Cooking Turkey

[Andrewcook]

Hi anyone ever Cooked a Turkey on a Boat? I did many years ago mind you it I took me four Hours to cook it. I've now got a Small frozen  Crown Turkey in my Freezer I hope this Boat next year has got a good Oven?

[Chelsea14Ian]

The best way is too take legs off.Then take  out wish bone.Get the oven hot,then cook I would advise  using a temperature  probe. Can be brought  at most good department stores or on-line. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cal]

We do our turkey crown in the slow cooker. 

Did it on the boat, at home and on the van. Works a treat.

[MargeandParge]

Old Marge cooks ours I just suffer with cold turkey tomorrow after all the booze I've had today. 

Festive Regards Marge and Parge 

[Meantime]

I don't think I did too bad. 14lb, leftovers will make a few Turkey curries.

The secret to moist succulent turkey is too cook it the day before. Easier to carve when cold, let the juices settle and use the fat for the spuds, and the rest of the juice to reheat the carved meat in a tray with tin foil over the top. Doesn't matter if you fractionally over cook the bird, reheating in the juice will always ensure perfect moist meat.

Pop the meat tray in the bottom of the oven and then do the spuds, parsnips and the rest of the trimmings as usual and when they are done the meat will be nicely warmed through. Use some of the meat juice to add to your turkey gravy.

 

 

[SteveO]

We circumvent the problem by having chicken instead. Neck stuffed wth sausage meat, whole bird covered with streaky bacon and an onion and a halved lemon in t'other end. Bird was cooked in an hour and a half and was succulent and tasty. It fed five and a half people and there's enough left over for Nik to make one of her famous Christmas pies on the 27th - pluse a pan of delicious stock from the carcase, which I will use as a base for soup. 

[YnysMon]

I’ve recently bought one of those Ninja Foodie multi cooker thingies (it’s all the fault of another forum member (MM) who started off a thread asking if they were any good). Turkey crown (medium sized, very reasonably priced frozen specimen from Lidl) got cooked in it today. 25 minutes on the high pressure-cook setting, pressure released quickly then 10 minutes on the air fryer setting, then rested for 20 minutes. Result? Just about the most juicy turkey breast meat we’ve ever had. The Ninja machine wasn’t cheap, but I use it almost every day and it’s saving a lot of oven/hob time. 

The nut roast I made for Graham turned out pretty well too and everyone loved the Mary Berry’s recipe cranberry relish and her apricot and chestnut stuffing. Success! Phew!

[grendel]

well my lidls stuffed turkey breast was just too big for my air fryer, so into the oven it went in its foil tray, covered with foil for 1 hour, then foil off for the second hour, small roasting potatoes on the hob boiled for 20 minutes, then with half an hour to go, into the oven on a tray with the frozen chantannay carrots and brussels sprouts (with bacon) also frozen, (about 1/4 of a small bag of each.

2 hours after starting my modest christmas dinner was ready, served up and eaten, yum, about 2/3 of the turkey roast along with some potatoes and other veg (yes I had still done way more than enough) into a pyrex dish into the fridge for the traditional christmas leftovers meals over the next few days.

I had a quiet Christmas, didnt do much and overall enjoyed my day

[Hylander]

As we are talking Turkey.    I bought my Turkey from a well known Butcher from North of the Border and it was pre-cooked and had a thermometer already in it to tell when it was ready.    Whether it was me, but I read every instruction about 10 times as to what to do and when and how to defrost and how to tell if it was defrosted with a probe etc.   I can honestly say and I have told them so that it was the worst Turkey I have every cooked.   When the probe popped up as instructed I removed it immediately from the oven.  Tested it with my probe.   Never covered it in foil in the oven or when it was out, that was the instructions,  well you could hardly get your knife (yes fully sharpened) through it, it was like leather.   I took of some that I could rescue and popped it into the Turkey gravy to liven but that didnt do any good, it was a disaster and I had spent so much time on making my own roasties, bread sauce, cranberry sauce and vegetables but it was inedible.    A few wines later I thought well mate you have got two choices its either in the slow cooker or the bin.    Through a coin and it came down slow cooker, so in it went the whole blinking lot , added some water and wacked the lid on , on slow for 2 hrs.   Well I thought what the heck it cannot get any worse.   I didn't bother to go near it last night other than to pop it into the fridge overnight and this morning I looked at this sorry carcass and then decided to carve it and see if I could rescue any of it.   To my surprise it carved well and is now all sliced up read for sarnies and a Turkey curry.    The bones are making a soup basis.

I felt so disappointed , it wasn't cheap £60 for a crown.    Next year I will be off to Lidl and get one of theirs.    Modern technology is not for me.

 

 

 

 

[YnysMon]

13 minutes ago, Hylander said:

I felt so disappointed , it wasn't cheap £60 for a crown.    Next year I will be off to Lidl and get one of theirs.    Modern technology is not for me.

The first year we had Christmas in our own home I ordered a turkey from the butchers in the shopping centre in MK (back in the day when there was a Waitrose one end of the mall). The most expensive turkey I’ve ever bought (allowing for inflation), and the most disappointing. It was dry as anything. I don’t think I overcooked it either.

By the way, the Ninja Foodie that I bought is the large version, 7.5 litre capacity, and the turkey only just about fitted. 

[Gracie]

Oh Monica, I'm so sorry for you. I don't mean to add salt to the wound but I got a frozen one from Aldi for half the price and it's delicious. I hope you gave them a piece of your mind (very likely knowing you ) I can imagine your disappointment after all the preparations for a perfect Christmas dinner, bless your heart x

[SwanR]

How disappointing Monica. I do feel that we put too much pressure on ourselves to try to make Christmas perfect. I know that I do and find it too stressful because of that. So our quiet day with a roast in the bag chicken was lovely. Our family are scattered this year but I was happy to be able to relax a bit more. We listened to a lot of carols and classical Christmas music. Wonderful … and time to reflect on the year and think about the true meaning of Christmas for all believers. 

[Meantime]

Turkey is a very unpredictable meat to cook because you are trying to cook two different types of meat that need ideally different temperatures. The breast meat needs less heat around 165 F and the brown meat, thighs etc around 180 F. Getting it spot on tends to be a lottery.

I cook mine breast side down and covered in foil for the first half of the cooking time so that the breast meat sits in the juices. Then turn it over for the remainder of the time with the foil coming off about 40 mins from the end.

But I always cook it the day before as even if it does get slightly over cooked, it is easier to carve and when reheated in the tray covered in juice abd tin foil it always comes out juicy and tender, never dry.

It has become a tradition for me and a friend of mine to take the boat out for a few days at the start of December and either end up at Norwich, or Wroxham and take the train to Norwich and do some Christmas shopping. We did the same trip this year and ended up in a pub for the evening and both decided on the roast turkey Christmas dinner. It was excellent and my friend commented on how good the turkey was. I said that I was pretty sure it had been cooked the way I do mine, the day before, and reheated in a tray. He didn't think that would be the case.

Later on we were standing at the bar to let dinner go down and having a final pint when the waitress came out the kitchen with a turkey baguette. At that point she had been working 9 hours straight and taking a much needed break. She immediately commented to the guy behind the bar, who happened to be the Landlord, how good the turkey was. He said I'll let you into a little secret about how they manage that. He then repeated word for word virtually how I cook my turkey. Done the day before and reheated in a tray the next day. The only difference and something I nicked off them for this year is that when they reheat the turkey in the tray with the juices, they put in a kn*b of butter as well.

 

 

[ExSurveyor]

I survived saying, " it is just a Sunday roast, relax ", just.

This is the hob, both ovens are in use and four other items are waiting for oven space.

Ok, I accept it is a bit more than just a Sunday roast.

I now need to go to A and E to get my nose reset.  😁

 

[Gracie]

Oh my goodness, I'm surprised it's just your nose that needs resetting  x

[Mouldy]

I’ve never cooked a dry turkey.  Always fill the body cavity with chopped up onions, a lemon and orange (both quartered), with sausage meat in the neck cavity.  Once trussed and in the tin, the breasts are smeared liberally with butter and covered with streaky bacon, covered with foil and roasted.  Once cooked, it’s rested for at least an hour before carving.

[Hylander]

1 hour ago, ExSurveyor said:

I survived saying, " it is just a Sunday roast, relax ", just.

This is the hob, both ovens are in use and four other items are waiting for oven space.

Ok, I accept it is a bit more than just a Sunday roast.

I now need to go to A and E to get my nose reset.  😁

 

What a fabulous cooker - I would kill for one of those.     My oven light went bang just before Christmas and so light to see what you are doing.    Yes easy to replace except this one exploded and when you took the cover off it was just shards of glass and the fitting is well and truly wedged and we cannot remove it.   

[Hylander]

39 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

I’ve never cooked a dry turkey.  Always fill the body cavity with chopped up onions, a lemon and orange (both quartered), with sausage meat in the neck cavity.  Once trussed and in the tin, the breasts are smeared liberally with butter and covered with streaky bacon, covered with foil and roasted.  Once cooked, it’s rested for at least an hour before carving.

What a whopper!!!

[Mouldy]

6 minutes ago, Hylander said:

What a whopper!!!

Very nice of you to say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . oh, you mean the turkey??   It was just over 6kg, but due to Tesco’s Clubcard offer, cost less than a similar size bird at Aldi.  I like cold turkey, so there’s plenty left for me for a day or three as colds with pickles.  We’ve plenty of gammon left too, so I won’t be starting a diet just yet!!

[Hylander]

59 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

Very nice of you to say . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . oh, you mean the turkey??   It was just over 6kg, but due to Tesco’s Clubcard offer, cost less than a similar size bird at Aldi.  I like cold turkey, so there’s plenty left for me for a day or three as colds with pickles.  We’ve plenty of gammon left too, so I won’t be starting a diet just yet!!

Diet - mods please delete that terrible word........

[Andrewcook]

Well this Small Fresh Turkey Crown costs £16.87p from Sainsbury's Today Roast Beef with all the trimmings Tuesday Cold Turkey & Beef with Mash along  with Sweat Pickle and Onions 

[grendel]

well my stuffed turkey breast joint was just £5.29 and it going to give me at least 3 meals plus the meat turned out lovely.

[kpnut]

And my turkey was a gift from my old boss, he gives us one every year, always far bigger than necessary but much appreciated. 6kg this year for 5 of us. Plenty of cold turkey, baked beans and chips on offer, yum. Then onto a turkey, ham and leek pie with s creamy white sauce filling to finish it off. 
 

It’s been an odd few days. After having Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve afternoon due to the covid arrivals (daughter and son in law, not that they knew at the time) on Friday, so son in law could at least have a dinner, and daughter eating on her own in the living room, then them leaving us to it early on Christmas Day, we had the aforementioned cold turkey  yesterday after a walk with no other souls around (presumably all indoors feasting on their Christmas dinners), and that left our Christmas Eve buffet type thing for lunch today after another dog walk in the sunshine. I must say, eating it all this way round has left me feeling far less stuffed full. I might do it again next year! But minus the covid!