The Basics: How to Roast a Turkey

Published on Friday, October 23, 2009, by CHOW Food Team / Edit Post

From the store to the kitchen to the table: We outline the steps that get you from raw ingredients to your dinner tonight, free of measurements and complicated techniques. It’s a method you’ll remember and whip out whenever you like. It is the most basic way to make the thing you’re making.

  • WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
  • - a large roasting pan fitted with a roasting rack
  • - a brush or turkey baster
  • - a meat thermometer
  • - a 12- to 15-pound turkey
  • - salt and pepper
  • - vegetable oil
  • - a half stick of butter
  • - half a lemon
  • - half an onion, cut into four pieces
  • - one celery stick, cut into three pieces

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

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  • 1. The night before you roast the turkey, make sure it is fully defrosted (if you bought a frozen bird, you’ll need to put it in the fridge three to four days ahead to thaw). Remove the contents from the cavity. Discard the giblets (heart, liver, and gizzard) and reserve the neck. Rub the turkey all over with several generous pinches of salt, including a few under the skin covering the breast. Place in a dish or on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until the next day.

    Step 1

  • 2. Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (it will take at least 20 minutes to warm up) and place a rack in the lower third.

    Step 2

  • 3. Pat the turkey dry inside and out with paper towels and tuck the wing tips back and underneath. Rub a generous amount of vegetable oil inside the cavity, all over the outside, and under the skin, then season well with salt and pepper, including inside the cavity.

    Step 3

  • 4. Break the butter into little chunks and place them under the skin covering the breast. Put the lemon, onion, and celery inside the cavity.

    Step 4

  • 5. Place the turkey breast down on the roasting rack, and put the reserved neck in the bottom of the pan. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes, basting the turkey every 20 minutes once the pan juices accumulate.

    Step 5

  • 6. After 45 minutes, flip the turkey onto its back and continue to baste and roast for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

    Step 6

  • 7. When a meat thermometer inserted into the inner thigh registers 170 degrees Fahrenheit and the juices run clear, remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest 20 to 30 minutes before carving. (If you’re planning on making your own gravy, be sure to set aside the roasting pan and reserve both the vegetables from inside the bird's cavity and the neck.) Makes 6 to 8 servings. See more Thanksgiving Basics.

    Step 7

Illustrations by Bill Russell

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POST A COMMENT |7 Comments

COMMENT

  • Hi again, I forgot a few thins.

    This is concerning trying to come up with a chart of what size turkey will fit in what oven.

    I need to do the chart in pounds per cubic foot, per cunic quart and i need to do it in metric (Kilos per liter I guess).

    And My website is http://how-to-oven.com.

    Thanks
    Mark

  • OK. I have a website that is focused, or trying to be focused on , ovens. How to use them, clean them, cook in them etc. Really the goal is to focus on the tools (Ovens crockpots microwaves) more then the dishes.

    But For the second time I have been asked "will a xx pound turkey fit in a 2.5 cu foot oven?

    So I want to find a chart of turkey sizes by weights with what approximate size...+READ

    OK. I have a website that is focused, or trying to be focused on , ovens. How to use them, clean them, cook in them etc. Really the goal is to focus on the tools (Ovens crockpots microwaves) more then the dishes.

    But For the second time I have been asked "will a xx pound turkey fit in a 2.5 cu foot oven?

    So I want to find a chart of turkey sizes by weights with what approximate size oven/toaster oven/convection oven they will fit in.

    But I can't find one. Anybody have any ideas?

    Mark-COLLAPSE

  • I have cooked turkeys in a smoker, in the oven, split on a gas grill, boiled in a pot and a couple of other ways. Nothing beats indirect cooking on a Weber grill. I love turkey this way and cook birds several times a year.
    1) Kingsford is great but do not add too may coals at once.
    2) skip hickory or other smoking woods. They just makes the skin to dark.
    3) the turkey should be over a pan with...+READ

    I have cooked turkeys in a smoker, in the oven, split on a gas grill, boiled in a pot and a couple of other ways. Nothing beats indirect cooking on a Weber grill. I love turkey this way and cook birds several times a year.
    1) Kingsford is great but do not add too may coals at once.
    2) skip hickory or other smoking woods. They just makes the skin to dark.
    3) the turkey should be over a pan with water or apple cider with the coals outside of the pan. Keep the pan filled.
    4) I have recently been injecting the bird with a home made liquid of herb infused water or cider with a bit of salt. Massage Crisco into the skin and salt lightly.
    5) After cooking keep the teenage sons away unless you don't care the bird will to to the table stripped of its skin.-COLLAPSE

  • For step 1, would that make the turkey too salty?

  • If you have a big Weber grill you can cook a 22 pound turkey in two hours flat using indirect heat - and it will be tender inside and picture-perfect-brown-and-crispy-skinned outside. We've been doing it that way for 20 years, since I had a good Weber and a shitty oven. Now i've got good grills and ovens coming out of my ears- we still cook the Thanksgiving turkey on the grill. Come to think of...+READ

    If you have a big Weber grill you can cook a 22 pound turkey in two hours flat using indirect heat - and it will be tender inside and picture-perfect-brown-and-crispy-skinned outside. We've been doing it that way for 20 years, since I had a good Weber and a shitty oven. Now i've got good grills and ovens coming out of my ears- we still cook the Thanksgiving turkey on the grill. Come to think of it, we cook turkey on the grill, thanksgiving or not. It's too good not to. BTW- I get a few packages of necks and wing tips to make stock out of so we canhave gravy, too. I don't need it, but lots of folks really want gravy. Of course I'm not OPPOSED to the idea...

    BTW- no stuffing inside if you cook it that way, but you can fill it pretty full of herbs and spices.-COLLAPSE

  • I have had absolutely perfect results for several years in a row now using the high heat roasting method: 450 degrees--around 2 1/2 hours for a 16 pound turkey. No basting; no flipping. Basting, from all I've been able to glean, does nothing more than cool the oven off. With the high heat method you just turn the bird around once in the oven and tent it with foil if it gets too brown. Simple and...+READ

    I have had absolutely perfect results for several years in a row now using the high heat roasting method: 450 degrees--around 2 1/2 hours for a 16 pound turkey. No basting; no flipping. Basting, from all I've been able to glean, does nothing more than cool the oven off. With the high heat method you just turn the bird around once in the oven and tent it with foil if it gets too brown. Simple and delicious.-COLLAPSE

  • Now I know how to look like a hero during thanksgiving. I think the biggest mistake people make is that they throw it it frozen.