Mom S Perfect Roast Turkey

Description

This is the anti-saw-dust tasting, forget the pop-up thermometer bird cooker! Hence, we toss the thermometer altogether. Cooking the bird "upside-down" uses gravity and allows the juices to cook inside the breast meat, giving it a tender deliciousness that is hard to duplicate when cooking for a golden-brown-colored turkey breast skin.

With my family, we prefer meat to skin and so after letting the turkey rest, carve in kitchen and set on buffet-style platter or large plate, removing fat and skin as preferred.

This recipe is also great if you want a less-stress thanksgiving as all it is is washing the bird, sticking it in a pan, and into the oven with a timer. Feel free to make other preparations while the bird is cooking for when the bird is out of the oven. Bird can be made up to a day in advance and reheated easily.

If you like moist turkey breast meat, use this recipe.
Meant for any size or type of turkey.
No bags or basting, ever!
Also great for students away from home for the holidays. This is not the turkey recipe if you want a norman rockwell picture. This is for cooking a great bird.

Ingredients

• Whole Turkey
• Cooking Spray

Instructions

1. Defrost turkey, if necessary
2. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
3. Open turkey package, removing turkey giblets and other interior cavity elements along with thermometer
4. Unless you want to make gravy or cook these elements, throw them away, noting the exact poundage of the bird
5. Leave the skin on the turkey for roasting
6. Wash turkey inside and out, making sure that any stray feathers are removed
7. Place turkey breast-side down in a foil-lined rectangular cake pan or foil-lined roasting pan
8. Also take into consideration that some juices and fat will melt during roasting time and may fill up the pan a bit around the turkey unless put on a roasting rack in the pan
9. Place turkey with pan into oven, about in the middle, and not so close to heating element that anything burns
10. Do not change oven temperature
11. Cook for fifteen minutes per pound
12. Take out of oven, and let rest for at least 15-30 minutes
13. The juices will need to settle back into the bird
14. If you cut it immediately, you will have a dry bird
15. Basting is only required when you overcook the meat, or if you want a particular flavor to the turkey turkey, when done well, may be nice with seasonings, but has a great flavor on its own
16. If you left in the meat thermometer, you should not see it pop out
17. The bird is still safe to eat and yummy!