I cook quite a bit but being the "baby" of the family, I never made the Thanksgiving Turkey in all my 39 years. In was fantastic. The meat thermometer registered it was done long before it really was but all the standard charts were right on: 14 lbs, 4.5 hrs. Only thing I changed was the gravy. In step 8 I cooked it on almost medium heat and found it still didn't ticken properly so I added some Zatarain's instant roux and yum!