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the first, most important step to roasting a turkey is to determine how long it needs to cook. you don't want to have all of your sides ready and still be waiting on the turkey to cook while the sides get cold. a turkey that weighs under 15 pounds needs to cook for about 15 minutes per pound. a larger turkey needs to cook for about 12 minutes per pound. that means, for a 20 pound turkey, it will need to cook for approximately four hours.
open the bag the turkey came in and drain all the juices.
thoroughly rinse the turkey with cold water and pat dry.
place the meat rack in 