DIY Super Quick Delicious Roast Turkey for Six

We learned so much this Thanksgiving about how to cook our turkey for maximum crispy skin (which we both love) in half the cooking time! We split the turkey in half and placed it in a lightly oiled baking pan. This was an eight pound turkey that took 1 hour and 15 minutes to cook. We were amazed!

The secret to a moist turkey is basting. In this reduced cooking time baste every 20 minutes. When the turkey was cooked, we took it out of the oven and put aluminum foil over it so it could rest then cooked the dressing on convection in about 20 minutes. It all turned out ready at the same time and we thoroughly enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner! So here's a step by step process. Hope you'll give this a try if! We'll cook our turkey like this from now on!

The Turkey, Dressing and Cranberry Sauce

SERVES: 6
PREP TIME: 10 minutes
COOK TIME: 1 hour, 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
8 pound turkey
3 oranges, juiced
Olive oil
Granulated garlic
Fresh ground black pepper
Paprika

PREPARATION:
1. Remove the turkey from it's wrapper, clean out the inside parts then wash it in cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.
2. Cut the turkey in half along the breast bone on one side and along the back ribs on the same side. This is a bit tricky as Tom had to use heavy duty wire cutters for parts of it. Other parts he used kitchen shears or a very sharp chef's knife. Once the turkey is cut in half place it, breast side up, on a lightly oiled baking sheet with about a 1" edge so you can contain the juices.
3. Rub turkey thoroughly with olive oil, pour some of the fresh squeezed orange juice over it, sprinkle with granulated garlic, paprika and pepper.
4. Place turkey in a 325* oven. Baste after 20 minutes with remaining orange juice and spray with olive oil spray to keep the skin moist. At this point you may have to pour a small amount of water into the bottom of the pan to make sure you have sufficient basting juices. Baste every 20 minutes with the juices from the pan after the first basting. NOTE: If the turkey is browning too fast loosely cover the browned parts with aluminum foil. We had to cover the wings after the first 40 minutes and.
5. When the turkey is fully cooked, remove from oven and let it rest for about 15-20 minutes then carve it up and serve on a heated platter. We cooked the dressing on convection during this time.

Bon appetit,
Tom and Anita

DIY Super Quick Delicious Roast Turkey for Six