350 - calculate 20 minutes per lb for stuffed, 15 minutes for unstuffed.
Trick my father taught me to see if it's done.....wiggle a leg - if it feels like it might come off in your hand...it's done.

When you take it out of the oven...let it rest (sit outside of oven with a clean, damp towel on top), to let the juices set inside the meat before carving.

That sounds great, Monica. But if we slice it up and get it ready to serve but it'll be an hour or so before eating-time, how to keep it warm. Wrap tightly in foil and put in the coolest oven possible?

if you cook it early....I wouldn't suggest slicing it early.
When it's done, wrap the entire turkey in foil, and turn the oven down to 220 degrees.

I start my turkey at 400F for the first 1/2 hour, then lower the heat to 325F for the remainder of the time it needs to be in the oven. I saw that on a cooking show about 20 years ago and have followed that rule since. My turkey is always nice and brown on the outside and nice and moist on the inside. I only cook it for as long as it needs to be depending on the size of the turkey. For that I check charts. While my husband carves the turkey and ham (I do a ham in the slow cooker), I mash the potatoes and put all the veggies and side dishes on the table. And I make the gravy. He's not allowed to make his 'lump of gravy'...... it's a family running joke. He put so much flour in it once it wasn't lumpy gravy, it was literally a LUMP of gravy. You couldn't pour it. LOL

Smoke mine in my electric water smoker.

Love smoked turkey!

I have the same problem with waiting on the meat. I vow to start it earlier this year so it can rest before it's sliced.

Last couple of years I have been using a electric roaster. Does not get as brown but tastes wonderful. It leaves my oven open for other things I need to bake.

Judy

Last year we went to my SIL's house for Thanksgiving. Her DH nade gravy (with giblets) but in separating the giblets from the gravy, he poured the liquid gravy down the kitchen sink. We laughed and laughed, then had to wait while he drove to the grocery for canned gravy.

325º became popular as a "slow cooking" method. Could start it earlier and it wouldn't be as critical for timing to overcooking and it also kept the bird more moist. I went with the 400°-500° for a while then turned down to 325° when I did the turkey breast butterflied a few years ago. I like using the Nesco. Always great. BTW, 350° is a perfectly fine temperature to use. There's variables on size of bird, temperature of the bird when you put it in, whether it's stuffed or not, etc. But it's important to use a thermometer for best results. They're only a couple dollars and will tell you the right temperature.

I saw an interesting method on America's Test Kitchen the other day. They were talking about the normal problem that everyone overcooks the white meat to get the dark meat cooked to its proper temp. White meat should cook to 160° while dark meat should be cooked to 180° To solve this, they took a large bowl of ice and set the breast in the ice and put bags of ice in the cavities in contact with the breast, being careful not to ice the dark meat. This would drop the temperature about 4°- 5° which they claimed would make the difference when roasting. Interesting concept.

I also read that butterflied birds cook more "appropriately" since the dark meat is more on the "outside" portion and get the heat first. He claimed the white meat didn't overcook this way. And the guy who was demonstrating it (Andrew Zimmern) would set the bird on top of the stuffing and there isn't the danger of in-the-bird cooking yet still gets all the juices for flavor. Haven't tried it yet but it's sure interesting.