How to Roast a Turkey

Preheat oven to 325° F

Remove giblets. Stick your hand in the cavity and remove any organs, or "things" you may find inside of the bird that may or may not be wrapped in something. If desired save everything but the liver for giblet gravy. Fry the giblets or, except for the liver (which has a non-turkey-like flavor that, although pleasant to many, would make the drippings or gravy taste odd), just leave them to roast and eat them. The gizzard and heart are tough so cut them up and don't give them to a child particularly likely to choke on them.

Wash the turkey. Hold the turkey under room temperature or cold water and rub it gently with your fingers. Make sure there isn't any dirt, pieces of feathers, etc.

Pat dry. Use a paper towel to pat it dry; don't rub it.

Place turkey in roasting pan. Always cook breast side up. Try to keep it centered; this will promote even heating. If using a roasting bag, do the following steps first, put it in the bag, then put in roasting pan.

Spread a tablespoon or two of oil over the skin of the turkey. This will help brown the turkey nicely.

Season your turkey. Sprinkle oregano, rosemary, garlic powder, and/or pepper lightly over the top of the turkey. Put some on the inside as well.

Quarter the onion and put it all inside the turkey. Put the three garlic cloves in with the onion. Make sure that both are peeled. After this is done, pour in broth until it is surrounding the turkey (about 1 cup). Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of a thigh making sure it does not touch the bone. An electronic thermometer with a cord extending to the outside of the oven and an alarm for a particular temperature is particularly convenient. Even with these, leave the pop-up thermometer to help confirm that you are not long overcooking the turkey due to a measurement error.

Roast the turkey. Place turkey in oven (bottom rack) and until meat is 165°F -- other sources say 170°F or even 180°F; in any case, it's more important not to leave the turkey at a high temperature for way too long -- (about 15 minutes per pound). If you are using a roasting bag, shake a turkey size oven bag with 1 tablespoon of flour. Place the bag on the roast pan. Slide the turkey breast side up, in the bag. Twist tie shut. Cut slits in the bag. Do not add any broth. Make sure the bag isn't hanging over the edge. If you are not using a roasting bag, put about a quarter-inch of water in the pan and cover the pan with its lid or some foil. Basically the turkey should steam for most of the cooking time. Check on the turkey every hour or so and replenish the watery liquid (fat drippings is not vaporizing and keeping the bird moist) if it is almost all gone.

Make it golden by uncovering the turkey and turning your oven onto "Broil" for ten minutes. Make sure to keep a close watch on it during this time as ovens vary and broil is usually a very high temperature. If you are using a roasting bag, open the top completely before broiling. Start this process when the turkey is still a few degrees from "done" temperature because it will continue to heat. You may wish to remove a meat thermometer, especially a more expensive and probably more fragile electronic one, so the intense radiant heat does not destroy it; in that case, err on the side of potentially warming the turkey a few degrees more than you expected to make sure it's safe.

Let it rest. Remove the turkey from the juices and place on a cutting board. Remove any stuffing. Loosely cover with tinfoil and wait 20 minutes before slicing to prevent the turkey from losing all of its juices. Use this time to make gravy.