Turkey - Baste? Foil?

Teach42

So I'm doing a Thanksgiving rehearsal today, and Mad Max'ing up a turkey.

The skin was browning nicely so, I loosely covered it up with foil as he recommended.

Then I just noticed that he says that he bates it every 20 minutes!!

So my questions are...

A) How important is it to baste the turkey every 20 minutes? Do I really need to? I don't even have a turkey baster so I'd need to go out and buy one!

B)What are your thoughts about tenting it with foil? I'm not really sure what tenting means, so I just wrapped the whole thing loosely with a few sheets. Should be unwrapping, basting, and re-wrapping every 20 minutes? That just seems goofy, but maybe I'm just a newb.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Grand Oeuf Vert

I did a Turkey last weekend. Yes, I think basting is important but every 20 seems a bit too often. I did not foil either. I turned out fine. Taste was amazing.

Morro Bay Rich

I've done at least 20 turkeys and have never basted a one and they all came out great.