We had cooking contests. It had to end, It got ugly. The first year it was just a dessert contest. Someone casually mentioned "do we vote on presentation, too?" Sure, of course, I said. My banana cream pie with macadamia crust lost. The person who casually mentioned do we vote on presentation, won, with a cheesecake in a spun sugar dome. However, we all felt awful since we all had to try 14 desserts. Best line of the night from my then 7yo nephew after tasting one more entry "It's delish-eee-ous. May I spit it out?" We decided savory was better. So next time we did appetizers. I did a whole diorama of a port scene, with malt milk powder over cream cheese as sand, dill for seaweed, a pretzel nugget dock, and delicate little boat shaped tarts with puffed pastry sails. Huh, I will show them. Next year someone made duck spring rolls. They made the duck first. And the wrapper dough. And the plum suace. That was the year I made cold beet soup (think Pepto Bismol) in cucumber cups that would not stand up. Not a winner. But all of that was before we got really competitive.

Cooking a turkey the day before is not something I would ever do. For me that would be the same as having leftover turkey. And roasting the turkey is probably the easiest part of preparing a turkey dinner. Now don't get me wrong. I love leftover turkey and always roast a turkey large enough so that I have enough leftover breast meat to have both hot turkey sandwiches and cold turkey sandwiches. But a roast turkey dinner, from a just roasted turkey tastes different than one made from a turkey roasted the day before and reheated. But if you are going to go a head and roast the day before, please don't carve the turkey until the day you are serving it. I've had turkey that has been sliced in advance and then stored in turkey broth or turkey gravy to keep it moist and it just ends up tasting like nursing home or cafeteria steam table food.

Kaelkriver, I think that the way you are warming up your turkey is probably the way that most people do it when they roast the day before. But for me turkey (all meats actually) taste best when they are roasted and served the same day and aren't reheated. As much as I love leftover turkey for hot or cold sandwiches, it does taste like leftovers to me and not quite the same as just roasted. Have you tried getting everything else ready first and roasting your turkey breasts last? They can sit for an hour, kept warm by covering well with foil and topping with something like a heavy towel to keep the heat in, while you finish preparing your mashed potatoes and other sides. I get the vegetables all cleaned and ready to cook early in the day, and most vegetables don't take long to cook at the last minute. Even your dressing can be baked earlier in the day if you want or put into the oven after the turkey comes out. And gravy can be made while the vegetables are cooking and the turkey is roasting. About the only things I prepare a day ahead are the cranberries and dessert. Ann

Thanks everyone. Yes, I used an oven thermometer. It's an old one (the standard metal frame) and I have no reason to think it's off, since setting the oven 25 degrees lower seems to work almost all the time.... and NOT setting it lower tends to burn/brown the food too much (though I haven't tried that for a long while....). In addition, I always put the rack in the middle of the oven (unless the recipe says to do otherwise), then put the thermometer in the middle of the rack on which I'll put the pan, and wait until it registers at (or very close to) the temp I want. And, yes, the breast was cold when it went into the oven -- I made the herb paste in the morning, spread it on, covered with foil, and put it in the fridge. I wanted to go for a bike ride and didn't want to cut that short to come back and prepare the turkey; all I'd need to do is stick it in the oven. No doubt, letting it sit at room temp for about an hour would have made a difference in cooking time. I bought it fresh, not frozen, and kept it in the fridge until cooking time. (I removed the foil except for the last 30 minutes.) So, next time I'll let it sit for about an hour at room temp before cooking, then let it reach 165 degrees before removing it from the oven. This was Ina's recipe and tried and true so I'm going on the assumption I did something differently. It wasn't overly dry.... a little on the dry side. The flavor is great and I would definitely make it again, but not for company until I get this right! I also made the dill potatoes (posted here before), and brussel sprouts blanched then tossed w/ EVOO and drizzled with finely chopped walnuts then roasted in the oven. Hubby (who does most of the cooking since he's retired and I am still working) said "This is really good, Hon." .... then, after dinner, "Good job!" All's well that ends well! :-) Thank you all so much!! What a great forum.