Classic Thanksgiving Roasted Turkey Recipe

Here’s a great classic Thanksgiving roasted turkey recipe.  Just out of a Normal Rockwell painting.

Ingredients:

• 1 (14 to 16 lbs.) Turkey, neck, and giblets (excluding liver) reserved for turkey giblet stock
• 1 1/2 tsp. Black Pepper
• 2 1/2 tsp. Salt (2 tsp. if a kosher bird)
• Kitchen String
• Instant-read Thermometer
• Roasting Pan with flat rack
• Make sure the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F.

Directions:

1. Rinse the turkey inside and out and pat dry.  
2. Mix the salt and pepper in a small bowl and sprinkle it evenly all over the skin and in turkey cavities. Tie drumsticks together with kitchen string.
3. Put turkey on the rack in a roasting pan.  Roast the turkey, rotating the pan 180 degrees halfway through the time.  When the thermometer inserted into the fleshy part of each thigh (just before touching the bone) registers at 170 degrees F, take out the turkey.  This is usually somewhere between 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 hours.
4. Carefully drain the turkey, letting the turkey juices from the cavity drain in the roasting pan.  (If you’re going to make a gravy, you need to save this juice).  Then you can transfer the turkey to a serving platter, wait 30 minutes before serving.  Make sure to cut apart the legs before serving. 

And Enjoy your Classic Thanksgiving Roasted Turkey Recipe!