Nexis asked:

>> The turkey came out BEAUTIFULLY. I followed the America's Test Kitchen
>> recipe for "Turkey for a crowd," and it's definitely a keeper.
>
> Not familiar with this...is it a special method? Did you stuff?

Well, the method depends on having a Butterball or similarly "enhanced"
(i.e., injected with brine) turkey, so it's not for everybody. The following
is the recipe that the test kitchen cooked on the America's Test Kitchen
episode which aired earlier this year.

Turkey for a Crowd

You can use any roasting pan to roast the turkey, even a disposable one, but
make sure to use a V-rack to keep the bird elevated. Be careful to dry the
skin thoroughly before brushing the bird with butter; otherwise it will have
spotty brown skin. Roast the bird breast-side up for the entire cooking
time. Because we do not brine the bird, we had the best results with a
frozen Butterball (injected with salt and water) and a kosher bird (soaked
in sal****er during processing).

Serves 20 to 24

2 medium onions , chopped coarse
2 medium carrots , chopped coarse
2 ribs celery , chopped coarse
1 lemon , quartered
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves (3 to 4 inches each)
1 frozen turkey (Butterball or kosher turkey, 18 to 22 pounds gross weight),
neck, heart, and gizzard reserved for gravy, turkey rinsed and thoroughly
dried with paper towels
4 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position; remove remaining racks. Heat oven to
425 degrees.

2. Toss onions, carrots, celery, lemon, and thyme in medium bowl; set aside.
Brush turkey back with 2 tablespoons butter, then sprinkle with half of salt
and half of black pepper. Set turkey breast-side up on V-rack. Brush with
remaining 2 tablespoons butter and sprinkle with remaining salt and black
pepper. Fill cavity with half of onion mixture; scatter rest in roasting pan
and pour 1 cup water into pan.

3. Roast turkey 1 hour, then lower oven temperature to 325 degrees. Continue
to roast until legs move freely and instant-read thermometer inserted into
thickest part of thigh registers 170 to 180 degrees, about 2 hours longer.
Transfer turkey to carving board and let rest, uncovered, 35 to 40 minutes.
Carve and serve.

Although the turkey was gorgeous and moist, I'd do a couple things
differently:

[1] If the roasting pan is dark (as my girlfriend's roasting pan is), I'd
add more than a cup of water to the vegetables in the pan. The one cup of
water was gone fairly quickly, and the vegetables ended up cooked to the
bottom of the pan.

[2] Penzey's Bicentennial Rub would be a nice change from the simple salt
and pepper sprinkled over the bird.

Bob