I brine my turkey overnight in Mark Peel's brine. It's summer here, so if I don't have room in the refrigerator it goes into a large esky with about 10kgs of ice. Next morning I rinse it out, stuff the body cavity with a standard bread/celery/onions/herbs etc stuffing and the neck cavity with sausagemeat stuffing, MIL's recipe but with craisins instead of sultanas.

Into the oiled roasting dish then into the covered barbecue so it roasts outside and doesn't make the house heat worse. I use a thermometer with an alarm so I can hear it from the kitchen as the deck is not far from the kitchen.

Not long before it's ready I toss in some bacon rolled up and speared with toothpicks as bacon rolls are a traditional garnish.

Breast meat is always moist.

Deja Vu? I think there's another previous thread from last year or earlier w/ many techniques & tips...?

Usually, I unwrap the turkey about an hour before it's due to go into the oven...previously I have sauteed onions and celery in butter and mixed with sage, thyme salt, black pepper and lots of parsley....and moistened with chicken broth.
About an hour before oven time I take the giblets and neck out of the bird and put them into a sauce pan with some onions, celery and salt and perhaps aw edge of lemon....and start to simmer.
I rinse the bird, even though "they" say it's not necessary, and remove any stray bits, like some lung and a bit of esogaphus and one time I even found the heart deep in the breast. Then I stuff the neck portion, fasten with a skewer and then the body cavity and usually sew it up, tying the legs under the tail part so they don't pop up. Then I rub it all over with butter.

If the bird is under say 18 pounds, I put it into an open roaster...if larger, I use my huge one with a lid.
Then I put it into a preheated 425 oven for 20 minutes, without opening the door, turn the oven down to 325. If there is no lid, I baste ita fter an hour with the pan juices anda gain after 2 hours. I remove it to rest when a thermometer placed in the thigh measures 150....cover the roaster with several big towels or if it's open with foil and then towels.
Let it rest for at least 30 minutes while the potatoes are mashed and the salad prepped and the vegetables steamed and the oysters baked.
While "someone" is carving the bird, I make gravy, using the stuff from the simmering pan of giblets and the pan drippings.

Here's what my quick search of this forum yielded:
http://www.gardenweb.com/gardenweb/query/cooking-turkey

I coat mine inside & out w/ a spice blend I made up specially for turkey, which contains lots of sweet paprika, bay leaf, herbs & coriander, among other things & I roast the bird unstuffed @ 450F for 30 minutes, then lower the heat to 350F & roast until done, no basting, but I usually tent it w/ foil to keep it from getting too dark - & it does get pretty dark w/ all the paprika!

Lots of good info there! Of course, the genius of the antiquated Gardenweb format is that we keep answering the same questions over and over, and our answers change slightly over time as we learn new things and refine our techniques.

I've pretty much given up stuffing the bird. It affected cooking time too much, took too long at the wrong time in my schedule, and, probably from using the wrong kind of bread-things, wasn't coming out the way my mother's did.

Before I start, I clean the sink area really well, and unwrap in the sink. It's the best way for me to contain potential contamination. Before touching the turkey, I put on close fitting food service gloves. They also help remind one not to touch anything else, but they also keep my hands warm handling that big, cold bird.

The giblets go in a prep bowl to be addressed later. The turkey is inspected well for feathers and pinfeathers, which are removed, and I make sure the cavity is clean. Since I'm going to be scrubbing down the sink anyway, I do rinse the bird. It seems to like it, whereas the chickens I get from the butcher's case don't seem to care about bathing. Then it's open the trash can and blot dry with paper towels, which go right into said trash can without touching anything. The turkey goes on a large food service board I keep for the purpose (meats) and which can go in the dishwasher.

I cut a long branch of tarragon into turkey sized lengths and put them in the cavity, sometimes with a lemon or orange which has had its zest removed to the desserts or similar. My birds are usually about 22 lbs. so there's plenty of room. I also season inside and out, usually with a blend of salt and pepper, and whatever else takes my fancy. It's more habit than anything. I don't think it really affects the flavor of such a big bird.

Sometimes I put chunked root vegetables in the bottom of the roaster (Le Creuset cast iron--wonderful "goose pot". I also have a silicone covered rack that goes in, then the turkey. A bottle of inexpensive but palatable white wine goes over the top. Usually, my turkey is too big for the lid to go on, so I crimp the edges of a sheet of heavy duty foil and lay it on top like a blanket.

Whenever I think of it--about once every hour or two--I baste the turkey, but mostly that lets me keep an eye on it. I figure the time by poundage and pull it out to rest for at least half an hour, then carve.

It's always brown and gorgeous. People sneak into the kitchen and take pictures of it while its resting. I don't do anything special to achieve this, so am bemused by the reaction.

roast turkey the way my grandmother always did with little variation. bread stuffing... "day old", stale bread that she had us grandkids break up, lots of sauteed onions and celery in tons of butter (Bell's seasoning a must). what wouldn't fit in the turkey went int a casserole dish of some sort and into oven. the neck and other goodies from inside the bird perked in pot on back burner all day to use as needed... like moistening that out-of-bird stuffing.

into oven, usually covered with foil for a lot of the cooking time. i don't remember her ever using a thermometer to test it for doneness. When wings/legs felt like they were ready to pull right off... it was done... around that 20 min/lb "rule". was the white meat over cooked?... of course, but that's the way i want it. that's also what GRAVY is for... also place for last of that turkey neck broth.

i don't remember my grandmother ever doing anything with the bones/carcass?? i just CANNOT toss bones without making some stock.

personally, don't understand WHY some people get so stressed out over this meal? unless you're using exotic ingredients with really specific cooking times, you can do a lot of prep a day or 2 ahead of time.

aboriginal, I agree. Such a big fuss over nothing. And all this fear of "contamination". Unless someone in ones house has a severely compromised immune system or is on chemo which does this, just treat the bird the way you do anything else.

When I still did Thanksgiving dinner with a turkey, I always bought a fresh turkey - no worrying about thawing a 22 lb bird. My daughter does the same - think she buys hers at Whole Foods.

I used to stuff the bird but always preferred the dressing in a pan. DD does hers in pan-only as well. Safer and faster to cook. All the stuff in the bag inside the bird, go into chicken broth and cooked slowly to make a rich broth to use with the dressing and gravy. I removed meat from the neck, got rid of the hard giblets but kept the liver and chopped it finely. It adds a lot of flavor.

Dressing? Stale bread, roughly torn, onion, celery, salt, LOTS of pepper, butter, and LOTS of sage.

Yes, it's a meal that takes a couple of days to make, but the process if not that daunting. The time is why I moved from turkey to quail and pheasant. DD wanted turkey again and I said "be my guest"! I help by taking the sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and a pumpkin pie.

There is no magic in cooking a turkey. We all know what happens to turkey meat when it is cooked at 212F, which is unavoidable if the oven is set at 400F or higher. Lots of the meat will be tough and dry. Keep as much as the meat to as close to food safe temperature as possible by using very low heat. (if you don't have a sous vide cooker).

For those of you who can't use a whole turkey:

Here is how I cut a frozen turkey in half., and roasted half a turkey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdqR9ZV-8_4

dcarch

I take a truly vulgar amount of butter and mix in herbs,usually sage and thyme and lemon zest. I put the butter under the skin of the turkey,and put a whole bulb of garlic, cut in half and a few sprigs of rosemary,as well as the lemon the zest came from,also cut in half in the cavity. Lots of salt and pepper on the skin, and i start it at 500 for about 20 minutes, then 350 until it's done.

I also really liked ina gartens turkey roulade. I tweaked the stuffing to my own taste,and it was kind of tricky to roll it up right,and it's even harder to find a whole,boneless skin on turkey breast. I had to buy one with the bone in and debone it myself. Won't do that again,but it was good.

In recent years though, one of my brothers deep fries the turkey,and I'm responsible for all the sides. I must say I prefer it that way, even if my turkey is better. (And it is! ;) )

I do 3 turkeys each Thanksgiving for the extended family.

I do a conventional in the oven, seasoned with salt & pepper, covered with cheese cloth that has been soaked in butter. In the cavity, i insert onion halves, apples and celery.

The second is smoked on my Big Green Egg. I use pecan chips for the smoke. The turkey. I use the plate setter to use indirect heat. I fill the drip pan 1/2 way with apple juice. I use a turkey stand with a can filled with hard apple cider. The turkey is brushed with melted butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.

The third is Cajun fried turkey. This turkey is seasoned with a Cajun spice mix and sits uncovered for a day in the refrigerator. Just prior to frying, I inject it with a butter flavored Cajun marinade.

FWIW, I line the sink w/ a plastic bag before unwrapping, so I can just close it all up & dispose of afterwards.

Salmonella or e-coli's no joke. My cousin was desperately sick after contracting an e-coli infection while she was in college. It took her months to recover.

Carol, so true. My son was in ICU a few years ago because his GF cooked a chicken. She didn't believe in safe prep and 3 people ended up close to death. There's no such thing as being too cautious expecially when it comes to poultry.