Cooking the Turkey

When it comes to cooking the turkey, this recipe from Bord Bia is hard to beat. As you will see for a turkey of 7 kg – they recommend a cooking time of approx 31/2  hours. The biggest problem when cooking a turkey is that most people tend to over cook it! Before you put it into the oven a good tip is to pull the legs away from the body of the turkey and wiggle them – the idea is to free up the turkey and allow the heat in the oven to circulate around the body of the turkey.

Another good tip is to place the turkey on a rack in the roasting tin with and cover the bottom of the tin with a few cups of water – this helps to keep the turkey moist.

A traditional recipe that is hard to beat! 

Serves 12-14 

 

Ingredients

• 7 kg turkey, oven ready
• Salt, black pepper and a little flour
• 2 tablesp. softened butter
• 8 slices streaky bacon

 

 

Stuffing

• 450g bread broken into pieces
• 6 tablesp. fresh parsley chopped
• 2 tablesp. fresh thyme chopped
• 1 medium onion, cut into quarters
• Salt and black pepper
• 100g – 150g butter, softened

 

To Cook

Cooking time

3½ hours approximately 

 

Method

To make the stuffing

Place the bread, parsley, thyme and onion in a food processor.  Process until you have fine breadcrumbs and the onion is finely chopped.  Remove to a bowl, season and mix in the butter.

To stuff the turkey

Losen the skin at the neck end with your hands.  Pack the stuffing in, pushing it up between the flesh and the skin, but not too tighlty because it will expand during cooking.  Tuck the neck flap under the birds back and secure with a coctail stick.  Any remaining stuffing can be cooked in a covered baking dish with the turkey.  Weigh the turkey and calculate the cooking time.  Allow 30-40 minutes per kg.  (Allow 20-30 mins per kg for turkeys weighing over 8kg).  Place the turkey breast side up in an oiled roasting tin.

To cook the turkey

Set the oven at Gas Mark 7, 220°C (450°F).

Season the turkey with salt and pepper and dust with a little flour.  Rub all over with the butter, then lay the bacon slices on the breast, overlapping each other.  Cover the bacon with a piece of buttered grease proof paper.  This will keep the bacon in place.  Wrap the turkey in foil and roast in the preset oven.  After the first 30 minutes, reduce the heat to Gas Mark 3 (170°C or 325°F).  Baste a couple of times during roasting.  For the last half hour, remove the foil.

To check if the turkey is cooked, pierce the thickest part of the leg, the juices should run clear.

When the turkey is cooked remove from the oven and transfer to a large plate.  Reserve the cooking juices in the tin to make the gravy.  Cover the turkey loosely with foil and allow to rest for half an hour in a warm place until you are ready to serve it.

Guide to good gravy

A well flavoured stock is important, so a day ahead, place the giblets, some onion slices and a bay leaf in a saucepan.  Cover with water, then simmer gently for 1½ – 2 hours.  Then strain and season. 

After removing the turkey from the roasting tin, pour off the fat and leave behind the juices.  Over a medium heat, stir in a tablespoon of flour.  Blend well.  Add a dash of wine.  Continue to cook.  Stir in the stock and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

A tablespoon of redcurrent jelly, cream or balsamic vinegar will also add to the flavour.  Season to taste.

 

Bosco’s Gold Medal

Great excitement in Bosco’s today as we have just received news that we have won a gold medal for our spiced beef from the Craft Butchers Association. We are of course delighted and we hope you will come along this weekend and taste our winning beef!!

For those of you who have never cooked spiced beef – nothing could be simpler – simple cook your piece of spiced beef in Guinness with a cup of dark brown sugar – as it is silverside it needs slow cooking – so simmer for a few hours depending on the weight and then allow to cool in the liquid.

Best served cold sliced very thinly on wholemeal bread – great treat on Christmas Eve before the turkey and ham feast on Christmas day or as a welcome change on St Steven’s Day!

Here is a recipe from An Bord Bia

Traditional Dry Spiced Beef 

This is the traditional dry spiced beef, usually reserved for Christmas but also excellent for summer salads.   

 

 

 

 

Apricot and Almond Chutney 

This is wonderful with Spiced Beef or with a wedge of farmhouse cheese and brown bread. Makes 1 litre

• 450g dried apricots, chopped (no soak are very convenient)
• 225g brown sugar
• 1 onion, chopped
• 500ml wine vinegar
• 1 cooking apple, chopped
• 2 tablesp. fresh root ginger, grated
• ½ tablesp. coriander seeds, toasted and crushed
• 75g almonds, blanched and roughly chopped
• Dash of Tabasco and salt

 

To Cook

Method

Place the beef in a deep casserole dish as near to its size as possible. Add 250ml water and cover tightly.

Cook in a very low oven, Gas Mark 1, 140°C (275°F) for five hours(2kg). Leave it to cool in the liquid for 2-3 hours and then remove and wrap it in tin foil. Store in the fridge. Serve in thin slices with brown bread and Apricot and Almond Chutney.

Preparing Apricot and Almond Chutney

Mix all the ingredients in a large saucepan. Heat gently, stirring all the time, until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer for about an hour (don’t over cook). Spoon into warmed, sterilised jars. Seal immediately. The chutney will improve with keeping.

Christmas Ham

The first thing to get right when cooking the Christmas ham is to have a saucepan big enough! Then cover the ham with water and bring to the boil. When it comes to the boil empty out the water and fill again, this helps reduce the salt levels. Allow half an hour per kilo at a steady simmer and then remove from the water. At this stage remove the skin and cut the fat in a diamond shape. Stick a clove into each diamond, then spread with mustard, I use colman’s english mustard, making sure to get into the cuts you have made. Drizzel with honey and then sprinkel with dark brown sugar making sure the sugar is not in lumps! Place on a lined roasting tin and place in a hot oven for 15 – 20 mins until the fat is golden brown. Enjoy!!!

Cooking the Christmas Ham

When you collect you Christmas ham check you have a saucepan big enough to take it – not a good idea to discover on Christmas Eve that you can not cook the ham!!!

Related articles

• Spiced Christmas Ham (cookingatzerodegrees.wordpress.com)

Festive sausages

Sausages are always a great stand bye for any occasion. This recipe gives your ordinary cocktail sausage a festive twist. I keep a few in the freezer as backup and some ready to bake bread rolls . Cut the rolls into manageable pieces and serve the sausages piled in the centre of the plate with the bread around the edge for people to help themselves. If you really want to go all out get Umbrella cocktail sticks or themed sticks try euro savers shops.
You will need
11/4 lb cocktail sausages
2 tbs sesame oil
1tbs soya sauce
4tbs maple syrup (aprox)
Heat oven 200c400f
Separate the sausages and arrange in a shallow roasting tin mix all the ingredients together and pour over the sausages use your hands to cost the sausage completely roast in the oven for aprox 30 mins give them a shake
Every 10 minutes or so depending on how fast your oven is.
Happy eating !

Christmas Ham

The first thing to get right when cooking the Christmas ham is to have a saucepan  big enough! Then cover the ham with water and bring to the boil. When it comes to the boil empty out the water and fill again, this helps reduce the salt levels. Allow half an hour per kilo at a steady simmer and then remove from the water. At this stage remove the skin and cut the fat in a diamond shape. Stick a clove into each diamond, then spread with mustard, I use colman’s english mustard, making sure to get into the cuts you have made. Drizzel with honey and then sprinkel with dark brown sugar making sure the sugar is not in lumps! Place on a lined roasting tin and place in a hot oven for 15 – 20 mins until the fat is golden brown. Enjoy!!!

 

 

Stuffing tip

Place a large metal spoon in the centre of the stuffing when stuffing the cavity of the bird it will help cook the turkey evenly , don’t over stuff the turkey, the spoon is hot be careful when taking it out . !!!!

Glazed Christmas ham with pineapple chutney

Ingredients

• 3½ kg raw cured ham or gammon, boned and rolled
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 st ar anise
• 1 tbsp peppercorns
• 3-4 tbsp whole cloves

GLAZE

• 4 tbsp clear honey
• 2 tsp English mustard powder
• 2 tbsp dark rum
• 1 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves

PINEAPPLE CHUTNEY

• 2 onions , finely chopped
• olive oil
• 1 tsp brown mustard seeds , toasted
• 1 garlic clove , finely sliced
• 1 pineapple , cored and cut into chunks
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 tbsp honey
• 100ml cider vinegar
• 120g light brown sugar
• 50g blanched almonds , toasted

 

• To make the pineapple chutney, cook the onion in 3 tbsp olive oil. Add the mustard seeds and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Gently cook down for 1 hour or more until it’s a jammy consistency. Season and cool.
• Put the ham in a large pan, cover with cold water and drop in the bay leaves, star anise and peppercorns. Bring to a simmer then cover and simmer for 21/2 hours. Drain.
• When just cool enough to handle, remove the skin of the ham, leaving a decent layer of fat. Score the fat in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife and stud the centre of each diamond with a clove.
• Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Put all glazing ingredients except the thyme leaves in a pan. Heat the glaze gently to dissolve the sugar then brush the ham liberally with the mix. Sit the ham on a wire rack in a roasting tray with a couple of inches of water in the bottom.
• Bake the ham for 30-40 minutes, basting with the glaze until golden. Just before the end of the cooking, sprinkle over the thyme leaves and give the ham another 10 minutes. Serve with the pineapple chutney.

 

 

 

Turkey Gravy Recipe

Ingredients

• 5 cups turkey stock
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt

 

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the turkey stock to a boil. In a small bowl, dissolve flour in water. Gradually whisk into the turkey stock. Season with poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, and celery salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, or until thickened.

 

 

 

Top Ten Christmas Tips

Top Ten Christmas Tips.