Name: Simple Roast Turkey With Teriyaki Butter
Yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings
Ingredients: 1 12-14-pound turkey, giblets and neck removed, at room temperature for 1 hour; 3 tablespoons kosher salt (optional); 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper; 1 medium onion, quartered; 2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped; 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided; 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce; 1 tablespoon mirin; 3 sprigs rosemary

Top view of whole roast turkey on a wooden cutting board.

A Simple Roast TurkeyPenden + Munk

The first Thanksgiving I took part in cooking was when I was 20, a college kid in Boston, living in a big, rambling house. The apartment was a kind of clubhouse devoted to a shifting list of priorities that included music, books, girls, beer, and food. On Thanksgiving we cooked a turkey. The recipe was my pal John Patrick Montaño's, and I still use it today: a roast bird glazed with a rosemary-infused teriyaki butter. The piney herb melds beautifully with the butter and sweet caramel of the mirin browning on lacquered skin. It results in flavor of astonishing depth.

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