Thanksgiving Turkey

Yummmmm..... Turkey cooked just right is delicious! However, I know many of you have been turned off by dry, chalky, over-cooked turkey. I know because it happened to our family this year. My sister-in-law hosted Thanksgiving, and the turkey was dry despite the fact that she went out and bought the most expensive turkey she could find. The rest of the extended family knows I'm a fairly decent cook, and I was given the "please cook us turkey tomorrow so we can have a good meal" look at the dinner table.

So, I obliged them...

Over the years I have tried and tested several methods. This one has yet to fail me:

ROAST TURKEY
In the bottom of a deep roasting pan place:
2 quartered onions
about 3 celery stalks cut into 2" pieces
a couple of carrots cut into 2" pieces
2 bay leaves
about 1 and 1/2 cup of dry white wine

Rinse your turkey and remove giblets and other assorted body organs. Remove the plastic thing near the butt. Pat turkey dry inside and out with paper towels.

Rub the turkey with a mixture of:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons sage
1 teaspoon thyme

Loosely place a quartered onion and a cut up celery stalk inside the turkey cavity. Place turkey UPSIDE DOWN (breast side down) in the roaster and loosely crimp foil to cover. Bake at 325* for about 4-5 hours (depending on turkey size).

During the last hour or so of baking, carefully flip turkey over breast-side up and baste. Continue baking uncovered until done. This will brown the breast and get the skin crisp.

Do not put stuffing inside the turkey during the baking process. It absorbs all of the moisture and leaves your turkey dry and baking is uneven. You will have a burned outside and raw inside. I always bake my stuffing in a separate baking pan basted with the juices from the roasting turkey to give the stuffing a nice brown crunch on the top and flavor.