Christmas Turkey- Act 2

Hooray!  The turkey turned out to be edible after all, and one of my guests last night, asked me for help.

So Christmas Turkey Act 2 goes like this:

1.  Use a slab of butter to butter up the entire roasting rack, before placing the turkey on it.

2.  Cover the turkey with bacon fully, add some slices of oranges/tomatoes/herbs- whatever you fancy.

(Photographer/Husband-  Baby, are you just gonna make it up?  Do you really know what you are doing?)

3.  I add a bit of water to the roasting tray as well.

4.  Pre-heat the oven to about 230-240 degrees (C).  My roasting tip- it has to be on very high heat at this first stage.  Stick turkey into the oven for the next 30-40 minutes.

While waiting, I decided to whip up a pot of soup as back-up.  In case the turkey is a disaster, my husband really likes, soup.

5.  Take the turkey out, remove any burnt bacon, use drippings collected from the bottom of the tray to baste the turkey with.  Squeeze more orange juice onto it.  Cover the turkey with fresh bacon, herbs, tomatoes, sliced oranges.  Stick it back in the oven, lovingly.

6.  40 minutes later, repeat the above.

7.  Keep repeating, gradually lowering the heat as you go along.  Right before the last 20 minutes of roasting, flip the turkey over.  Add seasonal vegetables into the tray for cooking as well.  At some point (3 hours 20 minutes for my 5.1kg turkey), the turkey will be fully roasted.  Its skin is the right shade of bronze, and when I pierce it through with a chopstick, the flesh is soft, the juices that flow out, clear.

8.  And then the turkey needs to rest.  Put it aside, cover it lightly with foil.  Let it rest for the next 20-40 minutes before serving.

Some things to note:

-  I purchased my turkey from Allens of Mayfair (117 Mount Street).  It arrived freshly butchered the very morning of pick-up.  I did not then have to worry about the defrosting process.  I could simply marinate it and put it in the fridge to rest.  This is of course, a luxury I never had in Singapore, where the birds no matter the butcher, are delivered, frozen.

-  The thighs and breast roast at different rates, which is why often turkey meat is too tough/dull.  To help seal moisture and not have an unevenly roasted turkey, I use bacon as a shield.

-  I think some ovens do it all for you.  This kitchen is German, but I don't trust technology as much as I trust my instincts.  So I didn't bother with timing it, or setting a specific temperature.  I did exactly as Jon guessed I would.  I made it up as I went along.

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