Roast Christmas Turkey

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large roasting tin, heavy enough not to buckle
• •Meat thermometer (useful, not compulsory)
• •Bulb baster or large spoon for basting
• •Warm serving board or large platter
• •Sturdy carving knife and fork

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the bird

   Take the turkey out of the fridge a good two hours before it goes into the oven. A cold bird in a hot oven is a bird that cooks unevenly. Unwrap it, set it on a board, and let it come to something closer to room temperature. While it sits, mash the softened butter in a bowl with the chopped sage, thyme leaves, a generous pinch of salt, and a good grinding of pepper. Work it together with a fork until the herbs are evenly distributed and the butter smells green and peppery. This is the most important thing you'll do today, so take a moment with it.

   Buy the best bird you can afford. A free-range turkey that has had a decent life will repay you with flavour and texture that no amount of butter or seasoning can replicate. Talk to your butcher. Order it early. This is not the day to economise.
2. 2

   Butter under the skin

   Set the oven to 220C/200C fan. Now, gently work your fingers under the skin of the breast, starting from the cavity end. Be patient. The skin will separate from the flesh easily enough if you don't rush. You're making a pocket between skin and meat, and you want it to go as far along the breast as you can manage without tearing. Take half the herb butter and push it under the skin in generous lumps, then press from the outside to spread it out across the breast. Rub the rest of the butter over the legs, thighs, and any skin you can reach. Season the whole bird generously with salt and pepper. More than you think.

   The butter under the skin does two things: it bastes the breast from the inside as it melts, keeping the meat moist, and it carries the sage and thyme directly into the flesh. It is the single best thing you can do for a turkey.
3. 3

   Fill the cavity

   Stuff the cavity loosely with the quartered onions, lemon halves, and the garlic head. These aren't for eating, they're for perfuming the bird from the inside out. As the turkey cooks, the onions will soften and steam, the lemon will release its oils, and the garlic will turn sweet and sticky. The kitchen will start to smell like Christmas about an hour in. That's when you know it's working. Lay the bacon rashers over the breast in overlapping rows. They'll protect the breast from the fierce heat of the first blast and render their fat into the skin as they cook.

4. 4

   The initial blast

   Put the turkey into the hot oven, legs facing the back. Roast at 220C for thirty minutes. This initial heat gets the skin going, starts the browning, sets the stage. After thirty minutes, turn the oven down to 170C/150C fan. This is where patience begins.

5. 5

   The long, slow roast

   At the lower temperature, the turkey will need roughly twenty minutes per kilogram plus an additional sixty to ninety minutes. For a 5kg bird, you're looking at about two and a half to three hours after the initial blast. Baste every forty-five minutes or so, spooning the buttery, bacon-y juices from the tin over the legs and breast. Each time you open the oven, the smell will fill the kitchen a little more. About two thirds of the way through, peel the bacon off the breast. It should be golden and the fat mostly rendered. Set it aside (cook's privilege: eat a rasher while nobody is looking). The breast skin underneath will be pale. The remaining time in the oven will brown it.

   If the breast is browning too quickly at any point, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the top. Not tucked in, just resting there like a hat. Remove it for the final thirty minutes so the skin can crisp.
6. 6

   Check for doneness

   The turkey is done when the juices run clear. Pierce the thickest part of the thigh with a skewer and watch the liquid that pools. Clear means done. Pink means more time, fifteen minutes, then check again. If you have a meat thermometer, the thigh should read 74C at its deepest point. But your eyes and nose know before the thermometer does. The skin will be deep golden, taut and crackling. The juices in the tin will be dark and concentrated. The kitchen will smell like every good Christmas you remember.

   The legs always take longer than the breast. If the breast feels done but the legs aren't there yet, cover the breast loosely with foil and keep going. Better a slightly drier breast than an undercooked thigh. Though if you've buttered properly, the breast will forgive you.
7. 7

   Rest the bird properly

   Lift the turkey onto a warm serving board or platter. Cover it loosely with foil and a couple of clean tea towels. Walk away. Leave it for at least forty-five minutes, longer if you can manage it, up to an hour. A turkey this size holds its heat beautifully. Resting is not optional. It is the difference between meat that is juicy and relaxed and meat that is tense and dry. Every minute of resting makes the carving better. Use this time for the gravy, the last-minute vegetables, the setting of the table. The bird will wait.

8. 8

   Make the gravy from the tin

   Set the roasting tin over a medium heat on the hob. There will be a dark, sticky layer of caramelised juices on the bottom, turkey fat, butter, bacon fat, and the good dark bits. Spoon off most of the fat, leaving about two tablespoons and all of the dark sediment. Sprinkle in the flour and stir it into the fat, scraping the base of the tin with a wooden spoon to lift every scrap of flavour. Let it cook for a minute or two until it smells biscuity. Pour in the wine or sherry. It will hiss and bubble furiously. Good. Stir and scrape. Add the stock gradually, stirring as you go, and let the gravy simmer for five to ten minutes until it thickens to a consistency that coats the back of a spoon. Taste it. Season it. If you have Madeira, a splash now will give it a quiet richness that makes people ask what you did. Strain it into a warm jug if you like, or don't. Lumps in gravy are evidence that it was made properly, from a real tin, by a real person.

   If you've kept the giblets, simmer them with an onion, a carrot, a bay leaf, and some peppercorns in water for an hour while the turkey cooks. Strain. This is your gravy stock, and it will be better than anything from a carton.

Chef Tips

• •Order your turkey from a butcher, not a supermarket, and order it early. A free-range bird, properly hung, with a good layer of fat under the skin, is worth every extra penny. You cannot butter your way out of a bird that lived badly. The flavour starts in the field, not the kitchen.
• •The two-temperature method is the whole trick. Thirty minutes of fierce heat to get the skin going, then a long, gentle cook at a lower temperature to keep the breast from drying out. It's the same principle as a good Sunday roast, just stretched to fit a bigger bird and a longer afternoon.
• •Rest the turkey for as long as you dare. Forty-five minutes is the minimum. An hour is better. A well-rested turkey carved at the table will be juicier than a freshly roasted one, and it gives you time to make the gravy, finish the vegetables, and catch your breath. Cover it well and it will still be warm when you carve.
• •Save the carcass. Box it up on Christmas night and make stock on Boxing Day. A turkey carcass with a few vegetables, some peppercorns, and a bay leaf, simmered for three or four hours, makes a stock that will carry you through a week of soups and risottos. It is the quiet gift the turkey keeps giving.
• •Bread sauce, if you make it, belongs on the same plate. Warm milk infused with an onion studded with cloves, a bay leaf, and a blade of mace, thickened with good white breadcrumbs and finished with butter and cream. It sounds plain. It is not. It is one of the great British sauces.

Advance Preparation

• •The herb butter can be made two days ahead and refrigerated, wrapped in cling film. Bring it to room temperature before using so it's soft enough to spread under the skin.
• •If using giblets for stock, the giblet stock can be made the day before and refrigerated. Reheat when needed for the gravy.
• •Take the turkey out of the fridge two hours before roasting. A room-temperature bird cooks more evenly and will save you anxiety about the breast drying out before the legs are done.
• •The gravy can only be made once the turkey is out of the oven, but having your stock warm and your flour measured means it comes together in ten minutes while the bird rests.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)