My first thanksgiving turkey

Believe it or not, last year was the first time I ever cooked a turkey. To make sure it would come out good, I checked a couple of sources, but my one stop place for ideas came from the Food Network. They have recipes and videos that make it easier to understand. I pretty much followed the Good Eats Roast Turkey recipe (except for the brining because I bought one of those frozen turkeys on sale a few weeks before). And I made a celery and carrot "rack" inspired by Michael Chiarello.



Here it is ready to go in the oven:






Here's the neck bone and some veggies for the gravy broth (I guess I took this picture so I'd remember what I did). I was so proud of myself that I had remembered to take the neck out of the cavity:





And here's the final product:

Now, if you look carefully at the bottom right part of the turkey breast, you will see something like a round stamp. It turned out it was the gizzards bag I had left in!

The turkey still came out fine.