Chef! "Give me a great recipe for Turkey!"

I get this all time and I wish I could respond to everybody's request. Preparing and cooking a delicious turkey is just taking the time to buy a nice size that will "fit into your oven" and cook it up nice and slow. Buy a oven therometer to gauge the correct temperature. I highly recommend a cooking temperature of 325. Now this is the final even temperature of the oven AFTER the turkey is in and has been cooking in a preheated oven for at least 40 minutes. This is when you can get the true temperature of the oven. Any sooner you are gauging a 'cold oven' or a temperature that will change once the oven AND its contents come to a heated equilibrium (temperature balances out to a constant temp.)
So get your oven and the turkey and whatever else you have in there worked out to be a smooth 325. OK, now lets go back a bit. You got the
turkey fresh or frozen. Either way, make sure it is throughly defrosted (Properly-read the packaging labels!!!) and wash it off with cold running water. Get the blood smell and the factory grime off it. Don't be patting it dry with towels and stuff-just going to cross contaminate things. Drip off, shake off loose water and put it on a cutting board. Any residue water is good-keep things hydrated. Season that puppy up by either rubbing it down with butter (old school), with magarine (diet conscience) or with olive oil (healthier) or no oils at all (perfectly fine). Now we are going to give it a rub of spices and herbs(don't get hung up on how much of this or that-go gently and to your taste).
When you season up a turkey, pour the seasonings in your hand first and then sprinkle it over the turkey so you don't glob it over in seasonings.
Easy, very easily, sprinkle salt over the turkey inside and out. Go very light because after everything else is done-the savory flavor will be just right. You can even skip the salt. Sprinkle a medium grain black pepper over all. Then the following, (again go by feel-how much do you like the seasoning and how strong it is, ie.: salt is strong go easy, garlic is strong go easy, ect.) add dry granulated garlic, whole thyme, crushed rosemary, whole oregano, onion powder, paprika (very little). Rest the turkey in a roasting pan or a large pan that has a bottom lift-something that keeps the turkey from laying entirely flat flush with the bottom. Ideally you should have one inch off the pan bottom. Ladle hot turkey/chicken stock into the pan bottom just covering up to the bottom of the turkey like a shallow bath. Feel free to drop in nice oversized vegetable cuts of carrots, celery, potatoes, onions, parsley, bay leaves-just like the Bugs Bunny cartoons where he was getting cooked up. Find a lid or a cover for you turkey. If you cover use plastic wrap first and then foil. You must get a super snug tight seal on the roast. We are doing a modified pressure cooker so things cook up evenly and thoroughly.
So put it all it your oven. Now lets do some paperwork. Assuming you have a 20 pound roast then you can count on 20 minutes per pound cooking time (generally speaking). So about 1 hour to cook 3 pounds. Multiply that by the number needed to equal total pounds and we get 7- it takes 7 hours to cook 21 pounds (7 x 3 = 21) and end time should be 3:00 pm. Write your time down-it sounds dumb but write start time down. (Now this is assuming you gauge your oven like we discussed above-325.) I usually start my turkey at 8 am so I can enjoy my 20 ish pounder roast around 2-3 pm. But I start gauging my oven at 7 am to make my start time accurate and I regauge that with the loaded turkey again at 8:40 to see that I can a true 325 constant. So assuming you have a 20 pound turkey that went in at 8:00 prepared as above, let it cook until 8:40 and check your oven temperture to insure a 325 constant.
So we got the turkey heating well, oven is fine, everything seasoned up and covered, pan has stock liquid in it with garnish vegetables. Good. Now lets get a pot of simmering turkey/chicken stock going so we can baste (keep moist) our turkey every hour on the hour. You baste by ladling hot stock over the breast allowing it to flow over all and remaining in the pan. This rich savory stock can be a gravy alternative or used to add to your gravy. Our start time was 8:00 am and we have 7 hours to cook with a end time of 3:00 pm. But we are going to set our initial alarm at the 5 hour mark being 1:00 and closely monitor internal temp and make any last adjustments then. Time everything else-trimmings-to be done at 2:00 and guest seated at 2:00. Our method here will cut cooking time by 1 plus hour still giving us a turkey cooked to 165 degrees internally in the deepest part for food safety-test your own turkey with a meat therometer-digital is best-don't rely on idiot sticks-those red pop ups. So at the 5 hour mark after basting the turkey every hour on the hour-temp. the turkey and you should have an internal temp close to 140. If so, uncover the roast and if it is cooking a tad too fast, adjust your oven down to 300. We want to get a 'controlled' browning on the turkey giving it a light golden brown shade and a crispness not dryness so keep basting every 15 minutes. Now don't flood your pan with basting. If you need to-draw up the liquid in the pan bottom and re-baste it over the turkey. Keep the liquid in depth up to one inch covering the turkey. (turkey is one inch off pan bottom and the liquid in its final state will cover i inch of the turkey so liquid is only 2 inches in final depth from the pan's flattest bottom.
Just keep things moist not drowning.
Feel free to drop in apple slices and orange slices over the turkey breast and pan bottom during the last hour of browning. Watch your time and speed at which the turkey is being done and being browned. I can't tell you enough that the flavor is all in cooking time and monitoring. Cook, baste, cook & baste, brown, check internal temp., check oven tem., and baste. Get the picture.
So if done right on a 20 pound turkey, you can plan to be seated and eating at 2:00 pm. Plan your trimmings accordingly-yams, mashed potatoes, peas/carrots/pearl onions, gravy, stuffing dressing, cranberry sauce, hot rolls. Remember that you will probably use the oven for some of the trimming preparation, keep monitoring your oven temperature.
Enjoy! And feel free to do a small turkey and perhaps a salmon roast combo. Even roast duck and roast beef is a great combo. Roast cornish game hens and a ham roast is great. Roast pork loin and salmon is great. It doesn't have to always be turkey like years ago. We are in a different time and age. Do your favorite culural foods. Thankgiving time is a time to come together, celebrate it as a family and give thanks for our blessings. Do what makes you happy. One year my family went out to a restaurant, it was empty, we ate well, we were happy and went back to a clean home and relaxed. No mess, no fuss and a true vacation day. Do what makes you happy!