Thanksgiving Turkey
from Meg

For a 12-14 pound turkey:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Rinse and pat dry your turkey and season with salt & pepper. Stuff the neck cavity and pack the body cavity loosely with stuffing, fasten with a skewer.

Spread ½ a stick of butter over the turkey (easiest to melt the butter slightly in the microwave, and have fun!)

Bake turkey for 30 minutes at 425 degrees.

Turn the oven down to 325 degrees and baste the turkey with pan juices.

Drape the turkey with cheesecloth that has been soaked in one stick of melted butter- pour remaining butter over the draped turkey if the cheesecloth has not soaked it all in. (Barbara likes to refer to this draping as, "The Butter Hat".)

Add two cups of water to the pan to provide additional basting juices.

Continue to bake for 2.5-3 hours, basting every 20 minutes over the cheesecloth.