make cuts in the skin and rub about 5-6 tablespoons of butter in between the skin and meat
prepare 3-4 cups of chicken broth – add dried spices you like
put turkey in large pan
pour broth over turkey
sprinkle turkey with dried spices, salt, pepper, garlic, whatever you like, esp. if you didn’t add anything to the broth
cover turkey with foil
remove foil for last hour or less to brown turkey

There are variations of this recipe all over the internet if you are looking for more specific directions.

GREAT SITE!

Take two pieces of toast. There’s two ways to do this depending on whatever you feel like. A) Take cranberry sauce and cream cheese and mix it together and spread it on both pieces of toast or B) Spread cranberry sauce on one piece and cream cheese on the other. I am preferential to version A. Then you warm up some turkey in the microwave and slap it on the toast and youve got a nice warm sandwich that uses leftovers. Optional: Placing a slice of orange in the sandwich…

skibs – I did put rosemary, onion, apple and cinnamon sticks in the cavity. But I didn’t try putting it on a bed of carrots and celery. So the breast meat does not dry out by the time the dark meat is cooked fully?

andie – very interesting, we also found that his temperature of 160 was too low, we went up to around 168 or so – and it was still undone. I have a feeling there were some other reasons for failure this year – firstly it was a very big bird – 16.9 pounds vs. 14.5 last year. second, my dad suggested “sewing” up the cavity to keep the aromatics in: I think that may have not let enough hot dry air into the cavity leaving it undercooked.

nana – i have been thinking of doing a turkey several times a year, just for practice – and for fixins’!

cj mcd – your leftover lineup sounds fabulous! I was wondering (and also andie) what size bird you’ve used with success. And if I do it again, I’m definitely going to 170 and dry meat be damned.

deb – I never thought about the brining but you’re right, it’s pretty icy. That could also be a reason why it was underdone.

Like your blog!

Our leftover cheap eats have been-
-hunter’s pie (basically the entire dinner in layers with mashed potatoes and a little grated cheese on top)
-turkey minestrone
-turkey quesadillas
-turkey salad sandwiches (turkey, mayo, onion, celery, a bit of red pepper served on the leftove heated dinner rolls. mmmm)
-turkey pot pies (used up the extra pie crusts in the refrig.)
-turkey tortilla soup (garlic, lime, cilantro, chiles— yum)

Tonight I’m making turkey enchiladas and a last batch of traditional turkey soup with the final remains. We had alot of leftover turkey…but I’m not complaining! Very good cheap eats!