Easy Steps to the Perfect Roasted Turkey from Wegmans

Roasting a perfect turkey is exactly what people are
looking for for the holidays.
But, let's remember that it's not just for the holidays.
But, the technique remains the same.
I'm gonna show you exactly how to do it, right now.
Proper roasting always starts with proper seasoning.
Proper cooking, actually starts with proper seasoning.
So, we're gonna season this turkey very aggressively,
both inside and out.
So, I've got salt, and when I'm seasoning poultry for sure,
I like to keep my salt and pepper in a different dish
because I'm not going to use it again.
Because I'm actually gonna get in here with
my hands pretty good.
I'm gonna start with the cavity.
So, I'm just gonna go ahead and tip this turkey up towards me.
Now, this turkey is perfectly thawed.
Kay, I buy them fresh.
If you buy a frozen turkey, you want to make sure
that it's thawed properly.
Okay, which is to say, you want to make sure
that 24 hours for every five pounds of turkey
is what you're looking for.
Okay, thaw it in the refrigerator,
bottom shelf of your refrigerator.
Make sure--that's the best way to do it .
It goes nice and slow, naturally defrosts.
You don't get a lot of water on the bottom, so.
That's the way that I would do it.
I never stuff my turkeys.
I don't do stuffing in the turkey.
I like to do it on the outside.
I like it gets crispy around the corner.
And I don't believe you get that much additional flavor
from the stuffing.
Also, the stuffing takes longer to heat up to it's safe
temperature than it does to cook the turkey.
So, you wind up usually with overcooked turkey
by the time your stuffing's ready.
So, I'm gonna stuff this turkey.
But, I'm just gonna do it with some aromatic vegetables,
and fruit, and herbs just to perfume
the bird from the outside.
So, I've got some oranges that I've cut here.
Lemons work fine.
Um, I've got some whole heads of garlic
that I've just cut in half.
You can do a quartered onion.
And I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna use
some fresh thyme as well.
Any herbs, any vegetables that you like.
Any flavors that you like make perfect sense here.
I'm just gonna do thyme, but sage would work,
rosemary works.
Any of those sort of harder herbs.
So, I'm gonna get a fair amount of thyme in there
and then I'm gonna just go ahead
and finish it off with a couple more pieces of orange.
Now, I've already got the salt and pepper in there.
Okay, and now I'm gonna season the outside.
And again, very, very aggressively.
And I wanna make sure that I'm getting everywhere.
Turkeys sort of self-bast in the oven.
So, as the skin starts to crisp and the fat starts to render off
it's gonna carry some of this seasoning with it.
So, I've got salt and pepper all over the top.
Kay, and I'm then I'm gonna do the same thing on the bottom.
So, I'm just gonna take my turkey and I'm gonna
flip it right over, same thing.
Lot of salt,
and pepper.
Cooked salt always tastes different than raw salt.
So, I always like to season aggressively at the beginning.
'Cause I just don't think you can get the proper amount
of seasoning after the fact.
Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and get this in my pan.
Oh, I lost an orange.
Put it right back in.
Kay, so we'll get this in the pan.
I've just got a large roasting pan here.
um, obviously it depends on the size of your turkey.
Set that in the pan.
I'm just gonna wash my hands real quick.
Any time you're handling raw meat,
certainly raw poultry, you wanna make sure
that you wash your hands very, very well
after you've handled it .
Alright, so I've got my oven preheated to 325 degrees.
And I'm gonna cook it at that temperature
all the way through.
Kay, but I want to do is a little insurance.
I have a piece of tin foil here
that I'm just gonna go ahead and place on top.
Now, you might see in some recipes,
particularly this one, that it calls
for tenting the foil.
Don't get too caught up in it.
Just make sure you're putting it right over the top.
The idea here is because heat in the oven rises,
that your breast could develop color before it's cooked
and then it could become too dark.
So, this is just a little extra insurance
just to make sure and you don't want to put it on to tightly.
That's why we say tenting, so some of that hot air
can still get in there.
It'll still color the breast, it's just gonna take
a little bit longer ,okay.
So, I've got a 325 degree oven.
And this is gonna go right in.
Obviously, we're talking about turkey so we're looking
for a final temperature of 165 degrees.
Good rule of thumb is 18 to 20 minutes a pound.
You're always gonna want to use an instant read thermometer.
Air more on the side of caution.
I would check it after that 18 minutes a pound just to make
sure that you're not over cooking it.
You want to make sure that your turkey is perfectly cooked.
Okay, so I'm just gonna lose this board.
I've got one that I've been roasting this morning.
It smells great in here.
I just want to show you what it looks like.
Alright, let's take a look at here.
Let's get this foil out.
Oh, look at that.
That is a perfectly roasted turkey.
Wanna check the temperature real quick.
Gonna go right in between the thigh and the breast.
And I'm like for a finished temperature of 165 degrees,
as we do with all poultry.
And I'm exactly where I need to be.
So, it's perfect, it smells great.
You can smell all the nice aromatics I put inside,
the garlic and the oranges.
And really what's gonna happen, I've got this beautiful juice
on the bottom that I'm gonna turn into gravy.
It's a perfectly roasted turkey, folks.
Follow these every time you're gonna roast a turkey.
Whether it's holidays or not,
you're gonna have the same exact results.
I'm gonna move this to a board and let it rest.
And then I'm ready to carve.