Relish: It's Almost Turkey Time!

Last Thanksgiving, I volunteered to prepare my family's turkey. Having never made a turkey before and was a little bit nervous. I mean, what if I ruined it?! What's a Thanksgiving without a delicious roasted turkey?! There was no backing out now. Everyone was relying on me. As I spent days googling "how to prepare a turkey," "best turkey ever," "delicious turkey," I ended up combining a few of the techniques I read about.

And guess what? My turkey turned out to be one of the most amazingly juicy turkey's I've ever tasted! This is what I did:

Ingredients:
Turkey of any size
Stick of butter
Herbs of your choice (I used Thyme and Rosemary)
Salt and pepper

Tools:
Meat thermometer
Roasting pan and rack

Directions:
If frozen, go ahead and thaw the turkey. Make sure to give yourself enough time with this step, my turkey took a few days to thaw in my refrigerator. Once completely thawed, rinse the bird off with some cold water to ensure that it is clean. Place the turkey on a roasting rack.

Let the butter sit out until it is room temperature and soft enough to mash. In a bowl, mash the butter together with your chosen herbs. Once thoroughly mixed, use your hands to spread the herb-butter under the skin of the turkey. You may need to use a knife or fork to help you separate the skin from the breast meat. Lather the butter under the skin, leaving butter "chunks" throughout. Use any excess butter to spread on the outside of the turkey (covering the wings and legs). Sprinkle entire bird with salt and pepper.

Now, this is where it gets technical. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees and roast the turkey for 20 minutes, UNCOVERED.

Once the first 20 minutes is up, take the turkey and place it into a roasting bag. The bird may be extremely hot. I used forks and tongs to transfer it.

Now that it is in the bag, place the covered turkey back on the roasting rack and place back in the oven. Turn the heat down to 250 degrees and roast 20 minutes for every pound that the turkey weighs. You may have to adjust the roasting time depending on your oven, etc. I used a convection oven, which probably aided in the roasting speed to my turkey.

Make sure you have a meat thermometer that can go in the oven and stick it into the thickest part of the bird. You want the breast to reach an internal temperature of 165-170 degrees and the thighs to reach 175-180 degrees.