Sorry I haven't seen this thread till now. I am a turkey champ. Over some 40 years, I have roasted them whole, spatchcocked (butterflied) and in parts, both unstuffed and filled with chestnuts and oysters, wild rice, cornbread, sausage and apple, sage and onion and probably a couple more I can't remember now. Here's what I have learned about turkey cookery. Steve Shaw is right: 15 pounds is about the ideal weight. Bigger, and you can end up with dried-out breast and raw hip joints in the same bird; smaller, and you get mostly architecture. Fresh-killed is best, too; it's almost impossible to assess the condition of a frozen turkey, not to mention the mushiness of the cooked flesh. The conventional method of roasting -- stuffed and trussed, greased all over, and in a low to medium oven -- works okay if you are prepared to start it on its breast and turn it three times during roasting: first on one side, then to the other, and finally onto its back. Also, it must be basted each time it is turned. So, if that's how you roll, set the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and get out the heavy-duty rubber gloves; don't try to turn a turkey with tools. Bad things will happen. I like to spatchcock a turkey. This technique involves cutting the backbone out of the bird and spreading it out flat, the better to cook it quickly and evenly. You need a very large baking sheet or roasting pan; I recommend a trip to a professional cooks' shop to buy literally the largest flat pan that will fit into your oven. Measure the oven rack to be sure. First, lay the turkey skin side down and roast it for about an hour; then, turn it over (rubber gloves again) and roast until done. If you want stuffing, move the half-roasted turkey to a platter, pile the stuffing in the middle of the roasting pan, and drape the turkey over the stuffing for the second phase of roasting. While this is going on, the off-cuts of the turkey (backbone, wingtips and neck) are boiling up with celery, onion and carrot to the end that gravy may be made. This year, I bought a teeny-tiny turkey (mostly architecture) and cooked it spatchcocked in the barbecue. It was delicious. It is now gone.
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