PERFECT CHRISTMAS TURKEY

Best Ever Christmas Turkey 

This is a easy no stress guaranteed perfect Christmas turkey, juicy moist full of flavour and truly no stress needed!  After all the stress we put on ourselves is to please the people we love (or not!) the most.  In all of my cooking career private and professional, hint private more stressful!, method and knowledge giving me more experience is the key to success time and time again.  This method once nailed is your forever key to successfully repeating that show stopping Christmas Dinner, however Christmas is about family and no matter how your Christmas dinner turns out, someone with great love for you, or you yourself cooked their heart out for the family Christmas dinner remember it is a beautiful dinner made with love. 

TO COOK THE PERFECT TURKEY

To start you need a beautiful slow raised old fashioned breed turkey, this year I ordered a Organic COPAS Hen turkey, a bronze free range out door living, rain forest diet feed, loved turkey that was raised to full maturity and game hung (with innards) for two weeks.  This turkey was magnificent, the size and shape of the bird echoed it's rooting lifestyle.

I follow the simple minutes per pound cooking rule, which for a turkey is 15 minutes per lb as a guide line but I do use a thermometer to test the temperature of the bird and I remove the turkey from the oven as soon as the centre reaches 64 / 65 degrees C, 148 / 149 F.  Then the most important part is to rest the turkey for at least 1 hour covered in foil and a towel for insulation keeping the bird warm.  This cooking method has always given me the most juicy moist succulent roasted turkey ever.  As soon as my turkey reaches 64 degrees out she comes and this ensures the turkey stops cooking at 65 degrees.

Preparing The Turkey 

Herby butter stuffing.  This is to go under the skin of the turkey, with the back of a dessert spoon facing up, slide the spoon between the skin and the breast meat gently all over creating a pocket between the breast and skin, stuff lots of seasoned butter in to the pockets you’ve made this gives extra moisture to the meat while cooking.  Rub a generous amount of the herb butter all over the turkey skin too.  Place the turkey on top of a mirapaw, french for mixed vegetables that will add a abundance of flavour to your gravy along with the giblets, I always order 15 sets extra of giblets from my butcher as a few people don’t want them so I will use them to make great stock for the rest of the year too.

Turkey Mirapaw Roasting Base To Go Under The Turkey 

3 carrots diced

2 sticks celery diced

2 leeks diced 

2 onions diced

6 cloves garlic bashed

TO ME THIS IS TURKEY COOKING LAW 

This method results in a perfect cooked turkey every time.

15 minutes per lb 

DONT COOK PAST 64 C / 149 F

Probe temp max 64 degrees C / 149 F in the thickest part of the breast

OVEN  TEMPERATURE

Pre-heat to 220 degrees

Place your Turkey un-covered on top of the mirapaw and one set of giblets into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 170 degrees / 338 F.  Cook for 30 minutes, by then your turkey skin will be browned all over, baste the turkey all over several time with the juices from the bottom of the roasting pan, then cover well with tin foil and leave to cook.  Half way through baste again.  Some recipes reverse the cooking temperature method by cooking at 170 degrees C then for the last 30 minutes cranking the heat up to 220 degrees to brown off the bird.  I don’t do this as I feel it toughens the meat, the turkey has cooked and relaxed nice and slow then by increasing the heat it’s like if you sat your bottom on a hot grill, tense!

Once cooked I then give my turkey a extra baste and sometimes using my Cajun injector, inject the cooking juices into the breasts.  Now wrap up the turkey in generous amounts of foil and cover with a couple of tea towels and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.  This now gives you at least 30 minutes to one hour to make your gravy, cook your roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, pigs in blankets, sprouts and stuffing then your ready to serve after enjoying the day too.

THE MOST AWESOME GRAVY

Drain off the cooking juices into a jug and now we can finish off the gravy.  

1 knob of butter

1 dash of olive oil 

1 onion chopped

2 carrots chopped

2 sticks celery chopped

Turkey giblets

2 bay leaves

10 black peppercorns

200ml dry white wine

2 ltrs water

In a large pan melt the butter and olive oil together, soften the onion, carrot and celery then add the giblets, bay and peppercorns and cook for 10 minutes then add the wine and reduce by half.  Add 2 litres of water and simmer for an hour or so until the stock has reduced by half.  You should be left with approx 1000ml.  This is your base for the most awesome gravy.

I do this stage on Christmas Eve so on the day all I have to do is add some seasoned flour to my turkey pan, let it melt into the fat, you can always add a little more fat if needed, cook out for a minute or so and then add your stock and whisk to a smooth gravy, taste and season well.

GET AHEAD GRAVY

This is something you can do the day before and keep in the fridge ready to go on the day.

12 chicken wings

2 carrots rough chopped

1 onion quartered 

3 sprigs thyme

1 bulb garlic halved

Glug olive oil

2 ltrs water

Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees C 392 F, place all the ingredients in a deep roasting tin and roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the skin on the wings is crispy.  Add 2 ltrs of water to the roasting tin and cook for a further 10 minutes so that the water can de-glaze all the lovely caramelised bits on the bottom of the roasting tin and infuse from the roasted chicken skin.  Remove the tin from the oven and then using a potato masher crush all the wings, garlic, onions and carrots in to the water creating the most wonderful flavours.

Drain in to a large bowl through a sieve and push all that wonderful liquid through the sieve.  That is your fabulous base gravy made for the big day, just add this to your roasted turkey pan cooking juices on the day and following the gravy making tips above.