cooking the turkey.

[Ricard with an H]

this has been the very first time our turkey has been roasted to perfection and it's by using a meat thermometer that stays in the meat. I did use it last year though rather than stick to the recommended internal temperature I was swayed by the universally accepted cooking times per pound. the cooking time is influenced by the type of oven and the power supply.

our bird had reached it's required temperature in two hours yet the cooking time was an extra forty minutes, it's only once year and at thirty pounds it's worth getting right.

it's taken me fifty years of practice to get this right so I'm justified in being embarresed.

[John]

Well done Richard.
I have been after a really decent meat thermometer for years as several cheapo ones have failed for me. Are you allowed to mention the name of yours on the forum?
Thanks
John

[Ricard with an H]

Yes I am and I can recommend this one with confidence. I bought it from lakeland, they still sell it and it goes under the name of: CDN Combo Probe. It has some bells-and-whistle I never use like a timer and clock. Its accurate because I tested it.

Our bottom oven was getting to 200 degrees on just over the 150 setting, the top oven was more accurate but in both cases the ovens get hotter between the off-and-on thermostat.

As I said, I did use this thermometer last year but I wasn't sure about how long to hold the safe-minimum temperature which is 65. This time I took the foil cover off at 65 and by the time the bird went back in for browning it had increased to 75 which is the maximum so the browning could have been missed.

[sally wright]

Dear All,
have I ever told you about the Christmas my dear old mum bought two turkeys from a smallholding friend. Weeeell the chap had fed them rather too generously and the smallest one he had was 28lbs dressed weight. Even the local hotels and care homes wern't interested. My mum felt a bit sorry for him and so as we had a lot of mouths to feed at home she bought two (around 35lbs each I think). When we got them home we had to joint them up so, as nothing daunted my mum with her being a very practical sort of female she trotted off to the nearest hardware store and came back with a large hacksaw! The turkeys were duly dismembered, shoehorned into the freezer and we dined off a leg for Christmas day! Well it did weigh over 8lbs! The sting in the tail came when we had turkey every for every other Sunday dinner until Easter (which was very late that year). Sadly I have never been a great fan of turkey since then... can't think why.
Regards Sally Wright.

[Ricard with an H]

Lovely story Sally.

If it hadn't been for me being able to cook this years turkey without it going like cardboard I would have given up turkey and you can't say I give up easy after fifty years. Next years turkey will be brined first, I have tested brining, yes it does work. Getting the meat to the absolutely right temperature and no-more-n-less is very important with breast meat.

Bye-the-way, Sally. All my machines are stored with two-stroke fuel including preserver this winter. Thank you for the very sensible advice and have a free huggy.

[Motherwoman]

Nice family tale Sally. I can remember the opposite when I was a child, my Mum used to order a turkey from the old lady round the corner who was the 'front woman' for a local farmer. Christmas Eve came but no turkey, so I was dispatched to ask and she swore blind Mum hadn't ordered one. Luckily there was a small one in the freezer that was going to be cooked for cold meat at New Year so out it came for a hurried defrost. Mum didn't order one again... We found out at a later date that she'd sold it to someone else ('wasn't it lucky that Mrs V had one spare'...yeh...right!)

MW

[oldherbaceous]

Since i married well, we always have the traditional Swan at Christmas.

[Ricard with an H]

Since i married well, we always have the traditional Swan at Christmas.

locally we have a little one upmanship by those who have goose, in my childhood we had goose before we could afford a turkey.

another thing I learnt this year after doing a back to back test is I prefer prosecco to champagne. I tested two bottles of prosecco, both under eight pounds to a twenty quid bottle of champagne.

Never mind that my pallet is unsophisticated, I'm past that. if it tastes good, it is good.

I have just carved some sandwich meat of our turkey, it still hasn't turned to cardboard.

[Geoff]

We enjoyed this one this year, fits your budget just.

http://www.laithwaites.co.uk/jsp/produc ... prod440989

[alan refail]

Got a bottle chilling for tonight, Geoff!

[Monika]

Can I own up to something? Our Christmas dinner meat this year was a frozen £10 turkey breast from Tescos. It amply fed eight of us and my OH and I had the remainder. The meat was really tender and tasty and we did have the usual accoutrements like pigs in blankets, stuffing and all that lot. The vegetables were the most important bit, really.

When I was a small child, we had a goose for Christmas which my parents bought entire: guts, head, feet, feathers and everything. Preparing it was a major feat and I can't say I ever enjoyed the sight, taste or smell. The only part I liked was the goose fat (cooked with apple and onion) on big slabs of bread.

[Ricard with an H]

We enjoyed this one this year, fits your budget just.

Good, I'm glad you agree and I'm happy that the frozen turkey pleased you Monica. Left to my own devices I would have been happy to accept the recommendation from a friend for a £9.99 frozen turkey. Particularly now that I know how to cook them.

Also, I was thinking of you-lot as I honed our carving knife. I have this memory from a few years back of my eldest daughter hacking her way through a meat joint with a knife that had a rounded cutting edge and asserting that she didn't allow sharp knives into her kitchen for safety reasons. (Those assertive training sessions need more content)