Okay.....Let's talk Turkey.....

[amck5700]

We've only every had Turkey on Christmas day once and that's when we had people to stay. My boys would never eat it, so the OH and I would get a duck (Mmmmmm lovely :o) and the boys would have a cobbled together dinner consisting of chipolatas, potato waffles (they didn't eat real potatoes) and yorkshire puds - (gravy in a separate bowl) with a bowl of fruit instead of veg!!

Anyway now that they are 12 and 11, we have made a bit of a breakthrough this year and everyone is quite happy to eat roast chicken dinner (yay!) one will even eat roast potatoes and the other is hovering on the brink (he will eat spicy wedges or potato skins) Both will eat peas and one will eat corn and the other carrots.

Just the 4 of us and I think Duck might be a step too far and it means a duck will only do one day instead of two but I think we could risk Turkey. Don't want to get a crown as everyone bar me prefers the legs. What size of Turkey do you suggest? Boys eat adult portions (one is 5' 4", the other 5' 2")

I'd like enough left for boxing day but not enough to feed an army.......and should I just pretend it's chicken

....or does anyone have any better ideas??

this is what I'm having yum

I'm in America, and we just went through this for Thanksgiving.

The supermarket butcher advised that most adults will eat a pound of meat for a big holiday meal. So if you want leftovers, I'd get a 10 pound bird (weight, not cost!).

Oh it didn't link! Anyhoo it's a Jamie Oliver tastiest turkey joints and it's a stuffed breast and a leg separate. Ocado sell them, it says serves 10 so you'd get plenty of leftovers

And if you've got the time and/or inclination, may I suggest you trying brining the bird? Will give you a very moist, delicious meat.

Google it to find out how.

This is what we'll be having

No bones, no waste, easy carving, bung in the oven for an hour....brilliant! And it's the best turkey I've eaten, so juicy and succulent. Never had any complaints. Feeds 3 easily. Having 4 of us on Christmas Day, might only use one as we are having honey roast ham as well.

I've tried other similar ones (inc. one from Marks and Sparks) but they didn't compare to this one. Recommended.

This will teach me to read threads properly before posting or to come off MN when tired Reading back your original post OP, my suggestion won't be suitable.

Please ignore this post and the one before

Housewife - that sounds great - we don't have Ocado in Scotland - wonder if Sainsbury's might do them?

Thanks for the info Earlybird - just had a bit of a panic there when I converted pounds to kilos to work out a rough cooking time and got about 14 hours.......then realised I'd done the conversion the wrong way round :o

So I am looking at a 4-5 kilo bird i think unless I can find an alternative thing like Housewife suggested.

lol Soggy - take it it was a joint or crown? (link didn't work properly)

If they could come up with a 3 legged chicken it would be a dream in my house! I have to portion the 2 legs into joints and share them out as well as the wings and hide a bit of breast amongst the ensuing carnage under the gravy

OP - glad you worked out the weight correctly! 14 hours would be an epic effort!

We had a turkey about twice the size of the one I suggested for you (had 12 adults and 8 children here for lunch). Our bird took about 4 hours to cook. I started by cooking it very hot for 30 mins to brown the skin, then reduced the heat by about a third, and put a foil 'breastplate' over the breast. This stopped the breast from over-cooking and drying out (the dark meat takes longer to cook than the white meat).

I'd suggest you use a meat thermometer to gauge when the turkey is done. When it has reached a certain temperature, you know the bird is done and you can take it out and let it 'rest' before you start carving.

One final tip: you can put aromatics/herbs inside the cavity (I used sliced onion, fresh rosemary, sliced apple, a cinnamon stick, and fresh sage combined with a cup of water which I 'steeped' by zapping in the microwave for 5 mins). It adds a lovely flavour to the meat.

Get googling for different suggestions, and you can choose whatever appeals to you. I watched a youtube video on 'how to truss a turkey' about 5 times, and was glad I did. Was very helpful and i think made a difference.

i am not much of a cook, and we had a very successful meal that was enjoyed by all. Good luck!

I've always cooked mine like this Delia and it's always been delicious. I'm not about to start bathing my turkey however succulent it promises to be, because this is easier and delicious.
As to size the order form from my butcher says a 4.5-5kg (8-10lbs) will give approx 8-10 servings.
So for four of you to do two meals that sounds about right.

We usually have beef but I did this Phil Vickery recipe a couple of years ago and it was very moist. It's basically steam cooked in wine and veg. It doesn't say on this recipe but you boil it on the hob, covered in 2 layers of foil, for about 10 mins then put it in the oven. It cooks a lot quicker than the usual method too. I think there are youtube vids of him demonstrating it on This Morning if you are interested.

Thanks all some great ideas and recipe suggestions there - I'll need to take some time to peruse. The boys tend to like their chicken smothered in spicy seasoning - that doesn't really say Christmas to me so I'd like to do something else but for it to still get eaten :)