Thanksgiving is pretty special to me because my daughter was born the day before Thanksgiving and her first birthday fell on the holiday. That year I decided to cook for the family as a way to celebrate my daughter's special day. Cooking your first Thanksgiving dinner for twenty or so people could be pretty intimidating but I had an ace up my sleeve. My husbands grandma! She came over early that morning and taught me how to prepare and cook my turkey. I've followed her steps ever since and haven't ever had a bad bird yet. Not everyone might know how to handle the turkey so I thought I'd share my preparations with you. I generally cook a twenty plus pound bird but this year I only got a seventeen pound-er, the biggest my local store had. These directions will work for any size bird though, and whether you are using grandmas old roasting pan like me or those aluminum pans, either way I've got you covered!
The first thing you will need to know is if you plan to use a frozen or fresh turkey. If you buy frozen it's handy because you buy ahead of time and keep frozen. You'll have to allow enough time for the turkey to thaw in the refrigerator, never thaw the turkey on the kitchen counter. How long it needs to thaw obviously depends on the size of the bird. Since I'm feeding a crowd and have a big turkey every year I always take mine out a week ahead of time, so tomorrow will be the day mine moves from the freezer to the fridge.
Great, so now it's Thanksgiving morning and you need to get that turkey ready to go in the oven. Here's the first step-Take the turkey out of the fridge and put in your clean kitchen sink, you'll need to clean it again when you're done with this step. Next, get some kitchen scissors and cut open the packaging around the turkey. Doing this in the sink makes clean-up easier. The turkey has two cavities and you'll need to remove the neck and gizzards from the cavity. Place those items in the bottom of your roasting pan, they give the gravy you'll make later good flavor. Once you've done that give the turkey a rinse and then pat dry. Take a hand-full of salt and rub the inside cavity of the bird. Go ahead and transfer the turkey from the sink to the pan at this point. Now take a stick of butter (I use real butter not margarine but use what you have) and rub all over the bird, rubbing it into the skin. Place some butter on the inside of the cavity and under the skin. Once you've used up the butter you can add a bit of water or broth to the bottom of the pan. Keep in mind that the turkey will produce it's own juices as well, so you won't want to put too much liquid in the bottom. If you are stuffing the bird you can go ahead and do it at this point.
Now you're ready to put it in the oven, you'll cook the turkey according to the temperature on the package. The most important part of the cooking of the turkey is the basting! I baste my turkey every fifteen minutes. I set a timer if I'm doing too many things at once so I remember. There is nothing worse than a dry turkey. Also, cover the turkey! I have a covered roasting pan but if you don't own or can't borrow one then go ahead and make a tin foil tent to cover the turkey. Most turkey's these days have the pop-up timer that will let you know when the bird is done, I've never had one lie to me! So it's very easy to know when your bird is done. Sometimes it's done before I expected it to be. When that happens don't panic. All you have to do is keep the oven as low as it can be and keep basting it. You can remove the lid if you need to brown the turkey up a little, it doesn't always get golden brown with the lid.
Cooking Thanksgiving dinner for any size crowd can be a little scary but relax! Enjoy the preparations as much as you enjoy the food and time with your family. There is nothing more important than family and getting together to share a wonderful meal! If you have any additional questions or need any Thanksgiving advice feel free to ask! Happy Cooking!
