Best Turkey Recipe EVER EVER



Finished product

 On Christmas day I cooked my very first Christmas dinner. I am going to tell you all about how to cook a turkey perfectly! My turkey came out as the most moist turkey that I have ever eaten and I'm not just saying that because I made it lol. First thing you need to know is depending on how big your turkey is you will need to defrost it many days in advance. At the bottom of this blog I will post a link to the website I followed. My turkey was 13 pounds (that is what the tag said, speaking of tags I thought turkeys were very expensive and I only paid about 10.00! FOR A WHOLE TURKEY!) I asked my grandma (Maw-Maw Ruth) about defrosting and I knew I needed about 4 days but I wasn't sure of the best way to do it. The method she suggested I used. I took a clean ice chest and dropped the turkey in (wrapped and still with the netting on the outside) then I covered it with cool water from the tap, not warm because it needs to thaw slowly. Online I read that it is good to thaw it in the fridge but my maw-maw said that using the ice chest would free up the space in the fridge and the ice chest will still keep the bird cold. So on Christmas Eve I took out the turkey and unwrapped it and totally washed it. On the skin I found some of what I thought was feather stuff lol (sorry I really don't know the technical term) I rubbed the entire bird making sure to get under the wings and everywhere... It seems a little gross but it is all so worth it in the end, I kept imagining women from a hundred years ago whose husband would kill an animal and bring it in and the wife would clean the animal before cooking it, I was thinking I wonder if this is kind of what it felt like back then. Anyway inside the cavities, yes you have to look in/put your hand in there, where you would find the head there is a little bag thing that has all the "giblets" which is the liver and all of that, you have to pull that out  I think that some people keep that and cook it but I just trashed it. After that you need to reach into the other cavity and you will find the turkey neck which I also trashed because I don't think I would ever have a desire to eat that. I read online that you should weigh the turkey once it is washed inside and out (inside meaning in the cavities) and drained, to drain it I just shook it in the sink for a second. I put it in the pan I was planning on baking it in and then I put it on the scale ( I just used the one we weigh ourselves on) and it said 12 pounds even, the website I found said this is important because sometimes the giblets and ice that may be frozen inside the cavities could add a pound or two which could cause you to overcook the bird. I then melted about 3 tablespoons of butter (I say about because I really didn't measure and the site I used said you don't need much and I wasn't really sure what that meant lol because not much to one person might be a lot to me) then I took some Thyme and put that with my butter, I didn't have fresh I used the kind you buy in the seasoning section at the grocery, that also said don't go overboard only use a little bit. I then set that to the side so I could take the skin away from the turkey, not pull off or cut it but pull it up starting between the legs and just gently pull it away from the meat. Take the butter and thyme and rub it between the skin and the meat, take note that I said rub it not just pour it in. DO NOT put butter on the outside of the skin. Then take salt and pepper and rub into the outside of the skin, all over, I put it under the wings and everywhere on the outside turning over to make sure you get it all. Then I put the little plastic thing that was holding the legs together originally back on so the legs would be back where they need to be to keep moisture in (I was worried that it would melt in the oven but I read somewhere either online or on the tag from the turkey that it wouldn't so I just trusted that and it didn't) I used a metal pan and covered it with aluminum foil. I put it back in the fridge since I would be cooking it in the next 24 hours. On Christmas day I preheated the oven to 475 and cooked the turkey for 20 minutes then without opening the oven I reduced the temp to 250 and cooked it for 20 minutes for each pound so 20 minutes times 12 pounds was 240 and then I divide that by 60 to find out how many hours that was and it was 4 so I set my timer and didn't come back until it was done. I cooked the turkey breast side up. Amazing site on "How To" for your turkey
This site has pics of a lot of the things I described on here. Later this week I will let you know what we will be doing with all of our left overs :) I see lots of amazing sammiches (yes I said sammich!) to come :) Good luck and let me know how you do. Maybe you can try this at Easter, if your family celebrates, it is suprisingly easy and you will do great if you try it!!!