The main event of most Christmas days is the turkey, so we’re going to give you some top tips for cooking the perfect Christmas turkey… pens at the ready!
Pre-heat your oven:
- Fan – 180°C
- Conventional – 200°C
- Gas – 6
Prepping your turkey:
- Rub generous amounts of soft butter over the turkey then season with salt & pepper
- Layer rashers of bacon over the breast
- Loosely wrap the turkey in a foil ‘tent’ so there’s space between the bird & the foil
Place your turkey in the pre-heated oven.
Cooking times:
- Cook for 20 minutes to seal in the juices
- Turn the oven down: Fan – 160°C | Conventional – 180°C | Gas – 4 and roast for:
- 10-12lb Turkey – 3 to 3 ½ hours approx.
- 12-14lb Turkey – 3 ½ to 4 ¼ hours approx.
- 14-16lb Turkey – 4 ¼ to 4 ¾ hours approx.
- 16-18lb Turkey – 4 ¾ to 5 ½ hours approx.
- Turn the oven back up to the pre-heated temperature, remove the foil & bacon and roast for approximately 20 minutes or until the breast is golden brown.
Remove turkey from the oven & cover with foil to stop the heat escaping.- Allow the turkey to rest for 20-30 minutes (allowing the juices to settle & run back into the meat)
As a rule of thumb, calculate 20 minutes per lb to ensure your turkey is properly cooked & tender.
We hope our little guide helps and we’d love to see how your turkey’s turn out on the big day so send us some snaps on Facebook or Twitter!
