It may be easier than you think to prepare and serve moist juicy turkey for your family for Thanksgiving Dinner, or anytime! I have been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 29 years (and helped my mother and grandmother to prepare it for many years prior to that). I am very pleased to say that I have never produced a dry tough bird! (I have certainly had the misfortune of being served such birds though!) My turkeys always turn out perfectly tender and very moist. If you have had trouble in the past getting these results here is a very simple way to get perfect turkey every time! So, let's get started......

The first step is to get your turkey! Now some will tell you that the brand is extremely important, or that it has to be fresh, or frozen, or big or small or self basting or not. I say it really doesn't matter! All the years growing up my dad insisted that we had to have a farm fresh turkey. So when I started cooking Holiday Dinners I went with the farm fresh birds as well. Until one year when time flew by and I forgot to order one in time, and funds were a little low that year as well so I was pretty much forced into buying a frozen turkey! Shhhhhhh, we didn't tell anyone! Well, guess what...... No one knew the difference! In fact there were a couple of "I think that was better than usual" comments. Ok, that did it! From then on the only qualification for the Holiday bird was that it was a turkey! Plain and simple! I now buy the least expensive, usually frozen, turkey I can get. I have just purchased this years frozen turkey for $.49 a pound! It can hang out in my freezer just as well as it can hang out in the super markets freezer!

You will need to know how many people you are cooking for so you can choose a turkey that will feed everyone.  The general rule of thumb is that you need a pound of uncooked turkey for each person.  If you like a lot of left overs for sandwiches, soups, pies, etc. you may want to double that.  I have a large family and we love the left overs so I always pick the biggest bird I can find. 

So, without further ado go get yourself a turkey! 

So, you have purchased your bird. What now? Well you will need to make sure that you have all of the necessary utensils and equipment to prepare and cook the meal. Don't wait until the night before or worse yet that morning to find out you are missing a vital piece of equipment, or that the turkey won't fit in your oven! Yes, I actually know of someone that this happened to. It is somewhat embarrassing to have to call family or friends on Thanksgiving in search of an oven that will accommodate the main course!

In addition to a suitable oven you will need the following: a roasting pan large enough to hold the turkey (if you have a metal one that's great but if you don't have one and can't or don't want to invest in one don't worry the aluminum foil pans sold in most grocery or department stores work just fine AND at the end of the day you can throw it away and not have to wash it! If you go this route just be sure that you have a heavy cookie sheet or the bottom of a broiler pan to place under it as they are not very stable to move with a large bird in them otherwise.), heavy duty aluminum foil (the heavy duty variety is well worth the price difference for this job), a turkey baster, an oven timer, a serving platter and carving utensils, and of course your stuffing recipe (don't worry if you don't have your own recipe, I will be adding a Stuffing Hub Page very soon)! Add some butter and salt and pepper and you are pretty well prepared!

OK, so you have your turkey and you have made sure that you have all of the necessary equipment and utensils to perform the task. Now what?

If you bought a frozen turkey you will need to plan the thawing process according to the size of the bird. Follow the directions on the package. They usually provide two methods, in the fridge or a quick thaw method in the sink. I prefer the fridge method. Which ever method you chose be sure to follow all of the safety precautions as you would with any poultry products. I always cook a very large turkey so I move mine to the fridge as early as four days prior to cooking and usually still have ice in the cavity on the morning of cooking. (If this happens to you don't panic! It will be just fine! Just proceed as normal!)

On the morning of the big day (yawnnnnn, usually very early in the morning for me!) you will need to put the turkey in the sink and make sure it was thoroughly cleaned. There is usually a package of giblets (neck, liver, etc.) in one or both ends of the bird. Remove them and either set them aside to cook (I make a giblet gravy with mine or your pets would love it if you cooked them and cut them up for their Holiday Dinner). Reach in and be sure there is nothing left inside the bird (you will often find little stringy bits that need to be pulled out). Then rinse out the inside with cold water. Drain well and place the turkey in your roasting pan. If you are using the foil pans place a heavy cookie sheet under the aluminum pan. (Or you can double up the aluminum pan if you are not cooking a very large bird).

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees while you prepare your stuffing and stuff the bird. Whatever recipe you use for stuffing (I use an herb seasoned corn stuffing) make sure that it starts out very moist! This will help to keep the bird moist during cooking time. Be sure to stuff both ends of the bird and pack the stuffing in tightly. Close the openings by either tucking the legs into the plastic pieces that are usually attached to the bird or by using the metal skewers and sting kits that can usually be purchased where you purchased your turkey. (Don't worry if you have extra stuffing, just put it into a baking dish and bake for 20 to 30 mins. At my house there is no such thing as too much stuffing, it is the first left over to vanish!) Once the bird is well stuffed butter the outside top of the bird with softened butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Now make a "tent" with the heavy duty aluminum foil (if your turkey is large you may need to connect two pieces by folding them together. Place this over the entire turkey and fold it down around the edge of the pan tightly. Place your turkey in the oven to begin cooking. You will need to cook your turkey for 20 mins. per pound. Baste (with your baster remove the juices from the bottom of the pan and squirt it over the bird) every hour during the cooking time. And then return the foil cover.

For the last half hour  (at this point if you stick a skewer into the breast meat the juices should be running clear, not pink.  If they are still pink you need to cook it longer) boost the temperature in the oven to 350 degrees and remove the foil.  Baste every 10 mins. during this time and cook until the skin is a crisp golden brown!

Allow your turkey to rest for about 5 or 10 mins. before carving. You can remove the stuffing during this time. And everyone is likely to be hanging around waiting for a chance to steal a little bit of that delicious crispy brown skin!

Carve and enjoy!!

Do not let anyone tell you that you can get a moist tender turkey by cooking it overnight on a low temperature.  I have been subjected to several such meals and let me tell you they were not pleasant.  More like turkey jerky!

Do not let anyone tell you that you don't need to cover the turkey while it cooks if you wrap it in bacon.  Again, the results are not pretty! 

Do not try to speed up the process by cooking it at a higher temperature.  This will result in dry turkey on the outside and uncooked turkey on the inside! 

Do not be too afraid to try cooking your own turkey!  You can do it.  Just follow the simple instructions above and enjoy!