Christmas Turkey

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About Turkey

It’s best to use an Organic Free Range Turkey. You are guaranteed a well flavoured, good quality bird. The OFR Turkey will have been bred for twice as long as the battery bird, it will have walked around in the fresh air, exercising it’s muscles, which adds to the flavour, and it will have eaten only organic grain pellets, free from additives, antibiotics and hormones.

There’s a big difference between Organic FR and just Free Range, so it’s important to bare this in mind. (If you have further queries email me on aine@drumms.ie)

Method

When you get your bird home take out the giblets. These are usually in the cavity. Then store your bird uncovered in the bottom of the fridge until you’re ready for it.

Put the giblets aside and use them to make the stock for the soup. (see recipe)

About 6-12 hours before cooking the bird take it out of the fridge, so that it comes to room temperature.

Rinse out the cavity (I know there are adds on the telly saying not to, but you’ve just bought a perfectly safe, salmonella free, organic free range turkey, so you have nothing to worry about.)

Season and Stuff the cavity. If both the bird and the stuffing are at room temperature, there’s no problem stuffing the cavity. Just don’t pack it in too tightly.

Put the remaining stuffing in the other end, the neck end and tuck the flap underneath. You can sew this up with a needle and black thread if you have the stomach for it or you can hold it with a skewer.

Spread the skin of the turkey with softened butter and cover with good back rashers. (Use Irish bacon please, you’ll be glad of the flavour it will impart to the skin and the juices it will leave in your tray for the gravy)

Season with Maldon Sea Salt crystals and freshly ground black pepper.

Put a layer of sliced onion and thyme on the base of a large roasting tin. Preferably the Viking Roasting Tray, it’s a beauty. Place your turkey on the layer of onion and thyme. Think of it as a little savoury bedding on which to place the bird, this will also impart flavour to the juices which will eventually become your gravy.

Cover the legs of the bird with tin foil and then cover the whole tray with tin foil too.

Half way through the cooking remove the large piece of foil and baste the bird, but leave the legs covered until the last 50 minutes.

Once the bacon has browned remove it from the breast and let the breast skin brown. You can push the bacon into the baking tray to conserve all it’s flavours.

Cut the legs from the skin and when the juices run clear your turkey is done.

Alternatively if you are cooking with Kuppersbusch oven you can use the probe and when the core temperature reaches 75 degrees your turkey is cooked.

Cooking time; Weigh the turkey, (you can use the Kuppersbush Programme for Turkey and just enter the weight and the time and temp will automatically come up)

If using your Viking. Set it at Fan. Cook the Turkey at 150degrees, 20 minutes per KG. But make sure you test the core temp at the end, or test that the juices are running clear.

Conserve all the juices for your gravy.

Pour them off and put them in the VIKING refrigerator. This will chill the fat which you can scrape away.

Let your turkey stand for at least 20 minutes before carving, giving you time to get the remainder of your gourmet extravaganza organised!