Traditional roast turkey with stuffing

Thaw the turkey in the fridge overnight.

Remove the wishbone before roasting to make carving easier, and remove the bony nubbings off the wings.

Salt the neck and the cavity.

Warm the stuffing in the oven a few minutes so it goes in at room temperature; allow for it swelling as it roasts.

Sit the turkey in a big bowl or a Dutch oven and stuff the neck cavity first, then fold the neck skin over and sew it shut.

Turn the bird breast end down and fill the main cavity.

Use the skin flap to hold the legs if the bird has one, without breaking it.

Run a skewer through the ends of the drumsticks, leave it in and tie it; tie the wings back to the same string, keeping the string off the breast so it does not mark the browning.

Dry the turkey with paper towel and rub oil over every nook and cranny and every skin flap.

Roast at 325 with a 12 and a half pound stuffed bird taking around four hours, basting with oil or the accumulated pan juices every 30 to 40 minutes.

Take the temperature in the armpit area at the thickest part of the white meat; around 162 is done.

Rest an additional half an hour before carving so the juices retreat back into the flesh.

Carve: bend the leg towards you with the carving fork and find the ball joint where the leg thigh meets the small of the back; slit the skin between the tip of the breast and the knee; find the ball joint between the breast meat and the wing to take the wing off.