General Chat

I am not a huge meat eater- in fact I only started eating meat a few years ago.

Last Christmas (just me and partner) was chicken, previous year was gammon joint, before that it was nut roast for as long as I can remember.

We have now, (in a drunken moment) invited extra people for Christmas dinner (all meateaters)- there will be nine of us in total.

I'm the main cook in the house so feel I should take control, but having never cooked a turkey I feel more than a little nervous. I think it could be turkey phobia! Hoping that someone can offer advice:

I need a turkey something that's available from a major supermarket -we have Asda, Tesco, Aldi, (also Iceland I think) within reach.

It needs to COMFORTABLY feed 9 people (I'm not bothered about huge amounts of left overs, but (looking at the size of us, I think we all have large appetites!)

Frozen is better, so I know I'm ready.

I've read that crowns can be dry? Is a whole turkey better? Is anyone else getting a supermarket frozen bird? What would you recommend? Is it OK to just pick any large turkey? Is the success in the cooking or the bird?

Would be grateful for any little bits of advice that have made your turkey dinners successful.

Oh, I have a meat thermometer (not used it), do you use one, or just cook to time and check juices?

I'm OK with all the veg variations, pigs in blankets and side bits- and we're having lentil soup starter, so just Turkey that's the problem.

Oh, and stuffing? Don't mind buying decent ready made- any recommendations to go with turkey?

x

Well we get ours from the local butcher .you can select all white meat or mixed which will be different prices
All boned and rolled so it's all meat and you have to select the cooking time . We have always found the meat is very moist and ok for cold cuts and later left overs

A meat thermometer is a good help .

Would never go back to supermarket birds

Edit yes it's dearer than buying a whole turkey but there's no waste as it's all meat
We have only white meat so that makes it dearer

I haven't cooked for the last three years as we now go out to a restaurant for Christmas Lunch, but before that I always bought a turkey crown (either from Asda or M&S.).

If you spread it with butter and then criscross the top with streaky bacon it shouldn't be dry. I just cooked it for however long it said and tested it with a skewer.

The only thing I'd say (although you seem to already know) is that I wouldn't take any notice of how many people they say it should feed. We, too, have large appetites and we like some left overs for the next day , or sandwiches or soup, so I would buy a crown that will feed more people than you have coming (probably twice as many).

I would usually buy fresh but if you buy a very large turkey crown give it plenty of time to defrost (can take more than 24 hours).

Kath. x

It's not much different from cooking a chicken, except it takes longer! Make sure you baste it during cooking as it can be dry. I prefer fresh, from a local butcher, but frozen is OK as long as defrosted correctly. Don't think the flavour is as good though. If people like dark (leg) meat (I do!) then get a whole bird, not a crown. A butcher can also give you an idea of the size you'll need too. Check online or in magazines for temperatures if you're using a meat thermometer. There's an article in this month's Sainsburys magazine.

Shirley, I don't even know where the closest butchers is!! (I feel such an inadequate meat eater!) However, having an boneless turkey does appeal. I might look into it, although it sounds like it could be an expensive option?

Now, Kathleen, that sounds good,- do you think it's better to put the butter under the skin or just rub it over the top (sorry if that's a stupid question). I'm going to Asda tomorrow so i'll see if they have any large crowns. Thanks for the advice on sizing- I had a quick look at aldi' turkeys last week and thought the 8-10 portion was a bit of wishful thinking! Will definitely get more than the recommended now.

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/occasions/christmas/christmas-main-courses/traditional-roast-turkey-with-pork-sage-and-onion-stuffing

Fairly straight forward recipe including size of turkey for feeding 10 - 12 people.

Personally - I would buy a whole fresh turkey if you can.
You still have time to order one at your local supermarket.

A little tip that my mother always used and I do the same is to stuff the turkey body with either an onion or a whole cooking apple. ( I do the latter) and that way the turkey is moist and doesn't dry out.
Good luck and enjoy your day. :-D

Edit to say. I just rub butter on the outside of the bird with a little salt. Cover in foil, put in the oven and forget about it for a while.

Cook the (notional) stuffing separately, if you cram it in the turkey it becomes very thick, needs to cook longer which dries the outer m\at off. Put some oddments in the cavity, raisins,, chopped mushrooms even tinned!, lemon juice, whatever

edit - Von's onion, apple for cavity, good ideas

Sheila, just looking at a whole load of turkey cooking advice on-line.....it's loaded with stuff that's so confusing. But...

you've now got me thinking- If I can cook a chicken, then surely I can cook a whole turkey? I'm now quite excited.

Just looked at Jamie Olivers easy carve video (option two is how I'd do cut a chicken so that's good): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8abWfjWek4

Von, & Elizabeth, - I've now decided to go whole turkey- think I'll do stuffing separately, so onion inside sounds good- but will cover top with bacon as Kathleen posted.

Once i have the actual turkey i might need more tips/ have more questions. so i might be back soon. thanks everyone- think this is just a confidence thing!

Rollo!! don't confuse my head!! Turkey is adventurous for me!!

Best Wishes to you all x

Some chefs now agree that if you try cook it whole, the breast type meat is dried out whilst the legs etc are still half done and slimy. Under cook it and you risk getting salmonella.

If you really want turkey then a crown is better or at least joint it first before you try to cook it.

Better still buy decent piece of beef instead as James Martin recommended on TV a few years back.

Incidentally, does anyone know where there is a local butcher? Unless you live in London there aren't that many.

Rollo - the Russian doll system, should be careful, some of the fanciful recipes using four or five birds, sounds fun but they need a long cook to get the inmost birds cooked thoroughly enough to avoid food poisoning - so very difficult to keep the outer layers from drying out!

I've never had a problem with cooking an unjointed turkey. You can always cover the breast with foil until the last part of cooking so it doesn't get too brown. I find just a load of breast meat (crown) very unappealing and think the legs make the whole bird juicier and tastier.

We've got lots of butchers in this area - both in town centres and farm shops.

I have always cooked the whole turkey or crown for 1/4 of the cooking time (usually the 3rd 1/4) breast side down.

I find that I don't get an overcooked breast whilst waiting for the legs to cook through.

Never, ever cook any poultry trussed up, hot air cannot get to the parts nearest the bones which cause pink juice problems.

Good luck

Sue

Well a couple of years back we had a bronze frozen turkey from Tesco, other years at daughters we have had a local (to her) fresh turkey. I can honestly say both were equally good. The frozen bird of course must be completely defrosted. You can find defrosting and cooking times on line.

dont forget turkey that comes with jibblets are stored in the neck.......not body cavity.

dont matter what you do with it turkey isnt a nice meat,,,,, ;-) :-D :-D :-D.


you could always buy 2 large fresh chickens instead of turkey if you like chicken.


nice whole leg of pork is an easy to cook.

If you're not confident about cooking a whole turkey AustinQ, why not buy one from a butcher and ask for it to be boned and rolled ..... easy - peasy :-)

My son-in-law is a wholesale meat trader and much prefers to have his turkey prepared that way, and as I am now the 'chief chef' at his on Christmas day, so do I :-D

The only snag is that he is given gifts of fresh whole turkeys straight from the farms of his suppliers of other meat products that it means cooking a whole one anyway :-(

Whatever you decide to cook I am sure your guests will appreciate your hospitality greatly !

Go for it Austin. I am sure it will all be fine.

You might want to watch.......

Jamie's (Oliver) Ulitmate Christmas.........Monday 8pm Channel 4.

;-)

I (like Sue) tend to cook turkey breast side down for at least the first half of the duration.
When it was a big turkey, it was prepared the night before, and put in at 6 or 7am, (whenever I woke up for a pee) whereupon, I returned to bed for a couple of hours :-D It was Christmas day, after all, and as 'surrogate' Santa, I'd had a sherry or two the night before, while delivering the presents!!
Children were given stockings to open - in their own bedrooms - so they didn't wake me too early.

Bleh!!!

I can't imagine how anybody could start to eat meat again once they had been vegetarian.


Bleh!!!!

Both my daughters did! :-D
Youngest (when vegetarian) came back to live with me once, with a vegan boyfriend in tow.
I decided it would be better if they bought and cooked their own food.
Win-win situation for me! :-D :-D :-D

Then she left him, and went out with an omnivore.
They married, and wanted a baby. As youngest had problems with anaemia, conceiving and retaining the pregnancies, and, realising her diet wasn't helping the anaemia, (which she'd been prone to all her life), she started occasionally eating meat.

A hormonal injection helped with halting the miscarrying, and the result is my avatar :-D

However, my 8 year old grandson, has decided he's vegetarian now. :-S