Christmas turkey

Merry Christmas everyone, time to gather the family together to eat, drink and be Merry (or get completely stuffed, play a few party games and pass out in front of the tv)

Being in true festive tradition, it was time to get into the kitchen and get Christmas dinner on the go. 

This year, I made allowances for any of my non meat eating readers and have written up 2 alternative dishes, herb and nut crusted cod (http://uncle-robbies-kitchen.blogspot.com/2013/12/herb-and-nut-crusted-cod.html) and butternut squash and almond roast (http://uncle-robbies-kitchen.blogspot.com/2013/12/butternut-squash-and-almond-roast.html), now it's the turn of the Christmas turkey. 

I have done it slightly differently this year as the turkey had been quite well prepared and the flap of skin at the neck end where I normally pack the stuffing had been trimmed away, but there was enough skin left to pack half of it and use bamboo skewers to hold it in place whilst cooking and then place a ball of it at the other end. I don't believe in filling the entire body cavity as this will drastically increase the cooking time and the stuffing might not be cooked right through. I also decided this year to do something different and try 2 different stuffings, sage and onion in the neck end and sausagemeat at the front of the body cavity. I also was given a turkey baster this year, which has really come into it's own. For the first time in ages, I was able to draw out the liquid in the body cavity without the hassle of lifting the bird up and draining it out as well as for basting. 

Anyway, based on a 5.5 kg (approx 12lb) turkey, after 5 hours of cooking and basting, here's the finished product. 

Enjoy! 

Ingredients

1 turkey

150g butter

6 cloves of garlic, minced 

Salt, pepper and paprika to taste 

Clear honey

1/2 pack (150g) sausagemeat stuffing

150g sage and onion stuffing

Method 

Mix the garlic and butter together and pack under the skin above the breast meat. 

Season with the salt, pepper and paprika drizzle with honey and cover with foil and place in the oven on the following temperatures and timings: 

220 Celcius (200 in a fan oven) 392 Fahrenheit for the first 40 minutes 

170 Celcius (150 in a fan oven) 338 Fahrenheit for the next 3 hours basting roughly every hour. 

Remove the foil, baste and place back in the oven on 220 Celcius (200 in a fan oven) 392 Fahrenheit for the final 45 minutes, basting roughly every 15-20 mins.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for about 30 mins before carving.