Thanksgiving is perhaps my favorite holiday of all time. Why? you ask. The food. I know there are some people who want to puke at the sight of all the starches, carbs, and meat on a Thanksgiving table, but I’m not one of them. The more rolls and pie, the merrier. For the past several years, I’ve cooked almost a full Thanksgiving dinner on my own. Everything, that is, except the turkey.

It might seem impossible, but it’s true. Growing up, an adult in my family would always handle it. Once I became an adult, I punted the responsibility off on someone else like my ex. To be honest, I was scared. There was something about putting a 20-pound bird on a roasting rack that completely unnerved me. I guess it’s somewhat unnatural if you think about it, but honestly, it wasn’t even that. I think I just thought it was super complicated, and I’d probably screw it up because I barely cook poultry or meat at home.

Then I found myself single this year, and I asked myself what I wanted to do. I thought I would make a roast chicken, because that’s definitely in my repertoire, but then I thought, “No way.” It’s the year of the turkey, I said to myself, and I’m finally going to roast one myself. I had a little trepidation, especially after I went to a wine bar last weekend and my waitress mentioned the Butterball hotline for “emergencies.”

Thankfully, I didn’t have to call. As it turns out, roasting a turkey is one of the easiest things ever. There’s probably someone somewhere cursing me for saying that, but I stand by it. If you have ever roasted any kind of bird before, this is basically the same thing, only a slightly longer process because it’s a very big bird. Even if you haven’t, following a good recipe step-by-step makes it very manageable. I used this recipe as a guide and I will use it every year to come.

Some things to note (I realize some of these may be divisive):

• Don’t bother brining your bird. In retrospect, I think this was one of the things that turned me off roasting a turkey the most or the reason I never tried it. I’ve marinated chicken plenty of times, but creating a brine and dunking a giant turkey into it seemed…unappetizing. Good news: You don’t need to do it. My turkey was tender and flavorful without going through the process.
• Dry off the turkey after you unwrap it. It is kind of nasty? Yes. Is it worth it? Also yes. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels before you do anything to it. It will result in a crispier skin later.
• Let the turkey come to room temp for an hour before you prepare it. This might seem obvious, but it’s easy to just grab the bird straight out of the fridge and proceed to cooking. If you let your turkey come to room temperature for an hour before you prepare it, it will result in a more flavorful end product.
• Don’t skimp on butter. The garlic herb butter I prepared for this turkey made a HUGE difference. My friend Lynn told me to put some under the skin of the breast, so I did, and that was a great idea. It tenderized the meat underneath. I also drizzled some melted herb butter over the skin and massaged it all over. I was a lot less disgusted by this than I thought I would be. The resulting skin was crispy, flavorful, and delicious.
• Try not to open the oven. We’ve all done it: We get impatient, and we want to see how the bird is doing. That’s fine, but try to limit the amount of times you open the oven so you don’t slow down the roasting process. It’s already pretty long as it is.
• Tent the turkey toward the end. I thought this note in the recipe was pointless, but as it turns out, it’s not. Keep an eye on your bird through the oven window using the oven light. If it looks like it’s getting too past golden brown, take a piece of aluminum foil and place it over the top of the breast. You don’t even have to seal it around the pan.

So yeah. Those are my turkey roasting tips from a complete novice. If it turned out this well this year, I can’t wait to see what happens for round two. Maybe I’ll do another bird for Christmas.

Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with this milk bun recipe (also a must for your Thanksgiving table…see the photo below), and this song. It’s good any time, but especially when you need a confidence boost pre-bird roasting.