How To Roast Roast Turkey, Perfect Roast Turkey

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Please read the recipe and the notes and comments at the bottom of the page. We have also posted some useful links below. No matter what advice you follow for your roast turkey it is essential to ensure it's defrosted and cooked properly.

There are an almost unlimited number of variations of roast turkey, with stuffings, with glazing and basting. However when cooked properly and presented attractively I don't think the basic roast bird needs any great improvement.

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How To Roast Roast Turkey, Perfect Roast Turkey

Roast Turkey

Roast Turkey Preparation Time: 10 Minutes
Roast Turkey Cooking Time: 3 hours 20 Minutes

Defrosting: I can't stress enough the importance of defrosting the turkey properly. It is the single most important aspect of preparing your Christmas dinner.

It's particularly important to get the cooking time right with turkey. Compared to other poultry turkey isn't particularly fatty so over cooking will dry it out. If you are using a frozen bird defrost thoroughly, remember the bigger the bird the longer it will take to defrost. The formula for cooking turkey is about 40 minutes per kilo at 180-220°C. This does however depend on the efficiency of your oven and the regularity of your basting.

If you've got an unusually big bird it's important to try the turkey for size in the oven so you know it will fit, that you have a roasting tray big enough and that you can fit any other necessary shelves in the oven. I like to cook the turkey upside down for about 35 minutes at about 200c to crisp the bottom before turning the right way up. This method assumes that you've made the stuffing separately, have removed the giblets and thoroughly defrosted the bird.

Ingredients: Serves 4-8

5 kg turkey
6 rashers streaky bacon
100g butter
splash of olive oil
salt and pepper

Cooking Instructions:

Rub the oil into the turkey then smear butter roughly over the skin, particularly the breasts area, add salt and pepper and place into a roasting tray on its back.
Place into a preheated oven at 200°C for about 40 minutes
Remove from the oven, turn the bird the right way up, cover loosely with kitchen foil and roast for a further hour and a half at 180°C.
Remove from the over, baste then spoon off all the excess fat, drape the bacon rashers across the turkey and roast for a further 70 minutes.
After about 200 minutes total cooking time push a sharp knife into the thigh, if no red meat juices escape the meat is probably cooked. Leave to stand for at least twenty minutes before carving.

Michela says:

"If people are roasting turkey for the first time they may not realise that the best way to roast potatoes is to place them alongside the turkey and cook them in the meat juices."

How To Roast Turkey - Our favorite links include:

britishfood.about.com - A guide to roasting turkey
www.nhs.uk - NHS guide to defrosting and roasting
www.ehow.com - Defrosting guidelines
www.deliaonline.com - Roast turkey advice from Delia online
www.epicurious.com - A great guide to roast turkey