How to cook a turkey

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Read our expert guide to turkey and find out how to defrost, prepare and roast a whole turkey, plus top tips to help you buy the best.

While it's the traditional Christmas bird, turkey is good to eat all year round, though it's only readily available in portions (rather than a whole bird) most of the year. Use our guide to learn how to cook a turkey to feed a crowd, including brining and carving.

Turkey has all the nutritional benefits of chicken but with a slightly lower fat content. This is good for health, but does mean that the flesh can be on the dry side. Older turkey recipes advise basting a turkey regularly to keep the meat moist, but newer recipes suggest cooking the turkey more quickly while using dry brines – leaving the turkey in salt and flavouring overnight.

This method draws moisture out, then the turkey reabsorbs it, which seasons the meat and dries out the skin for a crisp finish in the oven.

If you buy a frozen turkey, make sure you allow enough time for it to defrost – it won't cook properly unless it is thoroughly defrosted at the start of cooking. If you're defrosting in the fridge, which should be set at 4C or below, allow 8-12 hrs per kg. In a cool room, which absolutely must stay below 17.5C, allow 3-4 hrs per kg.

1. Take off all the wrappings, put on a tray or plate wide and deep enough to contain any blood or juice that might seep out, cover loosely with foil and leave in the fridge or in a cool room. 2. After the turkey is defrosted, remove any giblets, check that there are no ice crystals inside the cavity and pat dry with kitchen paper both outside and in.

3. Before it goes in the oven, the turkey should be at room temperature, so take it out of the fridge (1 hr for a whole turkey, or 30 mins for a cut) before cooking. Keep it covered in a cool place.

If desired, certain cuts of fresh or defrosted turkey can be marinated (for a minimum of 4 hrs) before cooking to add flavour and moisture, and to tenderise it a little further. Slash the skin a couple of times to help the marinade penetrate deeply and keep covered in a glass or ceramic dish in the fridge.

Dry-brining The small change of simply seasoning your turkey up to 2 days in advance makes a massive difference and actually cuts down on the amount of salt you need. Known as dry-brining, this technique involves salting your turkey (inside and out) in advance. The salt has a chance to work its way into the protein,

season it evenly from within and start to break it down, tenderise the meat and allows it to retain its succulence as it roasts. By seasoning in advance, the whole bird is evenly seasoned and you don’t have to heavily season just before roasting. The same applies to all birds but as they are smaller only a day in advance is needed.

Cover with water and add a peeled onion, carrot, celery stick, bay leaf and a glass of red wine. Simmer for 40 mins, then strain for the perfect stock to use for deglazing your turkey roasting tin – it will help make a really rich gravy.

Removing the wishbone from a raw turkey makes it easier to carve later, giving you neater slices. Pull back the neck skin until the wishbone is located. Using a small, sharp knife, cut through the flesh under the contour of the bone on both sides just deep enough to free it. Ease it out, cutting it free at the tips.

– 1 free-range turkey (5kg will feed eight people) – 50g butter – seasoning 1. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. 2. Smear the butter all over the turkey and season with salt and pepper.

1. Put in a roasting tin, breast-side up, and roast for 40 mins per 1kg for the first 4kg, then 45 mins for every 1kg over that weight, or until the internal temperature reaches 65-70C. For a turkey of this weight, the cooking time should be 3½-4 hrs. The turkey will continue to cook and the temperature will rise while it rests.

1. Remove the turkey from the oven and rest in a warm place for 30-45 mins – don’t skip this step as the juices won’t be reabsorbed back into the turkey and will run out if you carve it straightaway. Don’t cover the turkey too tightly if you want the skin to stay crisp, but keep it warm.

1. Before serving the turkey, check that the meat is steaming hot throughout, there is no pink meat visible and when you cut into the thickest part of the meat, the juices run clear.

The latest advice from the British Turkey information service is that the temperature of your oven should be 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and the cooking time calculated as follows: If the turkey is over 4kg, calculate 20 mins per 1kg, plus 90 mins.

If the bird is under 4kg, calculate 20 mins per 1kg, plus 70 mins. To test if it's done, make sure the juices run clear when you pierce the thigh where it meets the body. If not, put it back in the oven for another 20 mins, then test again.

Remember to weigh the turkey with any stuffing under the skin, bacon or other additions and check that it's cooked properly. However, many turkey recipes specify a different oven temperature, and if you cook the crown at a higher or lower temperature as specified by the recipe you're following, you will have to adjust the time.

For example, at 200C/180C fan/gas 6, calculate the cooking at 20 mins per 450g. You may also have to adjust the time for the type of crown you have bought. A 3kg KellyBronze turkey crown, for example, is cooked for 1 hr 30 mins at 180C/160C fan/gas 4, by which point

the internal temperature should be 60C (5 degrees less than recommended, but perfectly safe with a KellyBronze). It will then rise a further 5C as it rests.

We recommend that for healthy and safety reasons, you should buy a fresh turkey within one or two days of when you plan to serve it, and in the meantime keep it chilled in the fridge. This is because fresh turkeys, like other fresh meat and poultry, are highly perishable.

Where to buy your turkey As is the case with all meat, turkey should be bought from a source that you trust – a good supermarket, local butcher, farmers' market or shop, or a website mail-order company. Of those five sources, the last four are perhaps more likely to be able to tell you the most about the turkey, such as where it came from and how it was reared.

Traceability like that will give you assurance that the turkey has been humanely treated while alive; the higher the standard of welfare by which a turkey was reared, the better the quality of the meat.

Organic turkey is the most expensive, as the most stringent farming standards will have been adhered to at all stages of the animal's life, including being allowed to roam outside during the day and being fed a mainly organic diet. As they are allowed to mature slowly, their flesh is firm and flavourful;

however, because they have had lots of exercise during their lives, they may be less plump than indoor-reared birds.

– Free-range turkeys should have had some access to the open air and are usually cheaper than organic. The Freedom Food label can also be used by producers that meet the RSPCA's welfare standards.

– Battery (or 'factory') reared turkeys are the most commonly available kind. They are rarely labelled as such, but the low price is a giveaway. Although such turkeys are more affordable, the conditions they endure are extremely grim, as they are packed in at high densities, with little room to move around and no access to sunlight – all of which produces a noticeably inferior meat.

Good breeds to look out for include Norfolk Black, Kelly Bronze and Cambridge Bronze. Reared slowly in free-range conditions, they all have densely textured meat that is more flavourful and succulent than indoor-reared types.

– Whichever breed or cut you go for, choose a turkey that is plump and well-rounded, with clear, soft and evenly coloured skin. Avoid those that have been unevenly plucked.

– Look for the phrase 'farm fresh' which means that birds have been handled traditionally once slaughtered, i.e. dry hand-plucked (as opposed to wet-plucked, by which the turkey is immersed in very hot water to loosen the feathers, which are then mechanically removed) and hung for two weeks, which gives the flesh an enjoyably gamey flavour.

Whole birds should be roasted. Other portions are also available (either skin-on or skinless, bone-in or boneless), including breast joints (roast), crown joints (the bird without its legs and wings, also good for roasting), breast steaks, escalopes (very thin steaks of turkey breast, good for pan-frying) and drumsticks (roast or braise).

Turkey mince is also available – it's very low in fat and you can use it as you would any mince, in stir-fries, stews or oven-cooked casseroles. See our range of turkey mince recipes for more inspiration.

Put fresh turkey in the fridge as soon as you get it home. Take off all the wrappings, then wipe it all over (including inside the cavities) with kitchen paper. If it has come with giblets (the neck, gizzard, heart and liver), these should be removed and kept in a covered bowl in the fridge.

Put the turkey on a tray or plate wide and deep enough to contain any blood or juice that might seep out. Cover loosely with foil. Make sure the turkey doesn't touch any other food in the fridge that's to be eaten raw, or meat that is already cooked.

Once a frozen turkey has defrosted (see 'prepare' above), store it in the fridge straightaway, as above, unless you are going to cook it immediately.

If you are not a fan of turkey, try substituting for chicken instead.

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How to cook a turkey

Read our expert guide to turkey and find out how to defrost, prepare and roast a whole turkey, plus top tips to help you buy the best.

Cook a Turkey

While it's the traditional Christmas bird, turkey is good to eat all year round, though it's only readily available in portions (rather than a whole bird) most of the year. Use our guide to learn how to cook a turkey to feed a crowd, including brining and carving.

Cook a Turkey

Cook a Turkey

This method draws moisture out, then the turkey reabsorbs it, which seasons the meat and dries out the skin for a crisp finish in the oven.

Cook a Turkey

How to defrost a turkey

How to prepare a turkey

3. Before it goes in the oven, the turkey should be at room temperature, so take it out of the fridge (1 hr for a whole turkey, or 30 mins for a cut) before cooking. Keep it covered in a cool place.

How to prepare a turkey

How to prepare a turkey

How to prepare a turkey

How to prepare a turkey

Cover with water and add a peeled onion, carrot, celery stick, bay leaf and a glass of red wine. Simmer for 40 mins, then strain for the perfect stock to use for deglazing your turkey roasting tin – it will help make a really rich gravy.

What to do with turkey giblets

How to remove the wishbone

– 1 free-range turkey (5kg will feed eight people) – 50g butter – seasoning 1. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. 2. Smear the butter all over the turkey and season with salt and pepper.