The Great Thanksgiving Turkey

I'm buying my turkeys today!  Why plural?  Well, I have enough room in my freezer and I plan on making one for when the kids are here for Christmas, so I might as well buy it now when it's cheap.

For the past decade or so, my family has used this recipe to cook turkeys.  My mom saw it on Oprah and once she made it, no one would ever let her make a "regular" turkey again - it's so dry in comparison.  This one comes out super moist.  When I took over cooking Thanksgiving five years ago, of course I had to keep the tradition alive.

Servings: Serves 10

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Dijon mustard


3/4 cup soy sauce


3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (do not discard lemon rinds)


1 (15-pound) free-range turkey


2 bunches fresh poultry herbs


2 to 3 cups hot water

Directions

To make marinade: Combine ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until smooth and creamy.


To make turkey: Preheat oven to 350°.


Clean out cavity of the turkey and rinse well, inside and out. Pat dry and place turkey in a large roasting pan. Pour the marinade over the turkey.


Tie turkey legs together and cover tips with foil. Stuff cavity of turkey with lemon rinds and one bunch of poultry herbs. Place the second bunch of herbs in the roasting pan. Place turkey breast-side up in roasting pan. Insert thermometer in the thickest part of the breast. Cover with foil and roast for 2 hours.


After 2 hours, add hot water to the bottom of the pan. Stir to make gravy for basting. Baste turkey and cover with foil. Roast turkey another 30 minutes and repeat basting process. Continue basting every 15 minutes until the thermometer reaches 180–185°, approximately 3 to 4 hours.

Remove turkey from oven and place on cutting board. Cover turkey well with foil to keep warm. Let it rest 15 to 20 minutes before carving.

Here's a video showing her make the turkey.  It's not the best looking bird, but oh - so yummy.  I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it.