wilkes

I am a fan of roasting, but I do it two different ways. If planning on using casseroles and tarts on Thanksgiving day, and need the oven for those, I put my unstuffed turkey, sealed in tin foil with 6 cups of water, in the oven the night before. I preheat oven to 500º F and then place sealed turkey in for one hour. I do not open the oven door. I turn the oven off and leave turkey undisturbed, then next morning, remove broth/juices from turkey to use in dressing and gravy. About 45 minutes prior to serving meal, I place turkey back in oven, uncovered, at 400º F and roast for approximately 30 minutes, basting every 5 - 10 minutes to keep from drying out. This allows the skin to turn golden brown and crisp. The other way is to smear butter underneath skin of turkey, place on roasting rack on 400º F with 4 cups of water in bottom of roasting pan, and baste every 15 - 20 minutes. I cook turkey for 1 hour at 400º, then reduce temp of oven to 350º and continue roasting for 2 - 2 1/2 hours more, or until done. I usually purchase a 12 - 15 lb. turkey. I always make my dressing separate, using additional turkey meat from turkey legs I purchase and boil, and broth off of turkey, along with the standard celery and onions. I prefer to use raw eggs, beaten and mixed into dressing instead of boiled eggs. I also use basic rubbed sage to flavor the dressing. The base mix of dry ingredients I use for dressing is a 8 X 8 pan of homemade cornbread, 1 sleeve of saltine crackers, and 1 pkg. of Pepperidge Farms Herbed stuffing mix. It usually takes at least 4 cups of broth for dressing to be moist. After mixing all ingredients, I place in a sheet cake pan and bake at 350º for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour. If the dressing appears extremely dry when removed from oven, I pour additional broth, 1/2 cup at a time to moisten dressing.