Cooking a turkey is almost a bigger event than Thanksgiving itself, and anyone who’s ever made a whole bird is well-acquainted with the problem that inevitably accompanies it: How do you keep yourself entertained when you’re spending hours in the kitchen? This year, Spotify’s “Time for Turkey” feature makes the answer to that question a no-brainer: You listen to music, of course — and not only that, but even better, you listen to a playlist design specifically to last as long as it takes your turkey to cook. Genius? Just a little bit.
Time for Turkey exists as a standalone website which, after answering a few simple questions, directs your towards a playlist curated by Spotify that will keep the tunes coming the entire time you’re working on your turkey. I’m not making an entire bird this year, but if I were, you can bet I’d be queuing this sucker up while cooking it. In fact, even though I’m not attempting to shove a giant fowl in my oven, I might just fire it up anyway; I’ll still have some root veggies to roast and a sweet potato-based dessert to bake, so I’ll still need at least a few hours of hands-free entertainment up my sleeve.
The algorithm Time for Turkey uses probably isn’t terribly complicated; I suspect Spotify essentially came up with six different playlists, then set the feature to change its length depending on the cooking times required by turkeys between four and 24 pounds. Either way, though, each playlist will keep you occupied for up to five hours and 15 minutes.
Here’s how it works:
Step 1: How Big Is Your Bird?
First, tell Time for Turkey how much your turkey weighs and whether or not you’re planning on stuffing it. For my imaginary turkey, I went for a middling 14 pounder, stuffed.
Step 2: What’s Your Jam?
You’ve got six themes to choose from: “Americana,” “Family Time,” “Feeling Thankful,” “Club Kitchen,” “Freshly Baked,” and “Golden Oldies.” I went with “Family Time,” mostly because I liked the idea of cooking a turkey to the tune of Queen one minute and “Cups” from Pitch Perfect the next.
Step 3: Rock Out
Voila! Your turkey playlist wish is Spotify’s demand. The 14-pound turkey “Family Time” playlist lasts for just over four hours, with a cute little bell as its final track both signifying the end of the music and prompting you to pull your bird out of the oven. I’m not even cooking a turkey today, but I might just leave it on for background noise, anyway; you can’t really go wrong with a mix that puts Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” back to back with The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go.”
Check out Time for Turkey here. Happy cooking!
Images: CC Chapmant/Flickr; Time for Turkey/Spotify (3)
