Roast Turkey (Easy Steps for New Cooks)

"With Thanksgiving, Christmas etc sneaking up on us I thought it may be helpful for new cooks to have an easy step by step recipe for roasting a Turkey. This is a straight forward basic recipe. Add to the preparation time the time to make the stuffing and gravy. Happy cooking"
 
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photo by DianaEatingRichly photo by DianaEatingRichly
photo by DianaEatingRichly
photo by DianaEatingRichly photo by DianaEatingRichly
photo by DianaEatingRichly photo by DianaEatingRichly
photo by Jessica 7 photo by Jessica 7
Ready In:
6hrs 30mins
Ingredients:
8
Serves:
10
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ingredients

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directions

  • Preheat oven to 325f and put a rack in a roasting pan.
  • N.B. If you use a foil roasting pan have it seated firmly on a solid tray do not attempt to carry it on it's own without bottom support.
  • Remove neck& giblets from the cavity of the bird Rinse turkey thoroughly inside and out patting it dry with a paper towel.
  • Sprinkle salt& pepper inside and over the skin of the bird Stuff the bird with dressing.
  • N.B. Do not do this until just before you are going to cook the bird.
  • Stuff the neck cavity as well as the body cavity.
  • Secure the neck flap with a skewer or stitch it Tie drumsticks together and close the body cavity securely.
  • In a small bowl combine butter,rosemary, sage& thyme, mix well Gently loosen the skin covering the breast, be careful not to tear it Spread herb mixture under the skin and over it Place turkey on rack in the roasting pan Roast the turkey basting every 20 minutes or so If the bird begins to brown too soon place a piece of tin foil loosely over it.
  • The bird is cooked when a meat thermometer reaches 180 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh Apprx 5 1/2 hours Remove turkey from roaster and let stand for 25 minutes Remove ALL the stuffing from the bird, Carve and Serve (Left over turkey and stuffing can be frozen as long as you freeze them separately) Make gravy in the roasting pan while the turkey is resting (a separate recipe will be posted or try one that is already posted).

Questions & Replies

  1. Are you all letting it stay in the oven to 180 degrees? That is like well done, especially after carry over cook time, most trained chefs say 160 and cover with foil for at least a half an hour if not an hour. No dried out turkey that way.
     
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Reviews

  1. I was born and raised in Germany, so turkey is not really my cup of tea but when I tried this recipe for Thanksgivimg, all my (american!) friends said that they never had a better turkey! Great recipe, easy to follow.
     
  2. For those of you who were as confused as Recipezaar's computer by the N.B. ... it stands for Nota Bene, which is Latin for Note Well. Although I am not a new cook, Turkey is not on my resume, but I found this procedure very easy to follow. Once I have tried it, I'll be back to rate it.
     
  3. I made this in January just for the fun of it. I have never cooked a turkey before, but was given one and needed to find a way to prepare it. The procedure was easy to follow, and the turkey was amazing! The herbs are a really nice added flavour. I didn't use the mushroom stuffing mentioned though, because we ar enot mushrrom fans here...I used the bread stuffing that is with recipe # 45678. Thanx for the recipe!!
     
  4. I never cooked a Thanksgiving turkey by myself, until today! I can honestly say that, thanks to your recipe, our dinner came out great! My husband said that he thought this was the best turkey he has ever had! We made an unstuffed, 14 pound turkey and cooked it for just under 4 hours. It came out tender and flavorful! Thank you so much!
     
  5. Love the flavor of the butter under the skin!
     
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Tweaks

  1. After 50 plus years of making turkey, I would say my best tip is to use a fresh turkey, and my second tip is to cook on convection, unstuffed, at 300 degrees. Yes, it browns!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

On January 10 2010 I will celebrate 9 years of Life with Zaar. I can't imagine being without it! It has become part of my daily routine. I feel very privileged to be one of the hosts on the Photo Forum. Taking photos of my culinary efforts is a full time hobby and I love it. My friends all know what to expect when they come to dinner "Are you finished taking pictures?" or "Did you get a photo of so & so?" I never let them wait too long and the food is NEVER cold! I now have over 6000 photos on Zaar - some fairly good and some definitely not so good. I am happy to say that practice does help. My roots are in Vancouver BC Canada - a very beautiful city that holds many wonderful memories for me. In 1990, I decided that for my retirement years I may want to settle in a smaller community and found a slice of heaven in the North Okanagan B.C. I love living here but every once in a while I miss the bright city lights, the Broadway shows and some of the small wonderful ethnic restaurants that Vancouver abounds in. That is easily resolved. I just take a trip to the coast, visit with friends for a weekend see a show and feast on Dim Sum or other specialty foods. I am getting a bit long in the tooth but was a very adventurous person. I have river rafted Hell's Gate on the Fraser river, been up in a glider over Hawaii (no not a Hang Glider!), gone hot air ballooning in the Napa Valley & the Fraser Valley, driven dune buggies on the dunes in Oregon, Para sailing in Mexico and tried many other adventurous, challenging, fun things. I have yet to try bungee jumping or sky diving. I may do them yet. I love to travel and experience other cultures. Mexco has been a favorite haunt. I have visited that lovely country many many times. Australia is another favorite as is England! In the past 16 months I have taken off 61 pounds and feel wonderful. I am off all medications and all systems are GO! In years I may be 79 but in spirit I am still in my forties. We are only as old as we allow ourselves to feel. Always think positive. Do something a bit challenging every day & always do something silly every day. Be a kid again! Laugh every day - it is internal jogging. Here are a few of my photos <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" allowNetworking="all" allowFullscreen="true" src="http://w615.photobucket.com/pbwidget.swf?pbwurl=http://w615.photobucket.com/albums/tt233/Bergylicious/ABM slideshow/d95d7a18.pbw" height="360" width="480">
 
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