If you're planning to roast it (bake it) here's a good recipe to make it delicious and moist. This also works well for roasting whole chickens: In a small mixing bowl, combine 1/2 c. soft butter or soft margarine, and 1/2 t. each of: salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. Add in whatever spices you may have that you think would be complimentary to what you're serving with the turkey (rosemary is popular, for instance, or italian seasoning, if you want something a little different). Place the turkey breast-up in a roasting pan, and carefully use your fingers to separate the outer skin from the meat, making "pockets" over the breast meat. Using your fingers or a long spoon, push the spiced butter under the skin. You can also "push" some under the skin on the legs from there, as well. Use most of the butter for inside the skin, but save about 2 tablespoons to spread over the outer skin to make it golden and crisp. Next, take an apple (golden delicious are good for this recipe) and/or a pear (bartlett is fine) and either cut them in half, or peel HALF of the skin from them (kind of spiral-peel it so that some of the skin remains). Place those pieces of fruit in the cavity of the bird. These will lend a subtle sweetness to the meat, as well as keeping it moist. Finally, take 1-2 cups hot water, add a chicken bouillon cube, and stir until it dissolves. Pour this over the fruit inside. Don't worry if it runs out, it will help in the cooking. Cover the roasting pan with its lid or aluminum foil tightly, and then roast the turkey per the time indicated on the package or search Google for the right amount of time to roast it. Let it sit for about 10 minutes after it's done cooking, then carve and enjoy!

1 turkey, approx. 15 lbs. Juice of a lemon Salt and pepper Olive oil or melted butter 1/2 yellow onion, peeled and quartered Tops and bottoms of a bunch of celery 2 carrots Parsley Sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme To start, if the turkey has been refrigerated, bring it to room temperature before cooking. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.Wash out the turkey with water. Pull out any remaining feather stubs in the turkey skin. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels. Lather the inside of the cavity with the juice of half a lemon. Take a small handful of salt and rub all over the inside of the turkey. Put in inside the turkey a half a yellow onion, peeled and quartered, a bunch of parsley, a couple of carrots, and some tops and bottoms of celery. You may need to cap the body cavity with some aluminum foil so that the stuffing doesn't easily fall out. Close up the turkey cavity with metal skewers. Make sure that the turkey's legs are tied together, held close to the body, and tie a string around the turkey body to hold the wings in close.The neck cavity can be stuffed with parsley and tied closed with thin skewers and string. Rub either melted butter or olive oil all over the outside of the turkey. Sprinkle salt generously all over the outside of the turkey .Sprinkle pepper over the turkey.Place turkey BREAST DOWN on the bottom of a rack over a sturdy roasting pan big enough to catch all the drippings. This is the main difference between the way mom makes turkey and everyone else. Cooking the turkey breast down means the skin over the breast will not get so brown. However, all of the juices from the cooking turkey will fall down into the breast while cooking. And the resulting bird will have the most succulent turkey breast imaginable. Chop up the turkey giblets into a small saucepan, cover with water, add salt. Bring to simmer for an hour or so to help make stock for the stuffing. Put the turkey in the oven approximately fifteen mts for every pound being the thumb rule.Once you remove the turkey from the oven, let it rest for 15-20 minutes. for the gravy :Scrape all the drippings off of the bottom of the roasting pan. Pour drippings into a smaller skillet. Ladle off excess fat with a gravy spoon and save for possible use later. In a separate small bowl take a quarter cup of corn starch and add just enough water to dissolve the corn starch. Beat cornstarch with a spoon to remove lumps. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the drippings, stirring constantly. You may not end up using all of the cornstarch mixture. Only add as much as you need to get the desired thickness. Allow time for the cornstarch to thicken the gravy. Add salt, pepper, sage, thyme, or other seasonings to taste.