For more than four decades, Food & Wine has been sharing various roast turkey recipes, recommending a plethora of innovative strategies, such as using mayonnaise or ditching the oven completely. Yet, we underline three techniques found to yield evenly cooked, superbly seasoned turkey with a crisp skin time after time.

The topmost recommendation is "spatchcocking." If the term sounds unfamiliar, it's simply the process of converting your turkey from 3D to 2D. In essence, you butterfly the bird, laying it flat. This technique confers multiple benefits, cooking the turkey in about an hour and a half, ensuring an evenly roasted bIrd and rustic, crispy skin. Moreover, it's a space-efficient method that leaves more room for other dishes in your oven.

For achieving this, place your turkey with the backbone facing upwards, and carve down either side of the backbone using sturdy poultry shears. Flip over the turkey, press firmly on the breastbone center until it cracks and your bird is completely flat.

Secondly, dry-brining is an advantageous, less messy alternative to wet brining. This process is quite straightforward-salt and season the turkey and leave it undisturbed. It results in well-seasoned meat with ultra-crisp skin. Combine salt and seasonings to rub onto and underneath the turkey’s skin, refrigerating it, uncovered, for 24 hours. Typically, you should plan on using 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of a small flake kosher salt like Diamond Crystal per pound.

It’s crucial to let the turkey sit at room temperature for an hour before roasting it. This ensures that the turkey isn’t too cold as it goes into the oven.

As a third important tip, ensure your roasting pan fits optimally within your oven before you turn it on. Place a thermometer inside the thickest part of the turkey thigh, preferably with a digital probe thermometer that stays in throughout cooking. Avoid letting the thermometer's tip touch bone or thrust it completely through.

The final touch to your roast turkey? Let it rest for a good 30 minutes post-roasting to allow the juices to settle. Thus, armed with these time-honored methods, you can cook a turkey or even a roast chicken with confidence any day of the year.