**A Step-by-Step Guide to Cooking the Perfect Turkey**

When it comes to cooking the perfect turkey, many people can get overwhelmed with the numerous recipes and techniques available. However, with this article, we'll break down a simple yet effective recipe that yields a deliciously moist and flavorful bird. Our guide will take you through every step of the process, from preparation to glazing.

**Preparing the Turkey**

First things first, it's essential to prepare your turkey for cooking. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and take the turkey out of the refrigerator about an hour before cooking. Pat the bird dry with paper towels, removing any excess moisture. Next, trim any visible fat from the cavity and neck area. This step is crucial in preventing flare-ups during cooking.

**Seasoning and Stuffing (Optional)**

While some people choose to stuff their turkey, others prefer not to. If you decide to stuff your bird, be sure to use a food-safe stuffing mixture and follow proper food safety guidelines. For those who don't stuff their turkey, we recommend seasoning the cavity with salt, pepper, and any other desired herbs or spices.

**The First Roast**

Now it's time to place the turkey in the oven. This is where most recipes would call for a traditional basting process. However, our approach involves cooking the bird at a medium heat until it starts to foam and slightly thicken. This step should take about five minutes.

Next, we'll rotate the turkey and let it cook for another 15 minutes. After that, we'll reduce the heat to low and continue roasting the bird. To add some extra flavor, we'll glaze the turkey with a mixture of brown sugar, soy sauce, and spices every 30 minutes.

**Glazing the Turkey**

The glaze is where things get really interesting. We'll be using a simple recipe that involves just a few ingredients: brown sugar, soy sauce, and spices. The key to this glaze is its ability to caramelize and create a rich, savory flavor. To apply the glaze, we'll simply brush it onto the turkey's skin, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies.

**Checking for Doneness**

While waiting for the turkey to cook, it's essential to check for doneness. We recommend using a thermal probe to ensure the bird has reached an internal temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit. To do this, we'll insert the probe into the thickest part of the breast, avoiding any bones or fat.

**Resting the Turkey**

Once the turkey is cooked and the internal temperature reaches 150, it's time to let it rest. We recommend transferring the bird to a cutting board or carving platter and letting it sit for about an hour. During this time, the juices will redistribute, making the turkey even more tender and flavorful.

**Removing the Legs**

After the turkey has rested, we'll remove the legs by simply twisting them off. This is where things can get a bit tricky, but with practice, you'll be able to master it. To do this, we'll hold the bird down with one hand, using a spoon or tongs to grip the leg and twist it off.

**Serving**

Finally, it's time to serve! Carve the turkey, slice it up, and enjoy the fruits of your labor. This recipe is sure to become a staple in your holiday cooking repertoire, and we hope you'll share your own experiences with us by using the hashtag #marthastewartturkey.

**Additional Tips**

For those interested in trying this recipe, don't forget to check out our gravy recipe that's perfect for pairing with this turkey. This simple recipe involves just a few ingredients: chicken broth, flour, and butter – it's the perfect accompaniment to your perfectly cooked bird.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ensorry you just saw me roll my eyes i'm the shady one in the test kitchen but you guys all know that right now this is my first turkey recipe for va i was told that it should be fairly traditional classic two words that i hate only because i don't know exactly what that means but i think in the thanksgiving setting i get it it's like no tandoori turkey this year not my mother's pomegranate yogurt turkey no turkish recruit although that's really great okay so we have a turkey that is about probably around 14 pounds and removed all the kind of insides and we're just going to do a dry brine we love a dry brine just because it makes for really crisp skin it's also just less of a mess than doing a wet ride a dry brine always consists of salt this is half a cup of kosher salt and a tablespoon of brown sugar so i'm just gonna combine this by pinching my fingers this is probably enough brine for anywhere from like a 12 to 14 pound turkey and i'm just gonna season it really liberally all over and i'm sprinkling and kind of pressing it into the skin i prefer dry brine over a wet brush because it's less messy with a wet brine you're kind of looking for some kind of an enormous uh pot of source or even uh uh what's it called cooler yeah so cool i'm like did not grow up with those believe it or not i'm gonna flip this bird over okay and we'll flip it back i'm gonna season the cavity lightly and there you have it we're gonna place it in the fridge uncovered so the skin kind of dries out and we get a nice brown skin on top we pulled the turkey out uh i cleaned the rim baking sheet and then lined the red baking sheet with three layers of foil the reason why i take the turkey out and let it rest for three hours so that it can cook more evenly in the oven it's also going to cut the cooking time then i'm just going to smear this with a good amount of butter i'm using a stick of butter unsalted you already have the salt from the dry brine i'm just going to use my hands there's nothing pretty about this and that's that i'm just gonna try to separate the skin between the breast meat like so you see how far i'm going should have been a plastic surgeon i love that show nip tuck awful trashy show but what did i know so i want to put about four tablespoons of butter between the skin and the breast meat two tablespoons per breast and just kind of push it all over like that it's like putting the toothpaste back into the tube is it who does that though no one i'm gonna take the remaining butter and i'm going to just spread it all over on top try to get through all the kind of little nicks and crannies nooks and crannies mixing creamies esl i'm going to put some butter on the back next i'm going to take the wings and just tuck them under like that and this is just so the wingtips don't brown next i'm just going to tie the legs together using some twine i'm gonna pour one cup of water just to prevent any kind of burning happening from the drippings and we have an oven at 450 this is going to go in the center rack for 30 minutes where it's going to start to brown and then we'll turn it down to 300. this glaze that is just kind of at the flavors that i want on my turkey this year it's really simple glaze and you kind of combine everything together let it simmer until it slightly thickens so first things first i'm just going to add a quarter cup cherry vinegar four teaspoons worcestershire sauce and two tablespoons honey so this is actually double the amount of uh glaze just because i wanted to make sure i was a little paranoid that's me i'm just a paranoid person that's what this city does too i'm gonna do four cloves of garlic give them a slight smash pop them out four sprigs of rosemary two orange peels you could just throw this in but i'm gonna just kind of tie it together so it's easier to fish out all right you got this going and we're just going to place this over medium heat you're also going to add a stick of butter and you're going to cook this down until it starts to foam and slightly thicken this is going to go for about five minutes still have medium heat oh we're gonna okay it's been 15 minutes we're just going to rotate the turkey and let that go for another 15. okay so this has been about five minutes i turned to low i'm just going to remove it off heat we're going to pull our bird out so see just golden it's not golden brown yet we're going to turn the oven down to 300 degrees i do 300 sometimes some people do 350. i just want to go really low and slow with this turkey so i'm going to glaze this bird a bit we're going to glaze it a few times while it's roasting we're gonna turn the turkey back in the oven so we're gonna let that bird go for about 60 to 80 minutes depending on the size of your bird and we're going to glaze it every 30 minutes so another two times okay it's been 30 minutes we're gonna glaze this turkey again it's ready getting a really nice color it was a little spotty the brownie in the beginning with the glaze it kind of helps even that out this part is going to go in for another 30 maybe 45 minutes but really don't focus too much on the time the best way to tell when your turkey's done is by using a thermal pan and taking the temperature which i'll show you when the turkey comes back out of the oven oh wait i'm gonna check on the bird it's browning really nicely how do you like that one stewart no i really like martha stewart i wanna i wanna see her meet her cook with her i check the breast and go to the thickest part just around here i don't want to hit the bone though and so it's going about 145 we're gonna let it go for another five degrees we wanted to hit 150 of the breasts some people are going to say it should be 165. it's when we remove it at 150 it's going to sit and rise and you're going to have the tastiest juiciest rest we've ever had we're going to glaze this one more time i remember i was talking about like the time when i was stretching the skin between the the breast meat and the skin i thought about this like face that i make for some reason i don't know how it got started but it's my plastic surgery face it's like this and i have lips but i don't know it's something to do with kylie kylie jenner one of the kardashians they just i'm gonna check in after another 15 minutes 10 minutes actually just make sure and once the brass uh reaches 150 on the thermal pen we're ready to go okay we're going to check on our bird ah look at that i'm gonna take the temp one more time and i go over the thickest part of the breast 151. it's pretty good i'm gonna transfer it over so we could rest on the cutting board so what i like to do is just kind of lift the turkey up tilt it get the juices from the cavity out if you have two metal spoons or just do what i'm doing tongs up the turkey's butt and then a wooden spoon you do that and you can let this rest for depending on the size of your turkey this is like a little over 14 pounds for 45 minutes even up to an hour it's still gonna be warm okay the bird's been resting in 30 minutes if i had all the time in the world it would rest for an hour i don't got time i got a lot of other stuff to do i'm gonna take this twine off i'm gonna have the legs facing me and i'm just gonna cut the leg off i like the dark meat and really i kind of just treat this as like a big a big chicken and i hold it down you could use a kitchen towel that's probably better and i kind of just pop it the leg out that's hot and then separating the thigh and the breast and wash my hands is it waterproof to google pixel i wish i had some gravy we have a really good gravy recipe this year i developed it uh don't they sell these at like circus things renaissance renaissance bears yeah super delicious the meat is really flavorful it's seasoned well you get this sweet savory glaze on top i mean it's crazy there's only a few ingredients in that glaze but it perfumes the whole bird it gives a beautiful deep mahogany color this is one of the easier if not the easiest turkey recipe you'll make and i hope it will become a go-to staple for your holiday season pretty goodsorry you just saw me roll my eyes i'm the shady one in the test kitchen but you guys all know that right now this is my first turkey recipe for va i was told that it should be fairly traditional classic two words that i hate only because i don't know exactly what that means but i think in the thanksgiving setting i get it it's like no tandoori turkey this year not my mother's pomegranate yogurt turkey no turkish recruit although that's really great okay so we have a turkey that is about probably around 14 pounds and removed all the kind of insides and we're just going to do a dry brine we love a dry brine just because it makes for really crisp skin it's also just less of a mess than doing a wet ride a dry brine always consists of salt this is half a cup of kosher salt and a tablespoon of brown sugar so i'm just gonna combine this by pinching my fingers this is probably enough brine for anywhere from like a 12 to 14 pound turkey and i'm just gonna season it really liberally all over and i'm sprinkling and kind of pressing it into the skin i prefer dry brine over a wet brush because it's less messy with a wet brine you're kind of looking for some kind of an enormous uh pot of source or even uh uh what's it called cooler yeah so cool i'm like did not grow up with those believe it or not i'm gonna flip this bird over okay and we'll flip it back i'm gonna season the cavity lightly and there you have it we're gonna place it in the fridge uncovered so the skin kind of dries out and we get a nice brown skin on top we pulled the turkey out uh i cleaned the rim baking sheet and then lined the red baking sheet with three layers of foil the reason why i take the turkey out and let it rest for three hours so that it can cook more evenly in the oven it's also going to cut the cooking time then i'm just going to smear this with a good amount of butter i'm using a stick of butter unsalted you already have the salt from the dry brine i'm just going to use my hands there's nothing pretty about this and that's that i'm just gonna try to separate the skin between the breast meat like so you see how far i'm going should have been a plastic surgeon i love that show nip tuck awful trashy show but what did i know so i want to put about four tablespoons of butter between the skin and the breast meat two tablespoons per breast and just kind of push it all over like that it's like putting the toothpaste back into the tube is it who does that though no one i'm gonna take the remaining butter and i'm going to just spread it all over on top try to get through all the kind of little nicks and crannies nooks and crannies mixing creamies esl i'm going to put some butter on the back next i'm going to take the wings and just tuck them under like that and this is just so the wingtips don't brown next i'm just going to tie the legs together using some twine i'm gonna pour one cup of water just to prevent any kind of burning happening from the drippings and we have an oven at 450 this is going to go in the center rack for 30 minutes where it's going to start to brown and then we'll turn it down to 300. this glaze that is just kind of at the flavors that i want on my turkey this year it's really simple glaze and you kind of combine everything together let it simmer until it slightly thickens so first things first i'm just going to add a quarter cup cherry vinegar four teaspoons worcestershire sauce and two tablespoons honey so this is actually double the amount of uh glaze just because i wanted to make sure i was a little paranoid that's me i'm just a paranoid person that's what this city does too i'm gonna do four cloves of garlic give them a slight smash pop them out four sprigs of rosemary two orange peels you could just throw this in but i'm gonna just kind of tie it together so it's easier to fish out all right you got this going and we're just going to place this over medium heat you're also going to add a stick of butter and you're going to cook this down until it starts to foam and slightly thicken this is going to go for about five minutes still have medium heat oh we're gonna okay it's been 15 minutes we're just going to rotate the turkey and let that go for another 15. okay so this has been about five minutes i turned to low i'm just going to remove it off heat we're going to pull our bird out so see just golden it's not golden brown yet we're going to turn the oven down to 300 degrees i do 300 sometimes some people do 350. i just want to go really low and slow with this turkey so i'm going to glaze this bird a bit we're going to glaze it a few times while it's roasting we're gonna turn the turkey back in the oven so we're gonna let that bird go for about 60 to 80 minutes depending on the size of your bird and we're going to glaze it every 30 minutes so another two times okay it's been 30 minutes we're gonna glaze this turkey again it's ready getting a really nice color it was a little spotty the brownie in the beginning with the glaze it kind of helps even that out this part is going to go in for another 30 maybe 45 minutes but really don't focus too much on the time the best way to tell when your turkey's done is by using a thermal pan and taking the temperature which i'll show you when the turkey comes back out of the oven oh wait i'm gonna check on the bird it's browning really nicely how do you like that one stewart no i really like martha stewart i wanna i wanna see her meet her cook with her i check the breast and go to the thickest part just around here i don't want to hit the bone though and so it's going about 145 we're gonna let it go for another five degrees we wanted to hit 150 of the breasts some people are going to say it should be 165. it's when we remove it at 150 it's going to sit and rise and you're going to have the tastiest juiciest rest we've ever had we're going to glaze this one more time i remember i was talking about like the time when i was stretching the skin between the the breast meat and the skin i thought about this like face that i make for some reason i don't know how it got started but it's my plastic surgery face it's like this and i have lips but i don't know it's something to do with kylie kylie jenner one of the kardashians they just i'm gonna check in after another 15 minutes 10 minutes actually just make sure and once the brass uh reaches 150 on the thermal pen we're ready to go okay we're going to check on our bird ah look at that i'm gonna take the temp one more time and i go over the thickest part of the breast 151. it's pretty good i'm gonna transfer it over so we could rest on the cutting board so what i like to do is just kind of lift the turkey up tilt it get the juices from the cavity out if you have two metal spoons or just do what i'm doing tongs up the turkey's butt and then a wooden spoon you do that and you can let this rest for depending on the size of your turkey this is like a little over 14 pounds for 45 minutes even up to an hour it's still gonna be warm okay the bird's been resting in 30 minutes if i had all the time in the world it would rest for an hour i don't got time i got a lot of other stuff to do i'm gonna take this twine off i'm gonna have the legs facing me and i'm just gonna cut the leg off i like the dark meat and really i kind of just treat this as like a big a big chicken and i hold it down you could use a kitchen towel that's probably better and i kind of just pop it the leg out that's hot and then separating the thigh and the breast and wash my hands is it waterproof to google pixel i wish i had some gravy we have a really good gravy recipe this year i developed it uh don't they sell these at like circus things renaissance renaissance bears yeah super delicious the meat is really flavorful it's seasoned well you get this sweet savory glaze on top i mean it's crazy there's only a few ingredients in that glaze but it perfumes the whole bird it gives a beautiful deep mahogany color this is one of the easier if not the easiest turkey recipe you'll make and i hope it will become a go-to staple for your holiday season pretty good\n"