This is a recipe and cooking guide for a traditional Christmas dinner, specifically focusing on a moist and flavorful turkey. The recipe begins with preparing a compound butter with ingredients like lemon zest, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper. The butter is then applied under the turkey's skin, ensuring the meat stays moist and flavorful during roasting.
The turkey is seasoned with salt, pepper, onions, lemons, and bay leaves, then roasted in the oven with olive oil and bacon. After roasting, the turkey is left to rest for 2.5 hours, allowing the meat to reabsorb its juices and become tender.
While the turkey is resting, a delicious gravy is prepared using the roasting tray's excess fat, bacon, onions, lemons, tomatoes, and chicken stock. The gravy is flavored with dry cider, rosemary, and walnuts, giving it a unique and aromatic taste.
The finished dish is presented with the rested turkey, hot gravy, and accompanying sides, making for a mouth-watering and festive Christmas dinner.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. To prevent the turkey from drying out, it's essential to keep it moist during cooking.
2. The secret to a great Christmas dinner is in the preparation.
3. A mixture of soft butter, salt, pepper, and olive oil can be used to keep the turkey moist.
4. Adding the zest of two lemons and their juice to the butter mixture gives it a citrus flavor.
5. Three cloves of garlic, pureed to prevent overpowering the turkey, can be added to the butter mixture.
6. A generous handful of chopped parsley can be added to the butter mixture for extra flavor.
7. The turkey can be seasoned inside the cavity with salt and pepper.
8. Two onions, halved, can be placed inside the turkey cavity to add sweetness during roasting.
9. A lemon and a couple of bay leaves can be added to the turkey cavity for extra flavor.
10. The flavoured butter can be applied under the turkey's skin to keep it moist.
11. Turkeys originally came from North America and are best when young and plump.
12. The North of Black and Norfolk Bronze breeds have a wonderful gamey taste.
13. The turkey can be massaged with the remaining butter mixture over the breasts, legs, and wings.
14. The turkey can be prepared the night before and refrigerated until cooking.
15. The turkey should be cooked at 220 degrees for 10 minutes to get a nice brown color.
16. After 10 minutes, the turkey should be basted and covered with smoked streaky bacon.
17. The oven temperature should be turned down to 180 degrees after the initial 10 minutes.
18. A 5-kilogram turkey will feed eight people comfortably and needs roasting for two and a half hours, or half an hour per kilo, basting every so often.
19. To test if the turkey is cooked, a knife can be stuck into the bottom of the thigh, and if the juices run clear, it's done.
20. The turkey should be let to rest, uncovered, for two and a half hours to reabsorb its juices and make it succulent and tender.
21. The turkey doesn't need to be piping hot when served, as it will be served with hot gravy.
22. The key to a great Christmas dinner is the gravy.
23. A recipe for turkey gravy made with cider and walnuts has a wonderful, nutty flavor that complements the turkey meat and fruity pork stuffing.
24. To make the gravy, the excess fat from the roasting tray should be drained, and the tray should be put back on the heat.
25. The bacon from the top of the turkey and the roasted onions from the cavity should be removed and chopped.
26. The roasted lemon should be chopped and added to the tray.
27. The bacon, onion, and lemon should be fried in the tray until crispy.
28. Three chopped tomatoes can be added to the tray to thicken the gravy and give it a fresh taste.
29. Rosemary sprigs can be added to the tray to give it an aromatic punch.
30. The wing should be snapped off, and the trimmings should be added to the gravy.
31. Dry cider can be poured into the gravy to add a subtle apple flavor.
32. The cider should be reduced, and then the resting juices from the roasted turkey should be poured in.
33. When the liquid has reduced by half, the vegetables and turkey pieces should be crushed with a masher to extract the maximum amount of flavor.
34. Chicken stock can be poured in, and the mixture should be reduced again.
35. The gravy should be sieved to extract every last drop of flavor.
36. A sprig of rosemary can be added to the gravy to infuse it with flavor.
37. Crushed walnuts can be added to the bottom of the gravy boat, and the hot gravy can be ladled in.