how to cook a turkey

Cooking a Turkey


This is one of the tasks that really causes stress in ‘new’ households, but it really needn’t be a problem, all we have to do is to follow a few simple and common sense gudelines.


Ok, straightforward stuff to start with. Buy a good one, fresh is best but y’know supermarket packaged or even frozen will do the job too. I think it’s fair to say that the better the bird, the better the feed.


If you get a frozen bird, make sure it is properly defrosted (don’t underestimate the importance of this!), if your bird was frozen or packaged it may come with little bags of innards and stuff stuck down its neck. Get your hand down there and make sure it’s all out before you prepare it for cooking.


Ideally your bird should be at room temperature when it goes into the oven, which generally means it should have been left overnight, this will mean a bit of planning depending on whether it was a frozen bird or chilled or fresh, but it’s worth taking the time to get it organised.


Right, here’s how I do it…


1. Stuff the Turkey. Make your stuffing, fresh of from a packet it’s up to you. Place about a third of it in the neck of the bird between the meat and the skin, and stick the rest in the body cavity keeping the stuffing fairly loose.
2. Blather the bird in Butter. Spread softened butter all over the breast, legs and wings. Don’t be shy, give it a real good coating.
3. Cover the breast with Bacon. Most people say this should be done with Streaky Bacon but either way will be fine, finally give the whole thing a quick scattering of salt and pepper.


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The Foil – Seal the bird in foil but leave a good bit of space between the foil and the skin. I would recommend a couple of sheets crossed under the bird and pinched and folded at the joins.


Then we chuck it in a hot oven (gas – 7, 425f, 200c) for about 40 - 45 mins to give it a good blast of heat, before turning the oven down low (gas – 3, 325f, 175c) to cook it through. Then to finish it off, take it out of the oven, remove the foil and clear the bacon, give it a good basting with the juices, get it back in a medium to hot oven and cook uncovered for another 40 mins.




Perfect!