MOM'S ROAST TURKEY RECIPE

MOM'S ROAST TURKEY RECIPE image

Categories turkey Bake Thanksgiving Dinner

Number Of Ingredients 9

Ingredients

1 turkey, approx. 15 lbs.*
juice of a lemon
salt and pepper
olive oil or melted butter
1/2 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
the tops and bottoms of a bunch of celery
2 carrots
Parsley
Sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme

Steps:

1 To start, if the turkey has been refrigerated, bring it to room temperature before cooking. Remove the neck and giblets (heart, gizzard, liver). 2 Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 3 Wash out the turkey with water. Pull out any remaining feather stubs in the turkey skin. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Lather the inside of the cavity with the juice of half a lemon. Take a small handful of salt and rub all over the inside of the turkey. 4 For flavor, put in inside the turkey a half a yellow onion, peeled and quartered, a bunch of parsley, a couple of carrots, and some tops and bottoms of celery. You may need to cap the body cavity with some aluminum foil so that the stuffing doesn't easily fall out. Close up the turkey cavity with string. Make sure that the turkey's legs are tied together, held close to the body, and tie a string around the turkey body to hold the wings in close.The neck cavity can be stuffed with parsley and tied closed. 5 Rub either melted butter or olive oil all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle salt generously all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle pepper over the turkey. 6 Place turkey BREAST DOWN on the bottom of a rack over a sturdy roasting pan big enough to catch all the drippings. Add several sprigs of fresh (if possible) thyme and rosemary to the outside of the turkey. 7 Put the turkey in the oven. Check the cooking directions on the turkey packaging. For the 15 lb turkey, start the cooking at 400 F for the first 1/2 hour. Then reduce the heat to 350 F for the next 2 hours. Then reduce the heat further to 225 F for the next hour to hour and a half. If you want the breast to be browned as well, you can turn over the bird for the last 15-20 minutes of cooking, at an oven temp of 300°F. (Oven must be at least 250°F for browning to occur.) 8 Once you remove the turkey from the oven, let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Turn the turkey breast side up to carve it.