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Thread: Cooking the Turkey - Any tips

  1. #1

    Cooking the Turkey - Any tips

    Following on from the who’s doing the Christmas cooking I thought I’d see what the various techniques are for cooking the turkey.
    After watching Jamie Oliver the other night I will be putting some seasoned butter between the skin and breast, covering for a few hours with foil before a final naked. Making sure I baste every half hour. I will then leave to stand for at least an hour half before serving.

    Any useful tips?

    Thanks

    Andy
    Last edited by awright101; 19th December 2019 at 18:34.

  2. #2
    Master
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    Nope, this year it’s the two breasts rolled top and tail, skin off, done in the sous vide, no basting, no browning, just veg to roast, easy.

  3. #3
    I follow the recipe in Delia Smith’s Christmas cook book. It involves a long, slow roast. Our 12lb bird takes around 5 hours to cook. I put butter between the skin and breast, stuff with sausage and stuffing and season the skin. I wrap it in a parcel of foil then cook it at a high temperature for the first part then turn it down for a slow roast. The last hour is at a higher temperature with the foil removed. This is when you baste the bird. I can post the timings later if you want.

  4. #4
    You’ve still got time to buy a Big Green Egg and do it properly 😄

  5. #5
    Master raptor's Avatar
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  6. #6
    Make a nice fatty, meaty stuffing and stuff the neck cavity. Remove the wishbone beforehand and it’ll make carving the breast easier as well.

    Stuffing wise, I use sausage meat, supermarket apple stuffing mix and grated apple and onion.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by raptor View Post
    Nice one, thanks

  8. #8
    Master
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    Are you doing a whole turkey or a crown?

  9. #9
    My one and valuable tip is to cook the bird upside down (breast down), sitting on a rack over water. This allows juices to run through the breast and will be moist and tender. Keep topping up with water and then use this for gravy.

  10. #10
    Master
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    Brine it

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave O'Sullivan View Post
    Are you doing a whole turkey or a crown?
    A whole turkey

  12. #12
    Master thegoat's Avatar
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    Basting and resting are the two best tips

  13. #13
    Master mr noble's Avatar
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    Good tips! I’m doing one for 9 this year.

    Surely resting for 90 minutes, OP, will have it cold!?

  14. #14
    Master
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    Out of interest what would you do differently when cooking a crown compared to a whole turkey?

  15. #15
    Master stoneyloon's Avatar
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    Spatchcock it.....

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  16. #16
    Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by mr noble View Post
    Good tips! I’m doing one for 9 this year.

    Surely resting for 90 minutes, OP, will have it cold!?
    Some recipes suggest resting for as long as it’s been in the oven, which feels a long time.

    I’ve had an 8kg one rest for nearly 2hrs and was still a lovely temp. Temp will increase in the meat for a good 20 mins after removing from the oven, so resting is already less.




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  17. #17
    Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Kenney View Post
    My one and valuable tip is to cook the bird upside down (breast down), sitting on a rack over water. This allows juices to run through the breast and will be moist and tender. Keep topping up with water and then use this for gravy.
    I’ve always found if cooked upside down for the duration there are unsightly marks on the breast from the rack. Bloody moist though.

    I did flip it right way up for the final hour, but it’s not an easy task with a bloody hot & heavy turkey!


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  18. #18
    I don't start roasting anything else until the turkey is done. With a layer of foil it'll keep warm for 90 minutes easily. Every year the missus questions it, and the remarks that it's still nice and warm.

    I put butter between skin and meat in about 4 places on each side of the bird. Stuff it with a paxo and sausage meat mix and cover every last bit of skin with unsmoked streaky. Cover in a tent of foil.

    I cook it at 180C for a couple of hours, then drain it into a pan for gravy. Every little while drain more. Cook it until the temperature of the breast is 70C and let it rest. The temperature will raise over the next 30 minutes to a perfect 75C. This will take less time than the traditional 20 minutes per lb + 20 minutes.

    When it's finished drain everything off into your pan, add a little cold water and sit it in a basin of more cold water. When it's room temp, add ice. The fat will solidify on the top. Remove it. Use the remaining goodness to deglaze your roasting dish if it can take the cooker heat. People all have different recipes, but honestly, I just thicken it with Bisto. I prefer the colour and the richer taste. Others add all sorts to gravy, but I keep it simple.

    I do stuffing, pigs in blankets and stuff in one oven, whilst in the other is the roast potatoes, parsnips and yorkshire puds.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Puntsdog View Post
    Out of interest what would you do differently when cooking a crown compared to a whole turkey?
    Cooking time / resting time is less. And with the whole carcass, I'd use stuffing in the neck end and a quartered lemon up its bum.

    I'm doing a double crown this year, as I did last year.
    Garlic lemon and rosemary butter under the skin and put on a trivet of a carrot, a leek a haved onion. It allows the joint to cook underneath and makes the gravy taste lovely.
    I wrapped it in pancetta last year but will just use a salt / oil rub for a (hopefully) crispy skin.

    The other thing is to rotate the turkey in the oven. Mine is slightly hotter at the front so turning it a couple of times will even ipnthe skin.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave O'Sullivan View Post
    Cooking time / resting time is less. And with the whole carcass, I'd use stuffing in the neck end and a quartered lemon up its bum.

    I'm doing a double crown this year, as I did last year.
    Garlic lemon and rosemary butter under the skin and put on a trivet of a carrot, a leek a haved onion. It allows the joint to cook underneath and makes the gravy taste lovely.
    I wrapped it in pancetta last year but will just use a salt / oil rub for a (hopefully) crispy skin.

    The other thing is to rotate the turkey in the oven. Mine is slightly hotter at the front so turning it a couple of times will even ipnthe skin.
    Great tips, thanks

  21. #21
    Master
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    Cook upside down.

  22. #22
    Craftsman
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    already been mentioned , but 24 - 48 hrs in the brine then butter under the skin is a must for me before doing anything else, no need to mess about cooking upside down and turning.

  23. #23
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave O'Sullivan View Post
    I'm doing a double crown this year, as I did last year.
    Garlic lemon and rosemary butter under the skin and put on a trivet of a carrot, a leek a haved onion. It allows the joint to cook underneath and makes the gravy taste lovely.
    My brother in-law cooked us a very similar version last weekend. Delicious and succulent.

  24. #24
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    ^^^
    ^^^
    Thanks Dave, much appreciated.

  25. #25
    I cook mine the right way up, but rest it upside down while everything else is cooking

  26. #26
    Grand Master
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    My oven is hotter at the front, does my head in & want to change it.

    Best bit for me of Christmas lunch is the sides, pigs in blankets (dozens of, home made) sausage meat rissoles x 2 varieties (again dozens of home made) , chestnut stuffing, fried sprouts with pancetta, happy to eat those just on their own.

    Salivating already!

    Interesting to rest turkey upside down, worth trying that next time. Saw a post earlier about goose, my dad used to cook a goose for his dad & I loved it, but he’s just not into cooking since he retired


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  27. #27
    Master woodacre1983's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mj2k View Post
    My oven is hotter at the front, does my head in & want to change it.

    Best bit for me of Christmas lunch is the sides, pigs in blankets (dozens of, home made) sausage meat rissoles x 2 varieties (again dozens of home made) , chestnut stuffing, fried sprouts with pancetta, happy to eat those just on their own.

    Salivating already!

    Interesting to rest turkey upside down, worth trying that next time. Saw a post earlier about goose, my dad used to cook a goose for his dad & I loved it, but he’s just not into cooking since he retired


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    How you do the fried sprouts and pancetta? Interested in trying them this year. Boil first?


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  28. #28
    Master Templogin's Avatar
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    I have a dramatic, if not a traumatic tale of turkey.

    I have to admit to not being a fan of turkey, there are so few people that can cook it properly, and my partner’s cooking ethos is based on if it comes out of the oven black at least it isn’t undercooked, and no-one will get poisoned - no really. *No matter how many times I point out that there are 3 stages of cooking: undercooked, just right and overcooked, just right rarely seems to be an option, but buying her a timer has admittedly made great improvements to the fayre that comes forth from the oven.

    Her boys always insist on turkey on xmas day, and I fear that they would have a tantrum of drama queen proportions were their poultry lust not satiated. *I won’t eat the stuff. *I have experienced it before, in this and other households. *Better that a slice of it be used for mopping up unwanted spills, such is its potential for absorbency. *I insisted that pork or lamb should also be served, the fat content of both meats, but especially the latter, would ensure that evening a catering dullard such as I could not fail to turn out something not only edible, but enjoyable.

    Rather than buy a turkey, which by their very nature are large, to fit into an oven that by its construction is very small, and nothing short of a severe molesting would get the turkey into the aforementioned oven, my partner opts for the purchase of a frozen turkey crown, bought some weeks before the locusts descend on the market that is super and is called Tesco.

    The hands of the clock tick by and xmas approaches. *The lump of turkey crown shaped permafrost is removed from the freezer and the instructions duly read: defrost for 9 hours in a fridge, and so the process begins. *The turkey manufacturers have a typical fridge in mind. *It will have plenty of room in it allowing the air to circulate about the frozen turkey crown, and the thermostat will probably be set too high. *They had not envisaged my partner and her belief that all thermostats should barely be above zero, whether they control the heating system or the fridge, the latter of which is set a fraction of a degree above the point at which ice crystals form in the milk. *The fridge is also packed so full that light bends around it.

    Xmas day arrives. *Everyone opens their presents and looks suitably impressed, having chosen them for themselves. *Thoughts turn to the turkey. *Extracting it from the fridge it is still in a state of semi permafrost. *Dinner, that was planned for 3pm, is moved back to 5pm. *Guests are informed. *Being the nearest thing to a scientist the house I am approached for advice. *I opine that it should be left out at room temperature. *We return to surfing the net and then go for a walk in the surprisingly mild and definitely unseasonal temperatures. *We arrive back. *The turkey has started to defrost faster. *my partner returns it to the fridge, which immediately slams the brakes on any further defrosting. *The turkey enters a period of stasis. *Dinner is postponed until 7pm.

    At 5pm, with the oven at the required temperature, the pork having been unwrapped and rested for 20 minutes, the turkey crown is extracted form the fridge. *A knife slid into the breast from above goes in nicely, however my partner turns the turkey over and finds ice crystals underneath a layer of skin and fat. *I search my memory banks for the last case of death by turkey and suggest that she should shove in in the oven. *An extra 15 minutes cooking will sort out any worries. *my partner on this occasion disagrees, probably not wanting to risk her boys’ lives and puts the turkey back in the fridge.

    Two hours later the pork is served along with roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings (the consolation for no turkey), and a selection of vegetables along with gravy. *The meal is a roaring success. *Everyone leaves the table full, for a rest before dessert is served. *Meanwhile minds turn back to the turkey. *Dessert is eaten, Tesco’s finest xmas pudding is the usual sensation and goes down well with all.

    9pm arrives, and the turkey has been well prodded over the past couple of hours. *It is deemed to be fully defrosted. *The oven is fired up and the turkey crown goes in for two hours, resplendent in a waistcoat of streaky bacon to help retain the old bird’s moisture. *By 11pm it is done to perfection and sits cooling down on the kitchen work top. *Half an hour later my partner is keen to get to bed and goes to put the turkey in the fridge. *I feel the underside of the dish that it is in and note that it is far too hot to go in the fridge. *At that temperature it will raise the temperature in the fridge and risk ruining everything in there. *I suggest that it is just left out on the work top overnight. *I am sure that it will be fine. *The cooking temperature will have killed off any pathogens. *My partner doesn’t like this idea and asks if it could go in the shed outside. *I agree and out it goes.

    Half an hour later I look out of the window and decide that a wind-up is definitely the order of the day. *I suggest that there are a dozen cats sat outside of the shed with knives and forks licking their lips. *We have a little laugh and go to bed. *my partner and I lay in the spoons position with her worrying about the turkey. *She knows that she will be up at 3am, kept awake by my snoring, so she will take the turkey in then. *I add to the agony by wondering aloud if rodents might be summoned from far and wide in a reverse Pied Piper stylee, brought into town to munch the secondary turkey.

    The morning arrives. *The turkey had survived unmolested by either the rodents or the felines of the neighbourhood. *They weren’t interested in the turkey. *It also turns out that neither of my partner’s sons now interested in eating turkey. *I feel that I am excused as I said positively no turkey for me prior to the xmas festivities. *My opinions on the bird being made loud and clear. *my partner, who hates waste, eats a turkey sandwich every two hours, and feeds her resident son turkey sandwiches as often as she can get away with it. *On the 30th of December the non-resident son turns up as a surprise and gets a surprise turkey sandwich. *There is now no turkey left.

    The moral of this story is that the turkey lesson has been learnt, and allegedly, there will be no turkey at the secondary residence next year, in fact there will be no grown-ups at the secondary residence next year as they will be avoiding the stress by booking into a hotel for the big day.

  29. #29
    Master woodacre1983's Avatar
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    Templogin love it! Absolutely classic Xmas tail.


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  30. #30
    Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by woodacre1983 View Post
    How you do the fried sprouts and pancetta? Interested in trying them this year. Boil first?


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    I blanch them for 5/10 minutes (which you can do the day before). Slice them in two or three depending how big and then stir fry with pancetta and a little olive oil, black pepper and garlic.
    Far far nicer than just boiled.

  31. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by craig1912 View Post
    I blanch them for 5/10 minutes (which you can do the day before). Slice them in two or three depending how big and then stir fry with pancetta and a little olive oil, black pepper and garlic.
    Far far nicer than just boiled.
    Exactly what I was going to say, I follow the exact same process.


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  32. #32
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    Blanche for a few mins.

    On to the frying pan, I put bacon in first. Fry off until crispy then remove leaving fat behind. Next, sauté spouts in bacon fat for a few minutes then add back bacon and some crushed chestnuts.

  33. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by Mj2k View Post
    I’ve always found if cooked upside down for the duration there are unsightly marks on the breast from the rack.
    Matt - I don't slap my turkey pics on Insta, so not a problem

  34. #34
    Craftsman
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    Quote Originally Posted by craig1912 View Post
    I blanch them for 5/10 minutes (which you can do the day before). Slice them in two or three depending how big and then stir fry with pancetta and a little olive oil, black pepper and garlic.
    Far far nicer than just boiled.
    I do the same, but omit the garlic and add Walnut pieces - Mmmm.

  35. #35
    Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Kenney View Post
    Matt - I don't slap my turkey pics on Insta, so not a problem
    Genuinely laughing at that!

    Have a great Christmas mate.


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  36. #36
    Grand Master Griswold's Avatar
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    I dice up a number of lemons and oranges and stuff the turkey with them until its full. Butter under the skin then salt and pepper on top of the skin. Baste regularly with the wonderful fruity juices. Rest once cooked. 5 minutes before serving lightly dust with paprika then blowtorch the skin quickly to ensure it's really crispy. Some of the juices in the pan can be added to your gravy to add a little fruitiness to it, but don't overdo it.

    And this from someone who doesn't even like turkey! But everyone I do it for does.
    Best Regards - Peter

    I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.

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