It’s one week until Thanksgiving and Rach is sharing her top essential tips for your turkey!

• "If you bring home two small birds," Rachael advises, "they cook up much quicker ... so you can sleep later!" You can also pass around the meat from one carved bird and place the second cooked turkey on the table for decoration - and carve up that only when the first bird is finished.

• "If you're having a big crowd, it's even better to talk to your butcher ahead of time and ask for six or eight large pieces of leg and thigh attached and six turkey breasts. You'll end up with a ton of white meat and a ton of dark meat, you can do one roasting pan of white and one of dark, and it platters up beautifully."

• "You've got to have chicken stock or turkey stock. If the turkey is dry, all you have to do is slice it up and put it in a stock bath. And the stock is what you should make your gravy with; equal amounts of butter and flour, melt the butter, add the flour and whisk (I like lots of black pepper in mine). Make up a quart of gravy and then skim off your drippings and add that to your base gravy to stretch it and give it that freshly-roasted turkey flavor. Plus, if your mashed or sweet potatoes get a little tight or dry, mix in a little splash of stock - it's your miracle go-to."

Plus, check out Rach's Thanksgiving Headquarters to start planning your menu now with brand new recipes, tips from celebrity chefs and more!

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