Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey!

I gathered information from many turkey websites and turkey recipes, and I created my own very delicious turkey this year!
Very very successful with many many praises!
I definitely would follow this recipe next year too =)

Here is the Thanksgiving dinner I made for my boyfriend Jeff and I (quite a lot for only 2 people!)

Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey

Ingredients:

- 1 young turkey (around 15 pounds)

- ¾ stick of butter (room temperature)

- 1 stalk of celery

- 1 carrot

- black pepper

- juice of 1 lemon

Instructions:

1. Brine the turkey the night before, following the turkey brining recipe posted below.
2. Rinse the turkey clean of the brine. Pat dry and loosen the skin from the turkey. (the giblets already be removed and set aside to make turkey stock)
3. Using clean hands, rub butter under and over the turkey’s skin.
4. Sprinkled desired amount of black pepper all over the outside and inside of the turkey.
5. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon into the cavity of the turkey.
6. Place chopped celery and carrot into the cavity of the turkey, then cover the turkey’s cavity with a piece of aluminum foil.
7. Ensure that the turkey’s legs are tied together, any flaps of skin around the neck are pinned down, and the wings are tucked against the turkey.

Roasting:

8. Preheat the oven to 425 F degrees.
9. Melt the remaining amount of butter, and brush a layer of butter all over the turkey.
10. Place turkey into the oven, BREAST DOWN on the roasting rack and roast for 30 minutes. Be sure there is a pan below the roasting rack, to catch the drippings to make gravy.

11. * Note * a turkey should roast for 15-18 minutes for every pound of turkey. I took a bit longer, because I kept taking the turkey out to check on it =P
12. After 30 minutes reduce the temperature to 350 F degrees and roast for 2 hours.
13. If the turkey seems to be browning too fast, then place a tent foil over the turkey.
14. After the 2 hours, brush a thin layer of melted butter over the turkey, and reduce the temperate to 325 F degrees for the remainder of the cooking time.


















15. If you would like the turkey breast to be browned, then turn the turkey breast side up during the last 30 minutes of roasting
16. Always check the done-ness of a turkey using a meat thermometer. Thigh meat should be 180 F degrees, and breast meat should be 170 F degrees.



















Once the turkey is done roasting, remove the turkey from the oven and let it stand for 20 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the meat.