Roast a Turkey for Thanksgiving

5 Parts:

You Will Need

Steps to Prepare the Turkey

Tips

Warnings

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Turkey is one of the most common holiday meals. It's a common myth among beginning cooks that roasting a turkey is difficult. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

Roasting a turkey is one of the easier meals that you'll ever make and even a beginning cook can accomplish what they need to do in a relatively short amount of time.

1. 1
   One turkey, thawed if frozen previously

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2. 2
   4-6 sprigs of rosemary about five inches long

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3. 3
   4-6 sprigs of thyme

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4. 4
   Fresh basil sprigs

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5. 5
   Fresh sage leaves

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6. 6
   Fresh parsley leaves

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7. 7
   Fresh clove of garlic, peeled

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8. 8
   Ground sea salt and pepper to taste

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9. 9
   2 stalks of celery, cut into one inch pieces

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10. 10
    3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

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11. 11
    1 large onion, quartered

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1. 1
   Unwrap and remove the turkey from the packaging.

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2. 2
   Place the turkey inside the sink in a large bowl or roasting pan

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3. 3
   Remove the packaged internal organs of the turkey, and reaching inside the neck cavity, remove the paper packages found there

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4. 4
   Wash the inside and the outside of the turkey thoroughly

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5. 5
   Drain the turkey and pat dry with paper towels, and make sure that all of the inner areas are drained completely free of water.

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6. 6
   Set the turkey aside on a large plate which has been covered in paper towels to absorb the remaining liquid

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7. 7
   Using corn oil sparingly wipe the inside of the roasting pan with oil

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8. 8
   On the bottom of the roasting pan, lay 5 sprigs of rosemary side by side.

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9. 9
   Crossing them in the opposite direction, lay sprigs of thyme and fresh basil and sage leaves to build a sort of herb based roasting rack for your turkey.

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10. 10
    Pat your turkey slightly dry inside and rub the internal area with salt.

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11. 11
    Split the clove of garlic in half and rub the interior portion of the turkey with garlic.

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12. 12
    Using the other half of the garlic, rub the exterior portion of the turkey.

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13. 13
    Lightly grind pepper and salt to taste over the top of the turkey.

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14. 14
    Stripping some remaining rosemary and thyme leaves, sprinkle lightly over the turkey.

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15. 15
    Add approximately 3 cups of water to the bottom of the roaster to keep the turkey moist from the steam and to prevent the herbs from drying out and burning.

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16. 16
    Drop in the carrots and celery and onion.

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17. 17
    Cover your turkey with foil tenting the foil so it does not touch the upper area of the turkey

    .

    Place the turkey in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven.

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• Turkey requires about 15 minutes roasting time per pound that it weighs at 350 degrees. For example - a turkey weighing approximately 10 pounds would require about 2.5 hours to be done to the recommended internal temperature.
• To slice the turkey, remove it from the oven and allow to cool approximately 10 minutes. Using a very sharp carving knife, make a single cut just above the leg inward toward the breast bone. Then reversing, cut downward from the upper portion of the breast down to meet the incision that you made just above the leg. Your turkey slices will be picture perfect.

• Turkey is never eaten rare and must be raised to the correct internal temperature before being served. The correct temperature for turkey and other poultry is a minimum core temperature of 165 degrees on a meat thermometer.

If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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