Herb-roasted turkey

• Thaw the turkey in the refrigerator or a cool water bath. Follow the instructions here for safe thawing. Make sure you put a deep rimmed pan under the turkey, as it will drip. (Trust me. I had to clean the entire refrigerator at 7 am. Not a great way to start the day.)

• Put out all your ingredients and plenty of paper towels. Once you start working with the turkey you'll need them.
  
• Remove the turkey from the wrapper. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Set the turkey in the roasting pan. If you do not have a rack, crumple up aluminum foil into a C-shape to lift it off the bottom of the pan. Otherwise it sticks. You can also set it on top of a pile of fresh herbs or root vegetables. Check the turkey cavity for gravy packets, giblet packets, the neck, etc. Remove all of these. Toss the gravy packet.
  
• Here is the turkey with the neck and giblet packet outside.
  
• Refrigerate the neck and giblets until you're ready to make the gravy. If you wish to make stock, follow these excellent instructions from Simply Recipes, simmering the giblets and neck while the turkey is cooking.
• Finely mince the herbs and peeled garlic, and whisk it into the olive oil. I tried using butter, but I found that it didn't stick to the outside of the bird at all, and mainly ended up on my hands.
  
• The most important thing is to loosen the skin on the breast and the tops of the thighs and get the oil or butter under there as evenly as possible. This keeps the breast meat from drying out.
  
• Once you have the turkey basted with oil under the skin, coat the rest of the bird with the herb-oil mixture. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Tuck the wings under (I cut a small hole in the skin under the legs to hold the wings in place). This is mainly to keep the wing tips from burning. There are other methods for folding the wings underneath but it was stressing me out dealing with the bird, and it doesn't make any difference to the roasting. So, cut a slit, tuck in the wing tips, move on.
  
• Final touches: Put extra fresh herbs (parsley, rosemary, thyme, sage) inside the turkey. Pour one cup of apple cider or unsalted chicken stock into the pan. Place the meat thermometer into the thickest part of the breast, not touching bone. If it has an indicator, set it for 170F/78C. You will note that it looks like the turkey has been in the oven a little bit in this photo. Yes, I forgot to put in the thermometer. But it doesn't matter, just stick it in there when you think of it.
  
• Preheat the oven to 450F/230C. Once the oven is hot and the turkey is ready, put the turkey in the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 325F/160C. Starting with a hot oven sears the outside of the skin, sealing in the juices.
• Baste the turkey every 30 minutes. You should have plenty of liquid in the pan throughout, since you started with a cup of liquid. However, if you don't, make sure you add HOT liquid to the pan, not cold. Heat it in the microwave if needed. You'll crack a ceramic pan if using one, and you also don't want to lower the temperature by adding cold liquid to the oven.
  
• The turkey is done once the thermometer reaches 170F/78C. My 9-pound turkey took just over 2 hours. Estimate 13 minutes per pound (I use a calculator.) Remove the pan from the oven carefully and set on hot pads on the counter. Use a turkey lifter to transfer the turkey to a cutting board. Let rest for 15 minutes before cutting the meat. Remove herbs from cavity.
  
• Have someone who knows what they are doing cut up the meat.

Turkey giblet gravy

• Bring giblets and neck to a boil with two cups filtered water. Cook 30 minutes (short version) or simmer on low (after bringing to a boil) for the entire time the turkey is cooking. Add chopped carrots, celery, and green onion for a richer tasting gravy.
• Strain the turkey stock.
  
• Mince the meat from the giblets. You can pull off and mince meat from the neck if desired.
• Pour the pan drippings through a strainer. Use a fat-separating cup to remove the fat. (Toss the fat in the trash, not down the sink. It will clog up your pipes big time.)
  
• Most people will tell you to put the roasting pan over two burners to make the gravy. Instead I used the strained turkey broth and a spatula to clean out the pan as much as possible. Put the turkey broth and defatted pan drippings into a medium saucepan with the minced giblet meat. Reserve 1/4 cup liquid to make your slurry.
• Whisk arrowroot powder or cornstarch with the reserved liquid in a bowl to make a slurry, with no lumps. Whisk slurry slowly into the saucepan. Bring gravy to a boil, whisking frequently, until it thickens. Keep warm until serving.