A Trial Holiday Turkey

I like roasting a large turkey for Thanksgiving, don't you? However, I had mid-size turkeys in the freezer, and in order to make room for the holiday bird, I had to cook one of the smaller ones. That just gave us a good excuse to try another one of Wayne's roast recipes. Supposedly this is the "Best Roast Turkey" recipe; I'm not so sure I'd give it that designation, but it is definitely in the running.

It was also fairly simple. Stuff the turkey cavity with fresh thyme, rosemary, sage and garlic. Then brush the whole thing with melted butter. Pour some chicken broth in the bottom of the roasting pan (with the turkey on a rack) and roast until done (165 degrees), basting every 30 minutes or so. This recipe also calls for high heat (500 degrees) for the first 30 minutes before turning down to 350 degrees for the remaining time.

In the past I've usually used an "oven bag" to roast our turkey. That's a lot less work than basting throughout the process, but I'll admit the results of a beautifully crispy turkey are worth the effort, and we'll probably stick with this new process in the future.