Thanksgiving is never complete without the center of every dining room table being perfect the Turkey.  I’ve been in the restaurant industry for over 20 years.  I’m currently  an Executive Chef of a high-end catering company.   We cook thousands of pounds of turkey every season.   Here are my tips

1. Make sure you thaw the turkey out ahead of time.  Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday so I start my thaw on Saturday night.  Allow a minimum of a three-day thaw!
2. Tuesday night I brine my turkey.  In my years of cooking birds this is a very important step if you have the space in your fridge and the time to do it.  It will help tenderize the turkey and will help prevent it from drying out when you roast it.  Take two quarts of hot water and mix in a half a cup of salt, and a half a cup of sugar.  if you have kosher or sea salt they work best but you can use table if it’s all you have.  Another suggestion is to get rid of table salt forever it sucks. Stir the salt and sugar until it dissolves in the water.  Add 2 quarts cold water to it.  this will give you one gallon of a base brine.  you can now add any aromatics if you want too but it isn’t necessary.  I like to add 1 sliced lemon and a hand full of fresh thyme. Let the Turkey sit in the Brine for 24 hours.  If you put your turkey in a large plastic bag and add the water in it try removing all the air you can and the turkey should be completely submerged in the brine.
3. Wednesday I remove it from the brine and wash it in the sink.  I pat it as dry as I can with paper towels and then leave it air exposed in the fridge overnight.  This is also a very important step if you want to get that golden skin color that everyone loves to see.
4. Thursday I let the turkey sit out for an hour to allow it to come up to room temp or at least get the chill off it.  I rub soft butter all over the skin of the turkey and season it with salt and pepper.  I turn the oven up to 400 and bake it for the first 45 minutes uncovered to a nice golden look to the skin.  Turn the oven down to 325 and continue to roast it covered with a large piece of aluminum foil so you slow the coloring while continuing to roast the turkey.  The average size turkey will only take about another 2-3 hours to cook.  When you get to the 150 range on the turkey if you haven’t reached the perfect color on the skin uncover it again and cook it longer.  You want to cook the turkey until it reaches 165.  take multiple temp locations to be sure you have reached the proper temp.  The top of the bird will cook faster than the bottom so be sure you get it to temp.
5. People always cook the turkey so it will come out right when dinner is ready.  I advise against this.  The best thing you can do is allow it time to rest after cooking before you slice it.  if you have it covered and out of the oven it will still remain really hot for up to an hour.  You can always lower your oven temp while carving it and just warm it before serving as well.