Thanksgiving Turkey...suggestions please!

For the last few years my mom has had to work thanksgiving day, and my little brothers go to their dads for the morning/early afternoon, so that means that I am home all day and I get to make the whole Thanksgiving dinner. I love cooking so this is an awesome oppertunity for me once a year to have the whole kitchen to myself and just get to cook and create. I normally make a large turkey, stuffing, Green Bean casserole, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce (has to be from the can!!), rolls, risotto, gravy, a relish tray, pickle appitizers, and a couple of pies...normaly a chocolate and then a pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving day is my day...I am a ninja in the kitchen...I am in the zone, and I have my own little traditions....I get up, get the turkey ready to go in the oven (but don't put it in the oven untill about noon), asseble the green bean casserole, and then snuggle on the couch with a hot cup of apple cider to watch the thanksgiving day parade.

So....my question to you fellow Thanksgiving ninja's....how do you prepare your turkey? I have a few Idea's floating around in my head....I am thinking of putting a bundle of herbs (parsley, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme) in the cavity along with several cloves of garlic and wedges of lemon. Then making a basting "sauce" with chicken stock, and all the ingreadients that I put in the cavity, and rubbing some garlic infused olive oil on the bird before roasting it, and then just before it is done, when I uncover it to crisp up the skin, rubbing a halved clove of garlic all over the skin to infuse it again with the garlic flavor.

I'd love to hear your plans for the turkey!!

I made a roast chicken a long time ago that was delicious.  I roasted a head of garlic and mixed it with just a bit of salt and oil to make a paste.  I then stuffed this under the skin.   You could probably do a similar method with some herbed butter chilled and cut into rounds or chunks and stick under the skin.

I don't stuff my turkey or add any ingredients.  I have a roaster from the 1950's that's the best ever.. I won't know what to do if it ever gets ruined or lost!  All I do is clean out the cavity, rinse the bird off... rub it down with some oil and cook it.  It always comes out juicy and golden brown... mmmmmmmmmm I can't wait!!

I roasted 2 heads of garlic, mush the paste up with herbs and spices, and then use it as a rub under the skin.

Something I never do (even before I was calorie conscious) is baste with butter or oil.  I prefer to let my turkey sit in a water bath.  It keeps it so moist!

All I can say is I want to have Thanksgiving dinner at your house!

my favourite is a brined turkey.  you soak the bird in a brine for 2 - 3 days (refridgerated; it gets fussy if you have a frozen bird) before cooking.  the brine breaks down the muscle tissue so that it's oh-so-tender and never ever dry (like, you can't even dry out the leftover breast meat, no matter how hard you try).  it also cooks a little faster.

i stuff it with a standard sausage meat stuffing, with pecans if no one's allergic.  french bread, lots of sage, oregano, and rosemary, onion, etc.  i also love oyster stuffing, but that's not for everyone.

if you want the brine recipe, PM me (the one i have is a secret from a famous SF restaurant, courtesy of family).

I was going to say I like brined turkey as well.  But I am also interested in Pgeorgian's brine recipe ;)

I agree with the Brine.  I take 1 cup sugar and 1 cup salt put it into boiling water unitl it is disolved.  I also add in fresh rosemary, thyme, sage, and garlic cloves (with the out side skin, there is more flavor that way) and let it cook for about 15 minutes.  Let the brine cool and put the turkey in the brine (make sure the whole thing is covered) and let is sit for 1 hour per one lb.  You can over brine something for sure so keep that in mind.  you also need to rinse the Turkey really well after it is Brined to get any excess salt off of it.  You can always skip the sugar and add honey, or maply syrup or something like that.  The salt and the sugar is the key to the brine I have found.

I just cooked 4 turkeys two weeks ago (fried one, oven one, rotisserie, and a oiless fryer (those things are sweet) and all of them were great but in my opinion the only thing that really matters on Thanksgiving is if the Gravy is good.  after about 18 tries over the years this year i finally got the Gravy right and it was FANTASTIC.  Especially because I was cooking the giblets with onions and what not and while the turkey in the oven was cooking i basted the turkey every half hour with the liquid from the cooking jiblets.  The oven turkey was amazing.

I like to throw a few stalks of celery, a yellow onion, a red onion, two cloves of garlic, a nasty parsley bunch, a few carrots... I like my cavity to look fit to burst with root veggies like the kind you'd use to flavor a stock.  I like to press dried herbs into the places beneath the skin, and then rub the outside with olive oil.  I baste once.   When it's cooked, I take out the veggies and then fill it with cooked and baked stuffing.

It's never dry, always delicious and flavorful, but it's definitely not an overpowering or "savory" turkey.  I don't like anyone to tire out on what is the main course.

Of course, I use the pan drippings for my gravy.  And that yellow onion is a special treat for my onion loving self.  Mm-mm-good!