Top tips for avoiding a dry turkey! Is it possible?

[Stumpedasatree]

Please post here if your turkey ranges from decent to delicious. I struggle every year and am dreading cooking it already.

1. Buy a better turkey. The ones from the butcher's come with a little button that pops out when they are ready. Done.

1. Buy a giant chicken and tell everyone it's turkey. No-one will know the difference.

1. Give up on turkey. No one really likes it. Even when you do it well, it's boring. There's a reason we don't have it any other time of year. Pick something else you really want to eat and don't look back. Yes there will be uproar from the traditionalists the first year but then they will have one mouthful of the yummy duck/beef/ham/goose/anything but turkey and you will never buy turkey again.

The best option is to bin the turkey and have a goose, a leg of lamb or a rib of beef instead. Much, much nicer.

If you must have turkey, roast it upside down so gravity keeps the moisture in the breast meat and rest it properly.

Meat thermometer. Winner winner turkey dinner.

buy a smaller one and baste it a lot

I expect turkeys actually prefer to be dry. Maybe consider having something a bit less barbaric for Christmas dinner this year?

Make sure you brine it for a day before hand.
Make sure its properly trussed and cook it to 75 exactly not over.
Make sure it's well rested too.
I've never had a problem with dry Turkey but people keep complaining it's too moist. Cant win

Brine it the day before.
Roast upside down.
Baste every 20 min s or so.
A moist stuffing in the neck pouch, never the cavity.
Chilled butter under the skin on the Breast.
Put some ice cubes in the roasting tray, (steam cooks it a bit)
Rest it well and covered.
Hot hot gravy over it on hot plates

Don't cook it for too long. They take a lot less time than people think.

First buy the best turkey you can afford
Second cook without stuffing. Check the weight and go online work out how long to cook. I use British turkey.co.uk
Third I make jo Christmas butter and but over all including under the skin
Fourth foil tent and basting regularly a al Delia. Remove foil for last half an hour to brown skin
Fifth make sure your oven is not too hot.
Finally make sure you leave it to rest. I just cover with clean tea towels.

I cook with one oven so turkey first then while it’s resting I turn up the heat and do the rest.

If it’s a free range good quality one it may take less than 2 hours to cook. You need to use a meat thermometer- check it 1/2 way through recommended cooking time then keep checking. Where I get mine says take it out at 60deg as it will continue cooking for a bit once out of the oven. 65 deg for a free range is cooked - over 70 will be over cooked and dry.

Brine?! Never done this before. How?

Thanks for all the fab suggestions.

Look up nigella Lawson for brining technique. Also let it rest for a good half hour.
And no @AnnaMagnani I love turkey, it's different than chicken and not boring at all (we eat it quite a bit throughout the year, though not as a whole bird).

Oh no I'm beginning regretting opting for turkey again..

We brined last year but it was still dry!

Watch tonight's "inside the factory" on iplayer, they do a bit on brining and how not to have a dry turkey (ice in the oven!)

I have to cook turkey for the inlaws, but for the last few years have bought the stuffed boned duck from M&S for myself and eldest dc.
They are now eyeing up the delicious moist duck each year.....ha!

I came on to say buy a good quality smaller turkey and brine it - but have been beaten to it.

It works.

That said after years of cooking turkey (even perfectly cooked) I realised I still didn't like it.

So 5 years ago I ditched the turkey and have never looked back.

We've had goose, venison, Guinea fowl, duck (mainly multiples of the birds as I have between 8/12 guests to feed) and this year I'm doing a (huge) rib of beef.

I find it far more "special" than a turkey and far more flavourful.

I'm never going back to turkey....

I hate brined turkey. We tried it one year and everyone agreed it was disgusting. We didn’t like the flavour, nor the weird texture of the meat. However there are obviously two camps as some people swear it’s delicious.

Top tip: get a meat thermometer - takes all the guesswork out of it so you won’t be tempted to overdo it. Once it’s done take it out of the oven, cover it in foil, put a tea towel over it and it’ll happily sit there for an hour and a half keeping warm and moist while you do the rest of the dinner.

Or get a goose instead. Much nicer, more flavourful, and a lot more forgiving on cooking time. Still, a thermometer is really all you need.

Stick an orange in the cavity.

Half Baked Harvest uses a butter soaked cloth over hers - it's genius!

www.halfbakedharvest.com/herb-and-butter-roasted-turkey-with-white-wine-pan-gravy/

Let it rest under foil

Has always done the trick for me

Fanny craddock was just on the radio and apparently she uses to out mushrooms under the skin!

Cook it in a bag. For the first couple of years I had a fearsomely expensive Waitrose one sealed in its own bag and it was lush. More recently I’ve buttered under the skin and sealed it in a bag and it’s done in under 2hours and still moist. Definitely also get a meat thermometer.