Your best tips for holiday roast success?

When roasting a bird, sometimes I brine, sometimes I don't. depends on my schedule and space availability. If I'm not brining, I will make a compound butter with thyme, oregano and sage. Tuck it under the skin and massage it until its spread around. Truss it up into a nice shape, generous salt and pepper on the outside and into a roasting pan (no rack, I feel like I get a better fond for deglazing) with a few mirepoix veggies sitting around it. Baste it often while roasting with the pan liquid.

I pretty much always brine pork loin roasts, unless I have a very specific recipe that doesn't call for it. and I will most likely use a rack for those.

Rocky Bill, to be more clear about why I'm asking -- we're putting together a feature on holiday roast tips, and looking for help from the community. So general or specific tips work!

(Sorry reposting after accidentally posting from one of our contributors' accounts!)

Find an excellent butcher and order your roast grass fed and finished. You will be amazed at the difference in flavour and texture and you will feel better knowing you are eating ethical meat.

Personally I do use a rack for all roasts. I also use an "internal brine" which means you need and injector. But most of all you need a really fast, instant read probe thermometer such as a Thermapen. Expensive yes, but you will never regret owning one. Getting an accurate read on internal temperature is essential.

Buy: Roasting - A Simple Art by Barbara Kafka.
She'll tell you all.

Could you give us more to work with?! Are you asking about beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey??