What's your best Turkey cooking tips/recipes

[Witchofwisteria]

First year hosting; how do I do the best Turkey... gonna be doing a whole Turkey 5kg in weight, cooking Christmas eve and reheating Christmas day!

Get your turkey out of the fridge 30 minutes before you cook it. You’ll get less shrinkage when it goes into a hot oven.
Preheat oven to 200C. Always preheat your oven for at least 20 minutes.
Put the turkey in the tin breast side up. Spread the turkey breast with some butter and cover it with rashers of bacon. Cover loosely with foil. Place in the oven and roast for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 170°C. Remove the bacon (use later to accompany when serving). Turn it over so it is breast side down, then return to the oven and cook for 2 hours. Take the foil off at least 30 minutes before it's due to come out, to get some nice colour.
You can tell if it's done when the juices run clear from the thigh if you pierce it with a knife or a skewer.Turkeys between 4-6kg should be restedfor 1½ hours. Rest it breast-side down as the juices then flow into the breast meat. The skin isn't as crisp, but the flavour and texture is fantastic. Keep some of the juices for using to reheat.
Cut the turkey breast in 3/4" thick slices. If you slice it too thinly, the turkey won't hold in the juices as well and remain as moist. Keep the sliced pieces pressed together. This helps the turkey retain it's moisture while it is in the fridge. Cover well with cling film.
Allow it to return to room temperature before reheating. Spread out the turkey slices in an even layer. For quick, even heating, it's best to spread the slices in a single layer, overlapping them slightly--don't stack them if you can avoid it. Cover with juices or gravy.

My tip is a bit gruesome but worth it... when you're prepping the turkey, shove your fingers down each breast between the skin and the meat - there will be some connective bits that you can break through until you've separated the skin from the breast completely, being careful not to actually break the skin. Then you can shove plenty of chopped up lumps of butter next to the breast meat, inside the skin, so it bastes from the inside.

I tried dry brining the turkey last year and everyone agreed it was the tastiest turkey we'd ever had. Have a Google, it's really easy to do!

Thanks everyone some really good tips. I like the idea of shoving butter under the skin and doing the Turkey upside down as I do a roast chicken that way!

I'll Google dry brine method!

Does anyone shove a lemon up the bum or some stuffing inside???

Also has any one tried soaking it like nigella?

I wet brined mine in the vege drawer in the fridge one year, but yes, you can do a dry brine instead. Definitely the most impact in terms of improving taste/end result.

Other tips include - make sure you defrost properly, something under the skin (i use chopped fresh herbs, finely chopped pancetta, grated lemon rind and mascapone.

You can cook stuffing in separate casserole dish, but doing it inside the bird means it absorbs more juice...so wetter but tastier.

Other hot tip is to make gravy a day or two ahead with some roasted chicken wings/onions etc....then you have a lovely gravy ready made and can just top up with any stock from the turkey..

If you don’t mind forgoing the typical turkey ‘look’ and cooking it quickly and absolutely perfectly every single time, then spatchcock it. It’s a revelation!

It means the breast and thigh take the same amount of time to cook, so no need for butter under the skin/bacon on top, tenting with foil, brining etc etc. It takes 2 hours so you don’t even need to get up early on xmas day and worry about getting it in.

Get an instant read thermometer as well to really prevent drying out.

www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/11/butterfiled-roast-turkey-with-gravy-recipe.html

I’ve two tips.

Remove the wishbone before cooking. It’s a pain of a job but so much easier when you come to carve.

I gave up on cranberry sauce years ago after using one jar for five years. Apple works just as well so it goes in my rice stuffing and into the gravy. Still yum and no jars hanging around.

I always cook overnight on low

I have used the Nigella wet brining method for the last couple of years and I think it worked quite well. I also agree with roasting the bird breast down for at least some of the cooking time. If you're not overly confident with your turkey-cooking-skills just make sure that your gravy is absolutely incredible (it will help cover up anything that didn't go quite to plan) ;)

I have used the upside down method by Nigella and didn't like it to be honest. Depends on how much you want the skin, it was soggier than normal rather than crisp/brittle and flaky. But a lot of people don't care about the skin.

We tried the upside down method. Turkey was definitely more succulent but we left it 15 mins too long before turning the right way up and needed up with a turkey with breasts with corners!! Made for a good laugh!

This year will be my 15th year doing the main meal myself. I now buy a turkey crown that is stuffed by the butcher, completely prepped and no hassle. Cooks quicker, less hassle, less stress and tastes great.

My only tip would be not to cook it xmas eve and reheat Xmas day morning. Cook it xmas day morning, it will rest for a good 1.5hrs giving you a free oven for everything else.

Top tip:
Let your DH cook it.