Thanksgiving is a comfort food meal and it's a good thing. The Metropolitan Straits generally need comfort while watching the annual Lions match on Thanksgiving Day.

The comforting dishes are not always easy, but smart cooks know that a good game plan will allow them to endure the big meal.

If you have not started planning your holiday feast, which can be found in a few days, do not be afraid. We are here to help you. After all, Thanksgiving is about giving and sharing.

Every year, with the approach of the holidays, we are bombarded with turkey recipes, tips and suggestions of cooking of all kinds, but we believe that it is essential to stick to the proven techniques to achieve our ultimate goal: a deep brown turkey with crisp skin and tender, juicy meat.

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There are so many ways to cook a turkey. You can roast, grill or fry it and cook it in a bag, pot or grill. You can even disassemble it and roast or cut it and flatten it (process called spatchcock) so that it bakes twice as fast.

But in the Free Press Test Kitchen, we are creatures of habit. We brine turkey with wet or dry brine or apply seasoned butter under and on the skin. Brining helps to keep the turkey wet. Using seasoned butter means that there is no need to baste the bird. When it's time to cook, we roast or sometimes grill, which frees up space in the oven.

Contact Susan Selasky at 313-222-6872 or [email protected]. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.

Roasted turkey with sage sauce

serves: 12 / Preparation time: 1 hour / Total time: 3 hours

A turkey (fresh or frozen and thawed)

3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage, divided

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, divided

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

1 lemon cut in half in a cross

6 peeled cloves of garlic

3 carrots, roughly chopped

3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

2 medium onions, roughly chopped

1 bay leaf

3 cups of fat free chicken broth or no added salt or less sodium, divided

2 cups of water

3 tablespoons of white wine

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Remove the offal and the neck of the turkey; throw the liver. Reserve the neck and turkey offal. Dry the turkey with paper towel; cut and discard excess fat. Starting with the neck cavity, loosen the breast skin with your fingers. Then, gently slide a thin plastic spatula under the skin, gently pushing it to loosen the skin under the chest, thighs and entire thighs.

Combine 2 tablespoons of sage, oil, butter, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Rub the sage mixture under the loose skin and on the breasts and pestles. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon on the turkey; place the remaining lemon in the cavity. Tie the legs with kitchen string. Place the baskets, neck, garlic, carrots, celery, onion and bay leaf in the bottom of a large roasting pan. Add 1 cup of broth and 2 cups of water to the pan. Place the rack in the pan. Arrange the turkey, chest up, on the roasting rack.

Cook the turkey for 1 hour and 20 minutes, turning the dish every 30 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees (do not remove the turkey from the oven). Bake the turkey for another 30 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into the fleshy part of the thigh registers between 160 and 165 degrees. Remove the turkey from the pan; place on a cutting board. Let stand for 30 minutes. Cut the turkey.

Place a large plastic bag with zipper in a 4 cup glass measure. Pass the cooking juices in a strainer in the bag; throw the solids. Leave to drain for 10 minutes. Seal the bag; cut a corner at the bottom of the bag. Drain the cooking juices in a medium sized saucepan by stopping before the fat layer reaches the opening. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon sage, the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, the remaining ¼ teaspoon black pepper, 1 ½ cups chicken broth and wine in the pan; bring to a boil. Cook 15 minutes or until reduction to 2 ½ cups. Mix the flour and ½ cup of chicken broth in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Stir the flour mixture into the base mixture in the mold; bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute or until the mixture is slightly thick, stirring constantly. Serve the sauce with the turkey.

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine, November 2012. Tested by Susan Selasky for the free trial kitchen for the press.

315 Calories (26% of fat), 9 grams fat (3 grams Sam. Fat), 3 grams carbohydrates, 52 grams protein, 349 mg sodium172 mg cholesterol, less than 1 gram of fiber.

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