Thanksgiving turkey, five methods

Defrost the turkey fully, 24 hours in the fridge for every five pounds, remove the bag, the neck and the giblets, and keep those for gravy.

Pat the bird dry inside and out and pull out any oven thermometer without tearing the skin.

Separate the skin from the meat with your fingers; this helps the skin crisp and makes room for butter and herbs.

Make compound butter: 8 ounces of room temperature unsalted butter with chopped sage, rosemary and thyme, a hefty pinch of kosher salt and black pepper, whisked until homogenous.

Push the compound butter into every corner under the skin one gob at a time, then rub the rest over the outside.

Dry brine: mix about half a cup of kosher salt with one teaspoon of baking powder, apply liberally to every nook and cranny of the exterior and leave uncovered in the fridge 24 hours. A wet brine goes first, before everything else.

Whisk one cup of concentrated turkey stock with one cup of lightly melted butter and inject it repeatedly into the white and dark meat. Check the bird's commercial brining status first - if the ingredients list more than turkey, keep added salt out of the injection.

Truss the legs together and tuck the wings underneath.

Do not stuff the bird; the turkey dries out before stuffing reaches a safe temperature. A quartered onion and half a lemon in the cavity add flavour without needing to come to temperature.

Line a roasting pan with foil and add a chopped onion, a separated head of garlic, a few chopped carrots and a few ribs of celery, which keep the drippings from evaporating and burning and give concentrated stock for gravy.

Set the turkey on a rack above them, tent loosely with foil and roast at 325 degrees Fahrenheit about two hours, until the thickest part of the breast registers about 150.

Uncover, crank the oven to 450 Fahrenheit, preferably with convection, and crisp 15 to 45 minutes until the breast registers about 155 and the dark meat 175.

Rest uncovered 20 to 30 minutes. Retrieve the drippings first, let them settle and skim the fat off the top.

Variation, oven bag: same as the foil method but the bag traps far more moisture. Cut half a dozen ventilation slits, cook at 325 about two hours to 150, then take the bird out of the bag and put it on a rack above the drippings.

Before crisping, brush the skin with clarified butter, oil, chicken or duck fat, then 450 Fahrenheit, preferably with convection, 15 to 30 minutes until thoroughly browned. Do not brown over the drippings - steam off the liquid browns the bottom worse.

Carve by removing the breasts and slicing them across the grain.

Variation, spatchcock: cut out the spine with sharp kitchen shears, optionally remove the wishbone with shallow cuts down the sides of the bone, snip the base of the breastbone, flip the bird and press down hard between the breasts to flatten it.

Dry brine the spatchcocked bird, separate the skin from the meat so the fat renders out, and poke the skin in the thicker fat deposits with a safety pin or cocktail pick.

Set it on a rack over the vegetables in a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and bake at 450 Fahrenheit, preferably with convection, about 45 minutes until the breast registers 155 and the dark meat 175.

Variation, smoked: make an optional rub of half a cup of melted clarified butter with 1.5 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp each dried sage, rosemary and thyme, 0.75 tsp dried oregano, 0.5 tsp black pepper, 0.5 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp paprika and 2 tbsp brown sugar.

Inject the meat with melted and cooled salted butter, rub the spice butter over and under the skin, do not truss or stuff, and smoke at 325 Fahrenheit about two hours, raising the heat to about 450 for the last half hour.

Variation, deep fried: thread the butter-injected dry-brined bird onto the hook, lower it into an empty pot, add cold oil until it is just covered and pull it back out - that is how you find the right oil volume.

Put the oil in, wear heatproof gloves and goggles, and kill the flame once the oil reaches 325 Fahrenheit, so an overflow cannot start a fire.

With the flame off, lower the turkey very slowly so oil does not rush into the cavity and splash.

Fry 30 to 45 minutes, about three and a half minutes per pound, holding the oil at 325, and start checking the white meat after about 30 minutes.

Turn the flame off again and lift the bird out just as slowly; it is full of hot oil.