Roast Turkey (easy steps for new cooks)

Bergy's Note:

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

• Total Time: 6 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 6 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

• 1 (14 lb) turkey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• ½ cup butter or ½ cup margarine
• 2 tablespoons dried rosemary
• 2 tablespoons dried sage
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme
• onion mushroom dressing (already posted on recipezaar)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325f and put a rack in a roasting pan.
2. 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.
3. Remove neck& giblets from the cavity of the bird Rinse turkey thoroughly inside and out patting it dry with a paper towel.
4. Sprinkle salt& pepper inside and over the skin of the bird Stuff the bird with dressing
5. N.B. Do not do this until just before you are going to cook the bird.
6. Stuff the neck cavity as well as the body cavity.
7. Secure the neck flap with a skewer or stitch it Tie drumsticks together and close the body cavity securely.
8. 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.
9. 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).

Reviews

[Birgit 2]

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.

[Bill Hilbrich]

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.

[Jewel Goodwin]

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 Roast Turkey with Old Fashioned Bread Stuffing. Thanx for the recipe!!