RECIPES | Do It For Less! Experts Oven Roasted Turkey Makes 12 servings
Ingredients: Olive oil, as needed 1 (17-20 pound) whole turkey, giblets removed Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Rinse turkey inside and out. Pat dry with paper towels. Heavily season cavity with salt and pepper. Twist wing tips back and under turkey. Place turkey on a rack in a roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil, rubbing to coat the entire surface. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cook for 4-5 hours or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 180 de- grees F. Remove from heat and cover loosely with foil. Let rest for 20-30 minutes before slicing.
Quicker Cooking Directions: This is a great way to cook 2 turkeys at the same time in case you want to double this recipe. You can cook for a shorter time at a higher heat this way. Have your butcher cut a turkey into separate pieces: legs, thighs, breasts and wings.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place legs and thighs on one well-greased baking sheet or large lasagna pan and the breasts and wings on another.
Brush turkey with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for about 1½ hours or until breast meat reads 160 degrees F on an instant read thermometer. Remove breast from heat and cover loosely with foil.
Continue cooking thighs and legs for another 30 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 180 degrees F. Remove from heat and cover loosely with foil. Let sit 15 minutes before slicing.
Carving your turkey
Have a serving platter nearby. Use a meat-slicing knife, one with a long, flexible and sturdy blade, not a butcher knife.
Remove the leg and wing by cutting through the skin between the drumstick and breast to find the thigh joint. Cut down through the joint to remove the thigh and drumstick.
Cut through the joint between the thigh and drumstick. Slice the leg and thigh meat by holding them upright and slicing down along the bone.
Cut through the shoulder joint where it meets the breast to remove the wing. The wings are generally served whole.
To carve the breast, make a base cut (a deep horizontal cut just above the wing). Starting up near the breastbone, carve thin slices parallel to the ribcage, cutting all the way down to your base cut.
Arrange turkey slices on platter. Cover with foil to keep warm.
Turkey Tips Fresh or frozen? Most turkeys eaten today are frozen. Frozen turkeys are readily available in any supermarket and are very affordable. Some specialty stores sell fresh turkeys. Usually they are corn fed and sometimes organic. This makes them more expensive than frozen. So now for the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question: Is there a difference in taste? Yes. If budget allows, try a fresh turkey at your next Thanksgiving. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Size matters Just how big should the turkey be? As a rule, allow one and a half pounds for each person. So for fifteen people you would need a twenty-two and a half pound turkey. The exception to the rule is for turkeys weighing less than fourteen pounds that have less meat-to-bone ratio. In this case allow two pounds per person. This calculation will give everyone a fair portion. If you want to enjoy leftovers, then order a larger turkey than needed.
Defrosting To inhibit the growth of bacteria and other nasties always defrost the turkey in its unopened wrapper in a roasting pan or rimmed baking pan in the refrigerator set at 40 degrees or less. Allow about five hours of defrosting time for every pound. So a twenty-pound turkey will take about one hundred hours or just over four days to defrost. A quicker but more labor-intensive method is to immerse the still-wrapped turkey breast-side down in cold water. Change the water every thirty minutes. Allow about thirty minutes per pound for thawing time.
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