Turkey Emergency in the Hudson Valley? New This Year: Text Butterball Hotline

Cooking the turkey, the centerpiece of the quintessential Thanksgiving feast, can overwhelm novice cooks. So if you are unsure of how to tackle a turkey, the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line is open and ready to answer your questions from the Hudson Valley and around the country.

For more than 30 years, the Turkey Talk-Line has responded to tens of thousands of questions during the holiday season. Its experts help with everything from planning and preparation to cooking, serving and more. Butterball's helpers are on the job from Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve.

And while it's been around for decades to talk nervous cooks through their kitchen catastrophes, there is a new help option this year: You can now text your question to the turkey experts. Texting is available now through 6 p.m. Central Time on Thanksgiving Day; send your text to: 844-877-3456.

The Butterball Turkey Talk-Line began in 1982 when it had six people working the phones that holiday season answering 11,000 questions about cooking a turkey. Since then the line has grown in both the number of calls and the number of experts on hand to help.

Today Butterball has more than 50 experts and fields more than 100,000 questions from thousands of households across the United States and Canada. From phone calls to social media, nearly a million people have used the Talk-Line’s guidance.

You can find an expert on Butterball's website, Facebook and Twitter, or just give them a call at 1-800-BUTTERBALL (1-800-288-8372).

The turkey hotline hours are:

• Nov. 23: 7 a.m.-10 p.m. (CT)
• Nov. 24: 6 a.m.-6 p.m. (CT)
• Nov. 25-Dec. 23: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (CT)
• Dec. 17-18: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. (CT)
• Dec. 24: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. (CT)

Written by Deb Belt (Patch Staff).

»Photo via Shutterstock