invitees are less sympathetic to the idea of a radical tradition shift like a no-turkey meal. They might consequently be interested in the $100 Turkey Fryer Kit featured on Uncrate: it claims to be able to deep-fry your Thanksgiving turkey in 45 minutes. That way, you'll have more time for the potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, or the wide selection of Turkey Day football games in HD.

No, I can't guarantee that it'll taste good, or how everyone's arteries will react to a deep-fried turkey. But depending on your situation, those might be small concessions for a 45-minute bird.

Me? I'll be eating chicken.

"CrackBerry" addicts are getting much-needed help from, of all things, the hotel industry.

(Credit: RIM)

A few months back, the Sheraton Chicago made headlines by offering afflicted guests a harsh but effective cold-turkey treatment that put their BlackBerries under lock and key. Now, Hyatt hotels are offering a special hand massage designed to counter the dreaded "BlackBerry Thumb" malady.

The therapy begins with heat treatment and uses a "BlackBerry Balm" that "focuses on counteracting tension on various hand and arm muscles, specifically in the thumbs and overworked wrists," Hyatt said, adding that a 30-minute appointment runs about $30. Rumor has it that Treo users have been seen sneaking into the sessions as well.

You can use your cell phone to send funny pictures to your friends, watch preview clips of your favorite TV shows, and vote for "American Idol" contestants. And now, you can buy turkeys with your phone too.

It's actually much deeper than that; I just thought that saying "buy a turkey with your cell phone" sounded funny. In actuality, this is part of Text-a-Turkey, a collaboration between mobile food ordering company Mobo and New York anti-hunger activist organization City Harvest to provide Thanksgiving dinners to New York City's neediest families. If you're a Mobo member, you can text "TURKEY" to 44626 and $10 will automatically be donated to City Harvest. You can also donate online at gomobo.com/turkey.

A side note: Being generous is always a commendable thing, especially around the holidays, but I have a few qualms about "mobile ordering" in general. I know way too many people who have a tendency to "drunk-text" everyone they know. If they happen to be "drunk-ordering" with their cell phones on a wild Saturday night, well, that could get ugly. ("Um, who ordered these 10 pizzas?")