➜ The Cook’s Illustrated Thanksgiving Guide:

You can trust the editors of Cook’s Illustrated—experts of all things Thanksgiving—to deliver recipes that work.

WATCH: How to Keep Mashed Potatoes Warm

WATCH: Best Thanksgiving Gadgets

Fancy gravy boats may look nice on the table, but we’ve yet to find one that actually keeps gravy warm. We came up with a method that keeps gravy so warm that you can get it ready well before you serve the meal.

It may sound strange, but try using an insulated coffee carafe. You’ll have fewer spills and zero complaints that your gravy isn’t warm enough. Before you add the gravy, though, it’s best to prewarm the carafe by filling it with with hot tap water and letting it sit for a minute or so. Then empty the carafe, fill it with the gravy, and screw on the lid to seal in the heat.

America’s Test Kitchen is a real 2,500 square foot test kitchen located just outside of Boston that is home to more than three dozen full-time cooks and product testers. Our mission is simple: to develop the absolute best recipes for all of your favorite foods. To do this, we test each recipe 30, 40, sometimes as many as 70 times, until we arrive at the combination of ingredients, technique, temperature, cooking time, and equipment that yields the best, most-foolproof recipe.

Each week, the cast of America’s Test Kitchen brings the recipes, testings, and tastings from Cook’s Illustrated magazine to life on our public television series. With more than 2 million viewers per episode, we are the most-watched cooking show on public television.

More than 1.3 million home cooks rely on Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country magazines to provide trusted recipes that work, honest ratings of equipment and supermarket ingredients, and kitchen tips.

source