Passion For Fashion

Over 80% of UK families have oven roasted turkey on Christmas Day. They simply would not have anything else but roast turkey and all the trimmings. It is the commonest meat eaten at Christmas.

A family sized turkey must be cooked properly as there is potential for those that are to eat the meat to contract salmonella. If the bird is frozen it must be defrosted all the way through before cooking.

Most turkeys nowadays come specially prepared, no need for removing the feathers or removing the insides. The first thing that needs to be done is to remove the giblets from the plastic bag inside the bird. These giblets can be boiled in a pan to make a basic meat stock for gravy or stuffing and the liver can be finely chopped and used in stuffing.

If the turkey is going to be stuffed the turkey will take much longer to cook to a specific interior temperature and time must be allowed for this. Cooking times will also be increased if the legs are trussed up inside the bird. Streaky bacon should be placed over the breast of the turkey and the whole bird should be wrapped in aluminium foil. The foil should only be removed when the carcass is fully cooked to crisp and brown off the skin.. And don’t fprget the gravy boat for that perfect turkey gravy.

If the dish holding the oven is not large enough the fat and juices will ooze out and make a mess in the oven. Place the turkey on the bottom shelf of the oven. If the turkey is placed in an oven that is too hot, the meat will only cook on the outside and will be raw inside. Light meat does not take as long to cook as dark so the turkey should be placed inside the oven legs first as the back of an oven tends to be hotter. The best cutting boards will hold a full size turkey

Make sure that family and friends have been invited round well in advance of the big day and on Christmas Eve make sure that preparations are well advanced. An early start will be needed to Xmas Day to make sure everything is cooking prior to the meal. When the oven cooked turkey is cooked, serve everything up and enjoy. The dishes can be washed later!