Follow our simple recipe to cook that perfect turkey you desire! You want to take all necessary measures to have an excellent turkey starting from the preparation to cooking.
If you just bought your turkey from the store, the first thing to do is to defrost that bird. And the best way to defrost your turkey is using a refrigerator. This will take you about 5 to 6 days since it takes approximately one day for every 4 pounds of turkey to defrost.
To defrost your turkey, simply place your bird on a large baking sheet and slide it into the fridge. There you go!
2. Preheat your oven
After defrosting, bring out your turkey and place it on the roasting pan from the oven at room temperature for about an hour. During this time, you should preheat your oven ready to 325ºF temperature.
3. Prepare that turkey!
Seasoning begins every cooking process. Turkeys are no exception because you need the flavors to permeate the turkey thoroughly.
Make your turkey look good before you start seasoning. After you unwrap, remove the neck for roasting and the giblets for gravy.
Then place your turkey on the rack, wings behind, breast facing up. Butter the turkey completely using your hand. Ensure you get the sides and also butter between the skin and the meat.
Now season the large cavity with plenty of pepper and salt and your spices.
Season outside the bird with salt and pepper as well.
Tie the turkey legs with baker’s twine.
You may wish to pout up to ½ cup of water in the oven pan to prevent the vegetables from scouring.
Time to cook
Before you slide in your roasting pan with your turkey on it, ensure that your oven rack is in the lowest position. This is important because the breast meat facing up is very delicate plus you also want the turkey bottom to cook properly.
When you’ve done this, slide in your roasting pan with your turkey and close the door. Set your timer to 3 hours and wait.
When it’s 3hrs, take a peek to see if there is a color change to brown. If yes, lay a piece of buttered foil over the turkey and close the oven. If not, keep cooking.
Notes
This recipe is suitable for about 16 people. We're talking about a heavy turkey, as it makes for a big Thanksgiving lunch!