FOOL PROOF EASY NO STRESS
Best Ever Thanksgiving or 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 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 Brine or Not to Brine?
I personally love a brined bird. Place your bird in a deep container that will fit in your fridge, fill and cover with your cold brine and leave for 24 hours. Drain and rinse before cooking, that’s it.
SIMPLE BRINE LIQUID
8 ltrs (2 gallons) boiling water
1/2 - 1 cup Himalayan sea salt
10 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 kg ice
Add the salt and all the other ingredients to the boiling water, stir to combine, once the salt has dissolved take off the heat, add the ice and leaf to cook completely. Chill, once cold submerge the turkey in the brine, use a weight if needed to keep the turkey submerged. Maximum of 24 hours.
Feeding a Crowd
Easy carving tip, take the whole breast off the bone in one piece, then carve, this is a much quicker and less stressful way to serve up to lots of people or for serving buffet family style.
To Start...
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
I DO NOT COOK PAST 64 C / 149 F
Probe temp max 64 degrees C / 149 F in the thickest part of the breast
(however environmental health would advise cooking until 70 C / 161.6 F)
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 the cooking time 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 in the oven, 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 60 minutes. This now gives you at least one hour to make your gravy, cook your roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, pigs in blankets, sprouts and stuffing then your ready to serve enjoying the day too.
THE MOST AWESOME GRAVY ON THE DAY
Drain off the cooking juices from the rested turkey pan 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
1 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 1 litre of water and simmer until the stock has reduced by half. You should be left with approx 600ml. Strain, add a knob of butter taste for seasoning and season with sea salt and white pepper. If you want a thicker gravy add a table spoon of flour after you have softened the vegetables and cook in for five minutes before adding the wine and other ingredients.
I ALWAYS MAKE MY GET AHEAD GRAVY THE DAY BEFORE
This is something you can do the day before and keep in the fridge ready to go on the day.
STAGE ONE
12 chicken wings
2 carrots rough chopped
1 onion quartered
3 sprigs thyme
1 bulb garlic halved
Glug olive oil
2 ltrs water
STAGE TWO giblets
25g butter
50ml olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 leek chopped
2 carrots chopped
2 ribs celery
4 cloves garlic
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
500ml dry white wine
2 ltrs water
Stage One: 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 stock 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.
Stage Two: In a deep casserole dish heat the olive oil and butter, soften the onion, leeks, carrots celery and garlic for 20 minutes, add the giblets, bay, thyme and peppercorns, cook for a a further 30 minutes, add the wine and bubble away reducing by half, then add the water, bring to a only just simmer and cook for a couple of hours. Strain and add to stage one stock and your ready for the big day.
On the day pour off all the resting juices from the turkey, leave to settle for five minutes or if using a fat separator gravy jug take out some of the turkey fat, add to a pan with a generous spoon of flour, this is a roux to thicken your gravy, cook on a medium heat for five minutes then start to add the get ahead gravy stock a ladle at a time whisking smooth each time then when you have a smooth liquid add the rest of the gravy stock, bring to a simmer and season to taste with sea salt and white pepper.
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