How to cook a turkey when your oven is rubbish!!

[Twinkletwinklelil]

Basically, the question above.

we have double oven, the top is fine. The bottom never gets to temp! So annoying. The top is way too small to put a turkey in :(

I love my turkey! So I’m already stressing and upset about this.
can’t afford to replace the oven yet - so what can I do? How do I solve this?

Op I have done my turkey in a slow cooker before now, also in the air fryer. Both tasted gorgeous 😍

You can slow cook a turkey in the oven at lower temp, it will just take a bit longer. I've tried it and it was delicious. You can Google for recipes/instructions.

We always go for a turkey crown, would that work?

Possibly buy a crown? Would that fit in the top oven? Or if you jointed it first?

Get a crown or de-bone a whole one, add a stuffing and roll it before cooking.

I had to do this when living in a caravan with a tiny oven and got the whole bird home and realised it didn't fit inside. 😬

Thanks, if I did the crown in the top idea.. would you cook it and set it aside while then cooking the sides (roasties veggies etc)

Yes, let it rest. I think it is supposed to be about an hour?
Mine does not get that long, and I keep the foil around it, and a thick towel over it.
A proper cook will advise you on the timings!

If the turkey is wrapped in foil, it will stay hot for ages, definitely long enough for the veg to cook.

Maybe do a different meat that would compliment slow and long cooking?

We never have turkey though so I’m probably underestimating how insane this suggestion might be to some.

BBQ in a kettle

Get a crown or breast joint. If you had to you could put the breast joint in a slow cooker.

Oh and I wrap mine in foil and teal towels to rest for ages. As long as it takes to cook it.

Our family tradition has always been to slow cook in the oven overnight . Our oven has a slow cook temperature, we do buy a big turkey though , as I image a small one would dry out too much . Use lots of stuffing , and wrap in heavy duty foil . Waking up to the smell of turkey is part of Christmas.

Could you get someone in to fix the oven? You've got loads of time, and would make more sense to me than figuring out how to cook with it not working properly.

(I know you said you can't afford to replace it, and repairing might also be unaffordable, but might be worth finding out the price?)

BBQ it! Frees up the oven for everything else and also keeps DH busy and therefore out of the way.

It’s not broken it’s just really rubbish. We moved house and bought an oven- budget! Biggest regret tbh

One of Jamie Oliver’s Christmas turkey recipes has you resting the cooked turkey for up to 2 hours. It’s the recipe I’ve used the last few Christmas’s and the bird is still piping hot after all the resting. Just use a double layer of tin foil and a couple of tea towels to cover. If you really wanted a whole bird could you get a slightly smaller one and spatchcock it? That might fit into your top oven as it would be much flatter.

Just wanted to update you all and say thank you for your suggestions!!

we managed to get an engineer out to FIX the oven!!! Turns out the fan was stuck hence no heat and would never get hot enough 😅😅