Talk to me about turkey breasts.

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I have bought turkey breast, no bones, no skin but that's all I could get so...
I am starting to get abit worried .

I've invited people to Christmas dinner and I've never done a turkey breast in the oven as I am plannig - rule number 1 is never to make something for a party without a practise run atleast. What if it's a flop? I'll have to chop it up and make it into a quick curry!

I wanted to roast it with bacon on top but couldn't get any in the shops (am in Germany) so I bought some schwarzwälder stuff that looked abit bacony, then another packet of something bacon looking. Hope it's OK.

It's a 1 kilo turkey breast, so I thought it might shrink and got a 2nd 1 kilo one. I bet I have far too much now. We'll be 4 adults, a teenager and 2 dc. Any words of wisdom, experienced roasters of meat?

Okay, dead easy this one, can you get some string (not the blue nylon variety cooking string).

You need to divide it into portions really. But if you are feeling very scared don't worry, just imagine you have and carry on.

Bash it flat with a tenderiser - needs to be about two inches thick. Do this with a sheet of clingfilm underneath it and on top if you are not using a proper tenderiser (to prevent it sticking).

Get three slices of stale bread (white is easiest), half an onion, half a teaspoon of herbs (whatever you like by sage is traditional - I tend to use mixed herbs) whizz bread in blender to crumble (or you can do it by hand but it needs to be quite fine), add onion finely chopped (or it will be once the blender's has had a go), and add herbs.

Now chuck in the egg to bind it.

If you can't face that - buy PAXO! and make up as instructions.

Spread stuffing on turkey to depth of one inch on one side.

Roll up turkey as if it's a swiss roll, roll bacon round turkey so it's got a porky sleeping bag (seriously more like a snake but you know what I mean). Then secure lightly with cooking string.

Bake in oven for time stated on packet for weights (depends on how you have done it you see - but will probably be between 30 mins for individual portions to 1 hour for kilo.

When it is cooked rest under foil for ten minutes.

Remove string

Cut on the slant into gorgeous thick slices to serve. You will look like a cooking goddess.

NB if this goes wrong it can still be curried but remove stuffing first!

OMG, I wasn't going to bash it. Thank goodness I asked on here. So I need to buy string tomorrow morning.

You only have to bash it if you want to cook it that way. You can just roast it but you will need to do a LOT of basting if you do. Are you sure you have a turkey breast? They tend to be quite small and flat. What exactly does it say on the package and where did you get it from. Are you sure it's not a turkey crown? Sorry, I'm sure you are right but just checking

Well it could be a turkey crown but it just says - in German - that it's turkey breast and they weigh 1 kilo each. I bought it because I wanted to do turkey crown and that's all I could find that looked like it.

You can get big turkey breasts, but they are just a bit unusual in the UK. If you want to roast it as is, do you have a muslin? Melt a whole packet of butter in a pan and let it soak into a muslin, then wrap the turkey in the muslin and roast it slowly.

ho ho, mystery meat, what fun

Would you stuff it though as you described before? Does the bacon look alike stuff sound like a good idea?

Yes, it really works well, I did it with chicken and then turkey last week and it looks very impressive. Also the bacon caramelises and helps keep the turkey moist - turkey dries out badly. The stuffing also helps moisten things and you get this lovely herb scented meat.

Great, thanks. Now do you think I could bash and prepare all the stuffing and do bacon wrapping tomorrow night? Keep in fridge then just roast as needed on Christmas day?

Yes, definitely. I did.

I have 2 turkey breasts & they are big, probably about a kilo each. I just wrap in bacon, sometimes put a bit of fruit under bacon dried apricots type thing, without bashing or stuffing, seal off in a pan then roast in oven.

If you baste & turn them or do under foil as you've already coloured them with sealing in the pan they stay pretty moist. Slice on the slant as WMC suggests, lovely.

Ours will be wrapped, fridged & ready to go tomorrow night too. Well they will if DH gets off his butt!

I've got a turkey breast joint. Bought in the UK, and there were plenty of them in the butchers I got it from so I don't think they're too obscure

I'm planning to roast mine in one piece, with butter and strips of bacon over the top, wrapped in foil so it doesn't dry out too much. Google would suggest it might take a couple of hours (it's 1.6 kg of meat). Am planning to just start it off nice and early and see how we go. Putting apricots in with the bacon sounds like a nice plan, though, might do that.

Forgot the blinkin' apricots & I am not venturing near another shop the rest of the day!

Oh Jbck I feel your pain! It will be fab without them. Enjoy.