Martha Stewart's Favorite Method For Cooking A Turkey This Holiday Season - Exclusive

Martha Stewart loves a traditional Thanksgiving table, and no food says "Thanksgiving" quite like a turkey. And while there are many ways to prepare a Thanksgiving turkey, over the years, Stewart has tried and perfected her favorite method to ensure a succulent masterpiece.

"It's a parchment-wrapped roasted turkey," she told us in an exclusive interview. "After you stuff your turkey and slather it with soft butter, you wrap it in an envelope of parchment paper." She specified that to do this well, you will need large sheets of parchment to really cover the turkey: "You wrap it this way and you staple it shut and you roast it ... and then unwrap it about a half an hour before it's done." This method helps seal in moisture and flavor while cooking the turkey to perfection.

Stewart says of the result: "It'd be almost like Peking duck skin." The turkey has a crispy, wonderful skin and juicy, flavorful inside. "I cannot tell you, it is so utterly delicious." 

In previous years, Stewart has promoted another turkey-cooking method, but she has found this one to be more effective for her tastes. "The cheesecloth method with soaked-in butter and white wine is very good, but this I like better."

Along with turkey, Martha Stewart enjoys many of the traditional accouterments found on tables during the holidays. "I like homemade stuffings. I'm not going to have sausage stuffing, because I don't like sausage anymore," she told us. "I make my own cranberry, I make my own pommes de terre puree, carrots." 

Of course, her being Martha Stewart, her holiday table wouldn't be complete without a home-baked pie. For Stewart, this means more classic flavors. "I really love pumpkin pie, and I really love apple pie, or apple tart. I used to love pecan and chocolate pecan, but I don't like it as much as I used to." 

Her key to any holiday spread, though, is to make sure the dishes are a labor of love. Stewart said she loves the holidays and seeing friends and family, but to set the tone requires "everything homemade." Between her turkey and her other dishes, her table certainly fits the bill!

For more information and to enter to win a custom Pure Leaf x Martha Stewart "Don't Do It Yourself" tea kit, visit pureleaf.com/ddiy.