Fan oven help needed

[VelcroFanjo]

Okay I have had really naff ovens for years (rental houses). I have just got a fan assisted oven second hand and have no idea about how to adjust cooking times and temps. Main issue being, due to time of year, how to cook the turkey. I have seen a website that suggests reducing cooking time for turkey to 12 mins per pound for large birds at a temp of 150. Is this right? I really don't want to overcook it, nor do I want food poisoning. Please ladies help!!

You're best trying it out a bit first - if you can, invest in both an oven thermometer, and a meat thermometer - that way you'll know the turkey is done. Try out a chicken before Christmas, if you can, just to see if it cooks fast or slow.

tbh, you want to rest a turkey after cooking, so if you cover it in foil and insulate it with towels, it'll be happy for a good half hour, which, so long as you've prepped everything else, should allow you to get started on the rest just as the turkey is finishing cooking. If you get a meat thermometer, you'll know when it's nearly there.

Thanks for that. I have just found a manual online but it is still a little ambiguous about timings. Any ideas where to get a meat thermometer from, given that local town is crap and there is little time left.

Amazon? here. You don't need a particularly fancy one. Most cookshops and dept stores should have at least one or two in stock.

Sorry, you will miss your "naff" oven.
Our fan oven was a pain in the backside.
Christmas cakes need a tall thick newspaper jacket or they burnt and beef blackened if you looked away for a second.
A thermometer and turning the temp down may be the way to go.
I moved house

We have a fan oven but it also has a normal setting. So I use my fan oven - but only to get the oven up the the non-fan temperature I want faster than just putting it on the normal setting. Also for the last tiny bit of cooking to crispen/brown things up.

Found that fan cooking makes things dry out/burn but that could just be my cooking

I have only ever had a fan oven. I cook all meat at 160 deg. Chicken I would do for 20 mins per pound plus 20 mins. Check the Good Housekeeping website for turkey cooking times to be on the safe side. I've never used a meat thermometer and had no problem, but if you feel happier then get one. With any poultry I would cut into the legs about 30/40 mins before its due to end. Pull the legs away from the body so you can see into where they join. This is the thickest part of the joint and if that's looking pink IME it's not done. You could also use a skewer. Pierce the leg and look for clear juices to run out.

I have found that cooking with a fan oven I need to reduce the cooking time and lower the temperature. If it calls for 200 for half an hour, I do it at 180 and reduce the time by about 10 mins.

Personally I would get a meat themometor if you are unsure of how to test if meat is cooked enough.

Think someone else has mentioned this, but you can usually switch off the fan and just have a conventional oven.

Also I reduce time and temp when cooking with my fan oven.

You can reduce the temp by about 10 - 15 degrees, but depending on the oven it could be as much as 20 degrees.

Also, fan ovens are supposed to distribute the heat evenly so you don't have hotter and cooler areas, but it's nonsense, ours is hotter at the front left corner. The best way to find out if yours has hotter areas is to bake something like a batch of scones or cupcakes, they don't take too long and you can easily see which ones are more cooked. You can then use this to your advantage, for example if you're cooking meat that's thicker at one end.