Buying and Roasting Turkey – The Basics

WHAT SIZE TO BUY

2.25 kg / 5lbs                          Serves 4 – 6

3.6 kg / 8lbs                             Serves 6 – 8

4.5 – 5.6 kg / 10-12 lbs        Serves 10 – 12

9 kg / 20 lbs                             Serves 12 – 15

HOW LONG TO ROAST

Always weigh your turkey after it’s stuffed – you might need to use bathroom scales.  Allow 40 minutes per kg (20 minutes per lb) at 190c  /  375F  /  Gas mark 5.  (If you’re using a fan oven, the temperature should be 170C – that approximately 365F).   Make sure that the juices run clear; if not, return to the oven for 20 minutes and test again.

Turkey Roasting Times

The safest way to cook turkey and stuffing is to cook them separately as a stuffed bird may not cook as evenly.  Cook the stuffing in a separate little casserole dish therefore. 

If you’re going to ignore me (!) and stuff the bird anyway, you’ll need to calculate cooking times by weighing your bird after it’s stuffed – you might well have to use bathroom scales in order to do this.  There is a cooking chart below but as an example, for an 8 – 12 pound bird allow 20 minutes per pound (40 minutes per kg) at 170C (325F), gas mark 3. 

Remember that if you are usng a fan oven, cooking temperatures are generally lower (usually 20C lower than in the conventional oven…consult your manufacturer’s manual).  

If you don’t have a meat thermometer, the way to test whether the bird is cooked is to pop a knife into the area between the turkey body and leg (drumstick).  If the juices coming out look clear and not pink or bloody then the bird is done.  

If it isn’t ready yet, return it to the oven for 20 minutes and test again.

A good meat thermomter will show when the meat is cooked.  Latest guidlines state that the minimum safe temperature is 165F. Check the temperature by placing the thermometer probe in the thickest part of the inner thigh.

The folowing chart is for a whole turkey cooked at 325F / 170C. In all cases the temperature of the meat (if you have a meat thermometer) will be 160 – 170 degrees.

4 – 8 lbs……….325F / 170 C ………2 – 3 hours

8 – 12 lbs……..325F / 170C ……….3 – 4 hours

12 – 16 lbs…….325F / 170C ………4 – 5 hours

16 – 20 lbs…….325F / 170C ………5 – 6  hours

20 – 24 lbs …… 325F / 170C ……..6 – 7 hours

There are some great recipes available for cooking the turkey.  If you don’t have one don’t be scared by the whole prospect of doing one just because it’s The Big Day. 

For the novice cook – remove the bag of giblets from the body cavity (these make wonderful stock but now may not be the time to be telling you that)!  Now just think of the turkey as a large chicken that you have to roast.   Maybe loosely pop some pieces of raw onion,  and herbs (say, thyme) in the body cavity, rub the outside of the body with butter, season with salt, pepper and perhaps a further sprinkling of herbs and then put the bird in the roasting tin (I tend to roast my birds on a base of root vegetables – onions, carrots etc).  Cover loosely with foil to stop the breast burning.  Cook for the required time (chart above), removing the foil for the last 20 minutes to allow the bird to brown. 

All roast meat benefits from ‘resting’ for a period after being taken from the oven.  This allows some of its juices to be re-absorbed back into the meat. Turkey is no exception. If you can manage to tip the bird to drain any juices from the body cavity into the roasting tin then do so (enlist someone’s help if you can).  Put the bird on a warm plate, cover loosely with foil and let it sit while you finish off things like the roast potatoes and gravy.  You can leave it like this for 30-60 minutes.  

There are some helpful notes here and charts here. 

Happy Christmas!

Storing eggs

Eggs, if stored properly, remain edible for a good long time – up to around 30 days – and although their appearance will not be quite the same as a very fresh egg, taste and nutritional value remain the same.

They are best kept in the refrigerator at temperatures between 30F to 40F.  Don’t store them in the fridge door as this tends to be the warmest part of the appliance (closer to 45F).

Ideally they should be stored vertically with their narrow end pointing downwards so that the egg inside is not sitting on the pocket of air that exists at the broad end.

Egg shells have microscopic holes in them (you’ll sometimes spot a trail of bubbles escaping from them when boiling them).  For this reason it’s best to store them in a covered container where there is less likelihood of muddling the flavour with nearby food.