What's Your Turkey Personality?

This is Martha's classic method. Nearly one pound of melted butter and a bottle of dry white wine make up the luscious basting mixture for this turkey. Soaking a cheesecloth in the combination of butter and wine and draping it across the turkey's breast while it roasts ensures a perfectly bronzed bird.

"If you are a less experienced cook, brining leaves room for some margin of error, keeping the bird moist if you're shy about cooking accuracy," recommends Lucinda Scala Quinn. "That's why the turkey recipe in my Mad Hungry book calls for brining." Before beginning, make sure to clear out lots of refrigerator space, or get your hands on a big cooler packed with plenty of ice.

Free up oven space for sides by roasting the turkey over charcoal. Slow-cooking a turkey on a grill is easier than you might think. "This is how I actually do it on Thanksgiving," explains Lucinda. "It takes nothing more than salt and pepper and olive oil and a lot of TLC and patience."

Brining produces juicy, tender, flavorful meat, and this dry brine offers an easier alternative to traditional wet brines for the Thanksgiving bird.

"My favorite method is the overnight salt rub," declares editorial director of food Sarah Carey. "Some people call it 'dry brining,' but because the liquid isn't reabsorbed via osmosis, it's not technically brining at all. (Isn't science fun?) But the technique adds such great flavor—especially when you add herbs and citrus zest to the salt rub, like we did in this recipe—and results in a nice, crisp skin. This rub works as a last-minute thing too, so if you forget to rub the night before, don't worry, there is still time. Throw it on right before you roast, and it will still add lots of flavor. Who doesn't want that?"

When the turkey's backbone is removed and the halves are flattened, it takes only a little more than an hour to roast the whole bird. Since this method doesn't allow for stuffing the bird, simply make a batch of turkey stock to flavor and moisten the stuffing as it bakes beside the turkey.

Heritage turkeys are historic breeds unaltered by modern agriculture and are heralded by devotees for their superior taste and sustainability. Heritage birds have more dark meat, a proportionally smaller breast, and a more pronounced "turkey" flavor than the Broad Breasted White (your standard supermarket turkey). This roasted heritage bird gets a layer of butter between skin and meat before going into the oven, giving it crisp skin and moist breast meat.

It hardly gets more exciting than lowering a 15-pound turkey into a vat of boiling peanut oil. The results are flavorful and juicy meat with sensationally crispy skin.

Inspired by Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini's famous porchetta (a stuffed pork loin and belly), a whole, boned turkey is rolled up with fresh rosemary and fennel pollen, and wrapped in prosciutto.

This turkey's crunchy, sweet crust is the result of boiling down maple syrup until it's almost crystallized and then brushing it on the bird during the last hour of cooking for a taste of the New England woods in every bite.

Notes of smoky, earthy Aleppo pepper and fresh orange juice give this turkey the exotic allure of warm and far-off lands.

No brines or sauces are required to prepare this super-simple roasted Thanksgiving turkey. Bay leaves, carrots, and onions are stuffed into the cavity to perfume the meat while it cooks.