Friends,

Ok, Ive never cooked a Turkey this big before. I think the biggest I've cooked before was around 12-14 pds.

Today's bird is 21.something pounds! I did not know about that "four days to thaw in the fridge" deal for such large birds.

Therefore, my Turkey has been sitting in cold water in the sink since around 9am this morning and I just put it in the oven at 350 degrees at 1:15pm Eastern (aka ten minutes ago)

I have the bird in a big foil pan and I have surrounded it with tin foil. I've slathered that baby in a good mix of real butter, with lots of rosemary spice, and a pinch of added salt.

To be honest, the bird was still a bit frosty in the middle but the bags with the giblets in it came out ok.

There's some strange plastic strands at one end I cut but could not get out so those are in the oven too. Isnt there supposed to be a neck somewhere? I hope the fact the bird is still unthawed in the center wont be a huge problem?

My game plan is to keep basting it every 30-40 minutes with more butter and rosemary.

I think my cook time should be a little over 4 hours and I take the tinfoil off about thirty minutes near the end for browning.

I have a meat thermometer around here somewhere and I saw some instructions online that say I should stick that in a thigh until the internal temperature deep in but not against the bone is over 165 or 180?

This is my pre-thanksgiving Turkey for me and friends and family to dine on before Turkey Day.

An warnings, suggestions, tips, observations, etc... are appreciated

W