Place the turkey in a pan, cover and place in the fridge to thaw.

Take the thawed turkey out of the fridge.

Remove the innards (Innards include the heart, neck, gizzard & liver. They will be packed in both cavities). Place the innards in a container and refrigerate until ready to cook the turkey. These pieces will be cooked alongside the turkey the next day.

Place the turkey in a clean pan.

Rinse the turkey inside and out with cold water and pat dry with paper towels.

Sprinkle the turkey with coarse salt inside and out and all over.

Cover the turkey and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine mayonnaise, 1/4 c softened butter and chopped fresh herbs (or dry herbs) over the turkey - inside and out and under the breast skin.

(Gently pull the skin away from the breasts and stretch enough to rub the butter directly on the breast meat.)

Liberally salt and pepper the turkey (inside and out).

Place some of the carrots, onions, celery and 1/4 c. butter inside the body cavities.

Truss the turkey.

**Your turkey might come with plastic holding the legs together. You don't need to remove the plastic unless cooking your turkey at a very high heat. If you remove the plastic, use kitchen string to truss (tie up) the turkey legs.

You might need to use some aluminum foil to hold the veges inside the body cavity.

Place the turkey, breasts side up, on a sturdy rack in a roasting pan. (Use a rack so the bird will brown and cook more evenly.)

Place the gizzards, neck, heart, liver, carrots, celery, onion in the bottom of the roasting pan with 1 c chicken stock or broth.

Place the turkey in the preheated oven and roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Set the timer!!

Turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees and roast for 2 more hours. (Double check the cooking times on the packaging). If the turkey starts browning too quickly, cover with aluminum foil or the roasting pan lid.

At this time, test the internal turkey temperature with a meat thermometer inserted into the meatiest part of the breasts and thighs. The breast (white meat) reading should be 165 degrees and thighs and legs (dark meat) should read 175 degrees.

If the turkey isn't done, continue cooking for 1/2 hour.

Check the turkey temperature again. If it still isn't quite done, reduce the heat to 225 degrees and cook until done. Check the temperature every 15 minutes until the bird is cooked.

Remove Mr. Beautiful from the oven.

Place the turkey in a different pan, tent it with aluminum foil and let rest for 1/2 hour. DO NOT TOUCH. The bird needs to bask in all it's glory - it has been working hard.

While the turkey is resting, remove carrots, celery, onion and innards from the turkey drippings and throw them away. All the other drippings will be used to make delicious turkey gravy.

Once the turkey has rested for 1/2 hour, it is ready to carve. We are NOT carving masters so we did our best, but see link in post about how to carve!

Enjoy!!