How long to cook a turkey | Turkey recipes for Thanksgiving

How long to cook a turkey can sometimes feel like part magic.

You’ll find turkey recipes for Thanksgiving that suggest just

about everything.Having a good basic understanding of

how meat cooks your best weapon in figuring out how long to cook a turkey.

Prepping your Turkey recipes for Thanksgiving

The first and most important step in a turkey recipe for Thanksgiving

(or any day) is a properly prepped bird. Make sure your turkey is completely

thawed and you pull the neck and giblets out. Before baking or cooking your turkey,

soak it in a turkey brine recipe. Keep the stuffing out of the turkey cavity.

Stuffing dries out the turkey, increases the cooking time and

increases the risk of salmonella. If you must stuff, put quartered onions,

apples, garlic and sage in the turkey cavity.

The secret for how long to cook a turkey is temperature.

Make sure to ignore the spring timer that has been stuck in many

turkeys – it measures the temperature of the breast, yes, but more

often than not they are simply not exact enough to get you a good turkey.

As a general estimate in an oven, you should plan on

10 to 15 minutes per pound of turkey.

Source:By Mary Rice