November 23, 2007 - 8:07 AM.

Give thanks!

The turkey was actually delicious.

It better have been. I used a stick and a half of butter on that thing.

I did absolutely everything right with the bird this year. To start with, we bought it last Friday, and I kept it in the fridge from the minute we got it home so it would definitely be thawed by yesterday morning.

I like to roast a bird unstuffed, because it cuts up to two hours off the roasting time - giving the bird a fighting chance of coming out moist. (Also choose a bird that weighs less than 20 lbs., for this same reason - ours was just a shade over 14.) This way, you do not have to put it in the oven before dawn. But do remember the 30-minute rest the bird will need after oven removal.

So for a 1pm seating target, I got up just before 8. Rinse bird, remove giblets, also remove all plastic pieces like the "done" popup button and the gizmo that holds the legs together. (No roasted plastic please!) Rinse and dry, salt well, and position on the folding lifter rack in the roaster - this allows air to circulate underneath the bird, and the back roasts too instead of sort of drowning in juices.

I like to salt the skin and the big cavity a little. Then I slid my hand under the breast skin, all the way to the neck, to separate it so I could put stuff under it. Also a quick slit in the skin itself between the breast and the legs. I sliced up a stick and a half of butter, and slid all that butter under the skin and down between breast and leg. Also under the skin, a simple mix of rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper, beaten together with the mortar and pestle. Any remaining seasoning mixture sprinkled atop the skin, tossed into the cavities, and thrown into the bottom of the roaster under the bird, to perfume from the bottom.

The chop a peeled onion and an unpeeled, uncored appled each into about 8 pieces. Divide all pieces into the cavities and throw the rest under the rack with the perfuming spices. One whole allspice berry in the cavity, and one more under the rack.

Into a 350 degree oven at 8:15, for a 12:15 removal time. I do not tent with foil for the first hour. This does begin browning the skin, but I find that it has a similar effect to searing - no butter drips from that bird for the first couple hours, but instead soaks directly into the meat! On the same note, using that rack meant that when I lifted the bird from the roaster, the skin of the back (bottom) remained intact, so there was no early exit of juices before resting just by getting the bird out of the pan. I heart roasting on a rack now.

I also found that trussing both the legs and wings not only kept the turkey looking pretty for presentation, it actually helped keep things moister, rendering the wings actually edible instead of being nothing but leathery decorations.

And it really was delicious. I have never cared about fresh-roasted turkey before, what's the big deal, it's a big overcooked bird? But by treating it as an actual food item instead of a tradition I don't give a crap about, I was pleased to make it come out - actual food.

Oh and the gluten-free cornbread dressing, on the side, was also a dream.

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