I'm cooking a turkey for the first time this thanksgiving. I need tips.?

Try an oven roasting bag. The turkey comes out very moist that way. I like to rub some butter into the skin of the turkey and then season it. It comes out very juicy.

Want an easier way of preparing the turkey? Buy an extra large turkey breast, season with meat with ground red, green, white, and black peppercorn powder on the meat underneath the skin, also add coriander underneath the skin, brush the turkey breast, mostly the skin with melted butter, and bake. Baked yams with chopped pecans. Baked potatoes with the skin on seasoned with celery seed. Sauteed portebello mushrooms and snowpeas. Baked blueberry struesel, coated with golden corn syrup and sprinkled with coarse sugar. Baked chocolate chip meringue cookies. Gingerbread cookie wreaths, it's ginger cookies iced with white royal icing and decorated with Christmas Smarties green for the wreath and red for the bow or if you can't find any Christmas Smarties the regular should be fine. Cranberry juice.

Go to the Butterball.com website. You'll be glad you did.

You can't go wrong with a roasting bag. Get to the supermarket and buy some.

you'll have some yummy leftovers with a 12 pounder. be sure to thaw your turkey completely. i'd put it in your fridge sunday night at the latest. it will take 3-4 days to thaw. be sure to wash it thoroughly the day you want to roast and check for pin feathers. they look like little black spots. i like to loosen the skin on the breast and spread a mixture of butter and poultry seasoning under the skin (or on the outside of the skin if i'm in a hurry). i put a little water in the bottom of the pan and cover with aluminum foil. a 12 pound turkey should cook for about 3 hours (or until it reaches 165 degrees internally) at 350 degrees. remove the foil for the last hour to brown the turkey. let sit for about 15-20 minutes at least before carving. oh yeah...don't forget to remove the giblets before roasting.

Best way hands down is to use the roasting bags. *Don't forget to let the bird defrost, turkey's are a little big to cook from frozen Because the bag helps retain the moisture, the meat never gets dried out, which also means you don't have to baste it every 20-30 minutes like you otherwise would. Put a tablespoon or two of flour in the bag and swish it around so it coats the inside of the bag. You should also mix whatever spices/herbs you want in with the flour as well. I know some people will also cook their birds with other things as well from onions & celery to apples to just about anything you can think of, we never did in my family but it's up to you. After you put the turkey in (don't forget to take out the neck etc out of the inside of the bird), and tie it off with the enclosed ties, poke a couple of wholes in the bag with scissors or whatever. (make sure you do it only in the top of the bag because a pool of juices/fat drippings etc. will accumulate in the bottom of the bag as it cooks. those are great for using in your dressing/stuffing or gravy recipes) Either on the box or on a paper in the box will have a chart of the approximate timeframe for the size of your turkey to reach it's appropriate internal temperature. Make sure to use a meat thermometer to check it in the breast of the bird regardless of what the chart says to make sure you hit the right temp. (if your within 5 degrees of whatever it's supposed to be it's ok, because the turkey will continue to cook internally even after you take it out. Let the bird sit for at least a good 10-15 minutes before trying to cut it. (that'll let all the juices redistribute in the bird) After that, you're free to cut/present it anyway you want. It's tasty and as close to idiot-proof as cooking a turkey gets

fry that big baby

12 lb turkey should be cooked at 350 degrees for about 2.5 to 3 hours if it has a pop up thermometer in it it will let you know when it's done. Put it in large roaster with 1/2 inch of water cover with foil. after 2 1/2 hours remove foil to brown it.

The best advice I can give you is to not overcook it. If the turkey has a pop up timer in it, don't wait until it pops up. If you are real good you will remove the turkey from the oven and the timer will pop up 20 minutes later while the turkey is cooling down. Remember it will continue to cook after it is removed from the oven. Invest in a good electronic thermometer and remove the turkey just before it gets to the temperature recomended for turkey.