MY SPICED AND SUPER JUICY ROAST TURKEY

My Christmas turkey is a brined one. For not only does it tenderise and add subtle spiciness, but it makes carving the turkey incredibly much easier. And I mean to say: how hard is it to fill a pan or large plastic bin or bucket with water and spices and lower a turkey into it? At this time of year, it’s fine just to leave it in a cold place. I sit mine by an open window in the kitchen. It means everyone freezes, but who am I going to put first – my turkey or my family?

I’ve given instructions on how to check your turkey is cooked through, opposite, but so long as you use my brining method, if you want to ignore me and give your poor old bird longer, you can rest assured that a turkey so prepared is not going to taste dry, even if it is untrustingly overcooked. I beg you, though, for the sake of succulence, to have the courage of my convictions.

Serves 10-16 as part of the Christmas feast, or 8-10 if not

6ltr (10½pt) water

1 large orange or 2 smaller, quartered

1 x 250g packet Maldon salt or 125g (4½oz) table salt

3tbsp black peppercorns 1 bouquet garni

1 cinnamon stick

1tbsp caraway seeds

4 cloves

2tbsp allspice berries 4 star anise

2tbsp white mustard seeds

200g (7oz) caster sugar

2 onions (unpeeled), quartered 6cm piece of ginger (unpeeled), cut into 6 slices

4tbsp maple syrup

4tbsp runny honey

The stalks from a medium bunch of parsley (optional, if you have some parsley hanging around)

1 x 5.5kg (12lb) turkey

For the basting glaze

75g (2¾oz) goose fat or butter 3tbsp maple syrup

Put the water into your largest cooking pot or a bucket or plastic bin. Squeeze the juice from the

orange quarters into the water before you chuck the husks in, then add all the other ingredients except the turkey, stirring to combine the salt, sugar, maple syrup and honey.

Remove any string or trussing from around the turkey, then shake it free, remove the giblets, if not already done, and then put them in the fridge (or straightaway set about making the stock for the gravy, see page 53). Add the bird to the liquid, topping up with more water if it is not completely submerged. Keep covered in a cold place, even outside, overnight or for a day or two before you cook it, remembering to take it out of its liquid (and wipe it dry with kitchen paper) a good hour before it has to go into the oven. Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6.

Melt the goose fat or butter and the maple syrup together in a pan slowly over a low heat.

Paint the turkey with the glaze before roasting in the oven, and baste periodically throughout the cooking time. Roast for 2 and a half hours.

When you think it’s ready, pierce the turkey with the point of a sharp knife where the body meets the leg, and if the juices run clear then it is cooked; if still pink, cook the turkey for longer until they run clear, or use a meat thermometer – see my guide (right). Then take the turkey out of the oven, and let it sit, tented with foil, for 20- 40 minutes or even longer if you like, as I do.