Gazette food and health columnist Judy Grigoraci tried a no-baste turkey recipe last week. The recipe's been around for years, but she didn't know anyone who'd had the temerity to try it.

It's the recipe in which a 12-pound turkey is roasted in a covered pan at a high temperature for an hour, then sits in a cooling oven for 4 to 6 hours more to finish cooking.

The key is to leave the bird untouched and resist the urge to open the oven door.

Grigoraci saw the recipe in Trisha Yearwood's "Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen" cookbook. "She swears by it and now I do, too," Grigoraci said in an e-mail. "She says once anyone tries it, they don't go back to any other method."

Two requirements: the turkey must be 12 pounds and must be roasted in a pan with a tightly sealed lid. Grigoraci taped a "do not open" sign on her oven door, mostly for her own benefit. She invited her family over for dinner.

"I told them it would either be turkey or delivered Domino's, depending," she said. "It was delicious, browned all over, done, moist and even had top crackly skin. And the legs had fallen away."

No-Baste, No-Bother Roasted Turkey

1             12-pound turkey, completely thawed, all giblets removed

1/2             cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened

Salt and pepper

2             ribs celery, cut in lengths to fit turkey cavity

Gazette food and health columnist Judy Grigoraci tried a no-baste turkey recipe last week. The recipe's been around for years, but she didn't know anyone who'd had the temerity to try it.

It's the recipe in which a 12-pound turkey is roasted in a covered pan at a high temperature for an hour, then sits in a cooling oven for 4 to 6 hours more to finish cooking.

The key is to leave the bird untouched and resist the urge to open the oven door.

Grigoraci saw the recipe in Trisha Yearwood's "Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen" cookbook. "She swears by it and now I do, too," Grigoraci said in an e-mail. "She says once anyone tries it, they don't go back to any other method."

Two requirements: the turkey must be 12 pounds and must be roasted in a pan with a tightly sealed lid. Grigoraci taped a "do not open" sign on her oven door, mostly for her own benefit. She invited her family over for dinner.

"I told them it would either be turkey or delivered Domino's, depending," she said. "It was delicious, browned all over, done, moist and even had top crackly skin. And the legs had fallen away."

No-Baste, No-Bother Roasted Turkey

1             12-pound turkey, completely thawed, all giblets removed

1/2             cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened

Salt and pepper

2             ribs celery, cut in lengths to fit turkey cavity

1             medium onion, cut in half

1             large carrot, cut in lengths to fit turkey

2             cups boiling water or broth

ADJUST oven racks so a covered roasting pan fits easily inside the oven.

HEAT oven to 500 degrees. 

RUB the butter outside and inside the turkey. A self-basting turkey won't require all the butter. Sprinkle salt and pepper inside and outside turkey. 

INSERT celery, onion and carrot in cavity.  Place turkey, breast side up, in roasting pan.  Pour boiling water or broth into pan. 

COVER with tight-fitting lid and place pan in oven. Start a timer when the oven comes back up to 500 degrees (if it has dropped when oven door opened to place roaster in oven). 

BAKE for exactly 1 hour and turn off the oven. 

DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR. 

LEAVE the turkey in the oven until oven cools; this may take 4 to 6 hours. The turkey will still be warm when taken out of the oven. Carve and serve.