Although this recipe sounds unlikely, trust me. I’ve been using it for over 20 years, with success EVERY time.

The turkey comes out perfectly done -- both white meat and dark meat juicy and tender -- with plenty of flavorful juices/broth for making gravy and stuffing.

Ingredients:15-20 lb. UNSTUFFED, COMPLETELY THAWED turkey

2 cups (16 oz) water or broth

Optional: 1 raw onion or 1 raw apple

assorted herbs and spices

Large, heavy-duty roasting pan (if using disposable foil pan, put it on a cookie sheet or baking pan for stability)

Aluminum foil

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 450 degrees.

Put UNSTUFFED, COMPLETELY THAWED turkey into deep roasting pan.

Optional: put 1 raw onion or apple into the bird’s cavity: it adds flavor, and reminds you to make sure that you already removed the turkey innards!

Pour 16 oz. water or broth into bottom of pan.

Cover turkey with aluminum foil (Tented, not sealed).

Put turkey into hot oven, set timer for 90 minutes, and walk away.

(Do NOT keep opening oven to look; that bird isn’t going anywhere.)

When timer rings, after 90 minutes, take foil tent off turkey.

Lower heat to 400 degrees, set timer for one hour, and walk away.

Do NOT keep opening the oven to baste the turkey: the liquid in the bottom of the roasting pan is doing that for you.

(Get stuffing ready, prepare other side dishes, set table, etc.)

When timer rings again, take turkey out of oven and remove from pan to rest on cutting board (gathering juices/thoughts) for 15-20 minutes before carving.

Use turkey juices in pan to make gravy.

STUFFING: When turkey is done cooking, I use some of the turkey “juice” to moisten the stuffing ingredients in a separate baking pan, then bake the stuffing in the oven while the turkey is resting and then being carved.

The stuffing is perfectly cooked by the time the turkey is carved and ready for serving.

Need instructions on how to carve the bird? Check out this NYTimes article: http://tinyurl.com/24jo5f

Enjoy!