5.5kg turkey - 2 & 1/2 hours to cook .Really ?

[peridito]

What do you think ?Turkey at room temp before going into preheated oven .

I know if I stuff it I'll need to add time .I also guess it'll go on cooking while resting and in it's little tin foil tent .

It's Nigella ,who also says

The timings in the table are for a free-range turkey - these tend to have more fat than a lean mass-produced bird and the marbling of fat in the free-range turkey tends to conduct the heat faster meaning that it cooks more quickly.

@peridito my butchers instructions for whole birds are 45mins per kg. So just slightly over 4 hrs for your bird.

i m giving a 2.5kg turkey crown 2 hours so i d be sceptical if you could cook one that size in that time.

My tesco Turkey, at 5.4kg, says 3h30.
Some of this is going to depend on temperature - some recipies start off cool, and stay cool in the oven (160 all the way), and some say put into a hot oven and turn it down. The second method obviously reduces the time.

My Iceland 2.2kg frozen crown took 3:45.

Used to do fresh at 2ins per LB.

Yesterday i bought a reduced fresh crown in Tesco for £3 (down from £12!) and put it in the freezer. Then i took out my Iceland crown and it said leave in wrapping. Cooked it Nd its small🎅🏼😂🎅🏼 We have 6 for lunch and kids aren’t bug meat eaters, but luckily i have a small piece of ham for tonight.

Taken the Tesco crown out of the freezer when i got up and ill cook it tomorrow. Back to fresh next year!

Right ,I'm going with Nigella . Mainly because Mary and Deliah don't seem to mention brining or the difference in cooking times for free range etc .It wont matter if we eat later so I have a safety margin if needed .

And I wont be rinsing after the brining .

Will report back .

Many thanks to those posting with advice .

Obviously a bit late now but we got our Pembrokeshire Bronze crown from M&S and it had the timings on the bit of card that came wrapped around it. Ours was 3.8 kilos and the cooking time was 3 hours, 4 minutes on gas mark 3. It’s resting now. The juices are all running clear and it looks beautiful.

My Gressingham turkey is 25 mins per kg plus 90 minutes. Is not brined or stuffed though.

I think those timings are for a brained bird, and she's right. My 10kg bird did in 4 hours last year, but my oven was quite fast.

Duh, brined, not brained!

Our free range kelly bronze turkeys cook in a much shorter time than a regular turkey. A couple of hours does it perfectly.

Mine is a 2.4kg crown said on the packaging cook for 20mins per kg then an extra 70mins at 160°c so its just gone in now at that will see what its like in an hour i only eat meat on Christmas day so unfamiliar with cooking it

I'd never considered it before but I suppose different birds need different roating times . It's not a question of a turkey takes x amount of time per pound .Which I think was the case when I was growing up and free range were less available .

So many of these posts remind me of why I don’t ever eat turkey and have the worst memories of eating a dry, overcooked tough as old boots bird!!
Beef all the way for us, it’s a 7kg 5 full forerib, bought out of the fridge and left to slowly reach room temp overnight. Just went in 15 minutes ago, dh says will be ready to eat at 4 with an hour and a half to rest.
Delicious 😋

I cook for about that

It sounds about right. Do you have a meat thermometer? I always use one, stops me doubting whether it is done. Should be about 70 degrees in the breast (push in the thermometer until you hit bone, then pull it out an inch.

I cooked a 6 kg turkey yesterday and it took about 3 hours, but a opened the oven a few times, and redused the heat a bit at the end

Just back to report that my small (3.5kg) bird cooked accordingly to Nigella, though not brined this year, was perfect after 1 3/4 hrs. Only put it in at 1.30pm and we ate at 4.30pm. Easy.Wrapped it in foil and clean towel while potatoes and stuffing cooked. Was perfect and juicy.

Actually, it was 1.5 hrs as I checked it and there were no pink juices between leg and breast.

Yes ,Nigella + free range turkey was correct .

Looked lovely after 2 1/2 hours .Though I think I rested it for too long and it was IMO a tad overcooked by the time we ate .

But a lesson learnt ( learned ? )

Well done. Learnt or learned is correct.

lilgreen .
but "were" in my first sentence about Nigella and turkey ??

I've always worked to my nans instructions. 180 degrees 20 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes plus 30 minutes resting time. Remember to inude the weight of the stuffing,secure flap with a couple of cocktail sticks, truss it firmly, cover in butter and strips of streaky bacon, cover in layer of tin foil firmly tucked round it. Take it out 2 or 3 times during cooking to baste it

Works for us