Thanksgiving Newb Turkey Crisis...

I'm having a total turkey crisis. I don't know what to stuff it with, or if I should stuff it at all or where to put the stuffing.  I think I've gone and read too many recipes and I've got myself all turned around. 

I've read about sticking butter/herbs/etc. under the skin, to keep it moist but apparently you can stick sausage under there as well, but then you can also put stuff in the cavity? I didn't realise you can stuff a turkey in more than one place. And I'm reading that there are drawbacks to stuffing the cavity. Now I don't know what to do.

I was going to make bread stuffing but was a bit put off by putting it in the cavity, so I thought I would just cook it out of the bird, especially since I have a vegetarian coming. But I don't want the bird to dry out. The butter/sausage under the skin seems like a good idea, but then I worry about the sausage making the turkey taste sausage-y.

Then there's brining, which I don't have the ability to do since I don't have anything to put it in.

Okay, in short: HALP! What do you do with your turkey??

my family does butter under the skin and no stuffing in the cavity only an onion or two chopped with herbs.

I always rub butter and salt on the outside of the skin, this helps the turkey stay nice and moist and the skin gets crispy.  I've heard that it can be dangerous to put stuffing in the cavity, but I've never had an issue with it.  I do my mom's recipe for bread stuffing, some in the cavity and some baked separately in a dish (good for veggies).  It's my favourite part of the meal!

Yah, I would avoid stuffing the cavity. If you want to stuff the turkey then stuff the neck.

You can either, get a wooden spoon and carefully part the skin from the turkey breast to create a pocket over the turkey breast, then put the stuffing up there, fold the neck skin up to keep it in and then secure it with a tooth pick, or you just stuff the neck cavity without pushing it up over the turkey breast and then secure it again by folding up the spare skin and securing it with a tooth pick.

The other thing you could do is, part the skin from the turkey breast with a wooden spoon and then pack herbed butter in there, it's a good way of keeping it moist and making sure all the butter melts into the breast, I also sometimes but streaky bacon up there, it's much nicer than putting it on the outside as the bacon wont dry out, and you get crispy skin still.

I'm not a turkey fan... largely because they do get so dry. If I had my way, we'd have chicken for Thanksgiving!

I'd definitely put the butter on it. You can also drape bacon on it. Other recipes say to roast breast down for the first portion of cooking. I'd just focus on well-rated recipes for roasting turkey if I were you.

I don't make the stuffing with the turkey at all. We make 'dressing' (the term is different since you don't 'stuff'!). We make it in a pan and bake it. The advantage is you can make a veg version. We do both using veg broth for one, and chicken broth for the other.

I'm not a turkey fan... largely because they do get so dry. If I had my way, we'd have chicken for Thanksgiving

My family used to cook a goose. The dripping from that made for some of the most amazing roast potatoes in existence.

I do my mom's recipe for bread stuffing, some in the cavity and some baked separately in a dish (good for veggies).  It's my favourite part of the meal!

This is exactly what we do. We're stuffing in the cavity people and we've never had a problem. Just make sure you cook it long enough.

Brine it first if you have enough fridge space and/or ice!  That really keeps it nice and moist. 

The food network and butterball both offer turkey tips

And you can never go wrong with Alton Brown.

You can stuff it, (yeah, yeah, the food police say you can't - but I reheat rice  ) -  so just make sure it's not stuffed too tightly and if it's sausage, etc you want to make sure its all fully cooked. 

Good luck!!

Thanks everyone! Feeling a lot less panicky about it today thanks to the help! 

I think what I will do is keep it simple since it's my first one. I think it will be the butter under the skin, and on top, no stuffing in the cavity except to place maybe some flavour kind of stuff in there like herbs and onion. My mom has always done stuffing in the cavity, but I know it takes a bit longer when you do that, and I want to eliminate as many disaster-creating variables as I can, because I am certainly disaster prone when it comes to making new things.

I wish I could just stick a beer can in its bum and call it a day like I do with roast chicken, but the oven isn't big enough anyway. 

I've always been a butter and sage on the skin, baste it every 20 or so minutes kind of gal. My uncle shoves as many ice cubes as he can under the skin. As they melt, the water soaks into the meat and makes it incredibly tender.

We've always been a dressing instead of stuffing family, but I've heard of people waiting until the bird is nearly done and stuffing it with cooked stuffing just to make sure both bird and stuffing are thoroughly done.

I think there are as many ways to bake a turkey as there are people who bake them. 

We like stuffing, so it goes both in the bird and out. If you're stuffing in the cavity, make sure you add to the cooking time. There are charts all over the internet that give you timing/weight/stuffing info.

If you do stuff the turkey it's best if you stuff it with hot stuffing. Like, right after you've mixed all the ingredients for stuffing put it straight in the bird. This helps to minimize bacteria growth on the outside of the stuffing while in the turkey. I prefer not stuffing my turkey (and it'll cook faster) and just make stuffing on the side. For the turkey itself I just salt the outside and then rub a bit of butter under the skin of the turkey and a bit on the outside so you get nice crunchy brown skin at the end. Good luck!