A perfectly roasted turkey on Christmas day is a beautiful thing. But getting that very large bird cooked through to a tender and juicy finish can be a challenge! In our recent cooking class, chef Dave Miller gave us the inside scoop on how to prepare a turkey for its big day. Here's what we learned...
Brining: It all begins with giving your turkey a good, long soak in a simple brine. Along with 6 liter's of water, Dave added thyme, pepper corns, brown sugar, garlic, bay leaves and star anise to soak his turkey in for 24 - 48 hours. It's worth planning ahead because that full second day of soaking will reward you with super succulent results. Feel free to experiment with a variety of our own favourite ingredients in creating the flavour base of your brine.
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Slow covered cooking: Next comes a good, long roasting - another key to the perfect turkey dinner. The general rule of thumb is to cook your turkey at about 170˚C for 30 minutes per kilogram but you can knock some time off if you cut the turkey in half, as Dave did for the class. Dave covered his turkey for most of it's cooking time, removing the foil for the last 30 minutes to crisp up the skin.
Resting: It's tempting to want to slice and serve your bird as soon as it's out of the oven -especially because by this stage it's looking and smelling divine! However, Dave lets his turkey rest (covered) for at least 20 minutes so the juices settle back into the meat. The turkey continues to cook once while out of the oven, so giving it these minutes to rest will ensure moist, tender meat.
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Accompaniments: Of course, a Christmas turkey dinner is made into a right royal feast thanks to all of the other dishes that fill the table. For our Christmas Fare class, Dave whipped up a festive ensemble of Cranberry Jus, Sherry Vinegar roasted Parsnip with roasted Aria country style Potatoes and a lovely Christmas Panforte.
Finally, a great meal is only as good as the ingredients. At the Mediterranean Market we've chosen to offer Canter Valley free range turkeys. These fine birds are raised on a diet of fresh grass and FREPNZ certified grain feed, consistently yielding around 35% breast meat. As with our other products, we've found that how the food is raised and handled makes a huge difference to the final taste and overall quality.
Finally, a great meal is only as good as the ingredients. At the Mediterranean Market we've chosen to offer Canter Valley free range turkeys. These fine birds are raised on a diet of fresh grass and FREPNZ certified grain feed, consistently yielding around 35% breast meat. As with our other products, we've found that how the food is raised and handled makes a huge difference to the final taste and overall quality.
Chef Dave Miller's recipe for Turkey Brine:
This is prepared for a size 4 turkey
Ingredients:
6 litres water
¼ cup salt
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
Bunch of thyme
4 large bulbs garlic
½ tsp peppercorns
2 x Bay leaves
Optional 1x star anise & 1x cinnamon
Method:
• Place all ingredients into a 10 litre pot and bring to the boil, simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
• Once done, the brine needs to be cooled if not chilled before next step. I place my turkey in my 10 litre pot and pour brine into cavity and cover with brine.
• I then place a plate on top and glad wrap the top. If you don’t have a big enough pot or space in fridge you can put the turkey into an oven roasting bag, pour in brine then place in an iced bucket.
• I say 24 hours but longer is better depending on space. The cooking class turkey brined for 30 hrs.
Cooking the turkey:
• Pre-heat 160c no fan
• Take out of brine and drain well. My preference is to cut the turkey in half as it is quicker to roast and takes up less space.
• I then place it in or on a tray and cover with tinfoil and place in oven for 1hr 10min pull out and check if juices are clearest in the thigh.
• Then remove tin foil to colour up skin approx 20/30 min. Pull out of oven and cover with tinfoil rest for 20 to 30 min carve and serve.
This is prepared for a size 4 turkey
Ingredients:
6 litres water
¼ cup salt
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
Bunch of thyme
4 large bulbs garlic
½ tsp peppercorns
2 x Bay leaves
Optional 1x star anise & 1x cinnamon
Method:
• Place all ingredients into a 10 litre pot and bring to the boil, simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
• Once done, the brine needs to be cooled if not chilled before next step. I place my turkey in my 10 litre pot and pour brine into cavity and cover with brine.
• I then place a plate on top and glad wrap the top. If you don’t have a big enough pot or space in fridge you can put the turkey into an oven roasting bag, pour in brine then place in an iced bucket.
• I say 24 hours but longer is better depending on space. The cooking class turkey brined for 30 hrs.
Cooking the turkey:
• Pre-heat 160c no fan
• Take out of brine and drain well. My preference is to cut the turkey in half as it is quicker to roast and takes up less space.
• I then place it in or on a tray and cover with tinfoil and place in oven for 1hr 10min pull out and check if juices are clearest in the thigh.
• Then remove tin foil to colour up skin approx 20/30 min. Pull out of oven and cover with tinfoil rest for 20 to 30 min carve and serve.
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