How to cook a turkey

[AmyAmoeba]

Just curious really! I'm considering brining this year but I've never tried it. One of my aunts does some mysterious and secretive things with clarified butter and a muslin cloth. My mum covers hers with bacon. I've heard of cooking it upside down to get a moist if flattened breast. So how do you cook yours?

Stick a few onions herbs up its bum.
Open oven.
Take it out again.

I think the thing that makes the biggest difference to how it tastes is buying a really good turkey.

I put a layer of cream cheese and butter creamed together with fresh chopped sage under the skin. It doesn't have that perfectly browned shiny look to it for carving at the table, but tastes amazing and always really moist.

I used to do mine upside down, but then you have to turn it over for a while at the end to brown the breast, and it's a major operation to turn over a large, very hot turkey. And some of the skin would invariably be stuck to the roasting tin.
I don't bother any more. I just smear with butter, then streaky bacon on top,
and cook it by the slower method.
We don't have our Christmas dinner till about 5, so I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn to stuff and whack it in the oven.

Butter under the skin and bacon over it

My Dsis barbeques hers

I don't. We have beef

It is pretty simple. Don't over-think it. Just think of it as a big chicken. It needs 160 degrees to start and then down to about 145/150 degrees after 1 hour based on a good quality fan oven. It needs about 20 minutes per lb with 20 minutes over at the end. Therefore a 12 lb bird is 4 hours 20 minutes. Smooth goose fat all over and salt and pepper. If you stuff it, add another 10 mins or so to cooking time. Baste it every hour. Don't cover with bacon as you want a lovely crispy skin. Cover with foil if you think the breast is drying out. Absolutely no need to cook it upside down. Leave it to stand before you carve and make the juices into gravey. Check it is cooked by parting a leg from the breast - this should be easy to do and the juices should run clear. If it shows pink in the juices, cook it for longer and if the leg is difficult to separate, cook it for longer. It should fall away fair key easily.

I will be cooking my 35th turkey this year. The above works! I have two ovens and the potatoes, parsnips and sausages go in the other oven. Have fun!

Fairly easily!