Make the perfect turkey the centre of your Christmas feast
We’ve been gobbling up turkeys at Christmas for hundreds of years.
Henry VIII is said to have been the first British king who feasted on turkey, but Edward VII made it a festive favourite and since the 1950s it’s been the heart of the traditional family dinner.
Yet, despite all our careful preparations, surveys show that 60 per cent of us would prefer to serve the bird overcooked and dried out than risk opening the oven to find it still pink when the family sits down at the table.
As we flock to the shops for the biggest meal of the year there’s the thorny question of which turkey to buy, with heritage birds often costing at least twice as much as the common white turkey.
And should you cook it with the legs on or off? Stuff the cavity or the neck? Start with a sizzle or cook at constant temperature?
This year, why wing it? Here you can feast your eyes on the best way to select and cook your turkey:
Weigh the turkey with the stuffing inside, or weigh the turkey, stuffing and butter separately and add the three weights together.
Sizzle the turkey for 15 minutes in an oven heated to 200C/gas 6, then turn it down to 180C/gas 4 and roast the turkey for 15 minutes per 450g/1lb total weight.
Ovens vary so keep an eye on the temperature inside your bird using a meat thermometer – it should be at least 74C when it is cooked.
Cooking at a high temperature for a short time caramelises the fats, creating a delicious flavour. It used to be thought that it sealed the bird and stopped moisture seeping out but this has been disproved.
The sizzle should be done at the start as this extracts less moisture than it would at the end.
The skin of a turkey is thin and burns easily and the white meat is prone to drying out, so the sizzle should be shorter than it is for some meats.
Use a spoon or baster to cover the juices over the top of the bird every 30 minutes during cooking.
This ensures that the breast does not dry out but always do it quickly to avoid letting the oven or turkey cool, as this could alter the timings. Remove the muslin, if using, 15 minutes before the end of roasting and baste again.
The turkey is cooked when the thigh juices run clear.
To test for this, insert a small knife into where the meat is thickest, between the thigh and breast.
The juices that run should be clear, with no sign of pink.
If it is pink, roast the turkey for another 15 to 20 minutes and test again.
And that’s you all set for your perfect traditional turkey dinner.
There could be more Scottish tatties on Christmas dinner tables across the UK this year, proving that people are choosing to shop local.
While there was a five per cent drop in UK production this season, 2016 was a better year for potatoes in Scotland.
And production was up by nine per cent on 2015, with export figures also looking very healthy.