How to roast a turkey without a meat thermometer?

Update on frozen turkey: Still frozen.

Also, if you've honestly never, ever cooked a turkey before...there is a little bag inside the body cavity, and another inside the neck flap, filled with internal organs and the neck. TAKE THEM OUT BEFORE YOU COOK THE BIRD.

Turkey is fully cooked at 180 degrees. So, when the bird has turned itself all the way around in the oven, it's done. (Sorry.)

Put the foil tent on right from the beginning, then take it off for the last half hour (just long enough to brown), and you won't have to baste. (I don't know why more people don't do this - my mother's turkey is never dry, and she didn't even own a baster for years.) I'm cooking a turkey dinner tomorrow in a small kitchen with the tools of a graduate student who doesn't cook much - dollar stores are your friend (foil roasting pan, masher, extra glasses because wine in mugs is very silly). I bought the thermometre ($4), but did just discover that an empty snapple bottle makes a fine rolling pin for pie crust.

Put the foil tent on right from the beginning, then take it off for the last half hour (just long enough to brown), and you won't have to baste. (I don't know why more people don't do this - my mother's turkey is never dry, and she didn't even own a baster for years.) Good tip! How do you put the foil tent on? Do you just get an aluminum foil sheet and tuck it under both drumsticks with the shiny side up?

My no fail way from new york times cookbook. Roast @ 325F. for about 6 to 6 and half hours. They also have a high heat version which is 425F for 15 minutes on one side then 15 minutes on the other. Reduce the heat to 375F and cook 20 minutes per pound. To check if it is done move the leg joint up and down it should give readily or break. good luck :) ps: don't forget to baste the turkey while cooking.

If you don't plan on stuffing, you can put an onion inside the body cavity just for flavour (good for roast chicken too). (After washing it out with salt, of course.) The foil tent - I'm practicing this tomorrow, but if I remember right from years of watching my mother: It goes over the whole turkey, but not tightly, maybe not even touching. Basically, your turkey is in the roasting pan, and you take two long sheets of foil (because one isn't wide enough), and tuck them inside the roasting pan lengthwise (against the edges of the pan, but on the inside), then fold/join them together in the middle, in a tent like shape (above the turkey). A good lidded roasting pan works the same way, but I don't have a lid for the cheap foil pan I bought (and my mother's pan never fit a large turkey under the lid). I think what matters is that there is enough of a seal (but also enough room) that evaporating moisture goes up, hits the tent and runs down into the pan again - like a steam bath for your turkey (which is why you don't have to baste. I don't think shiny/not shiny matters. Then you take it off when your turkey is nearly done (for me, when the thermometre hits poultry), and brown for about 1/2 hour (or until brown). Other advice I have heard - never stop the turkey (ie start cooking, turn off, then cook some more). My aunt did this once, and all the juices ran out and it was awful and dry. Is there any reason you're trying to cook it tonight? (eg, you're going away or something) Because I would have thought it would be easier to leave it to thaw overnight, and cook it tomorrow (I'm doing that). As for thawing quickly - I don't know any faster way than a cold bath. I don't think it has to be running - just not so warm bacteria decide it's a jacuzzi for them.

Oh - I would still rub oil (or butter, which is better) on the turkey breast with the foil tent method. I am actually going to use some chicken fat I have, but only because I bought it by accident when looking for lard.

Other advice I have heard - never stop the turkey (ie start cooking, turn off, then cook some more). My aunt did this once, and all the juices ran out and it was awful and dry. Ok, I'm trying to synthesize all the advice in my head here...if I'm following the advice from Squeak about how to check whether it's done (To check if it is done move the leg joint up and down it should give readily or break.), and having a tent like you said to avoid basting, how do I check without stopping the turkey? Sorry but I have kitchen phobia from setting off the fire alarm too much. (There was once a baked potato...and then it was no more. :( ) Is there any reason you're trying to cook it tonight? I'm not, but I'm trying to get all the steps brewing in my head first. Turkey status: Still frozen!