Christmas dinner is one of the most highly anticipated meals of the year, but there’s one thing that can spoil the feast, and that’s dry meat.
Turkey isn’t everyone’s favourite thing to eat, but we can all agree that no one wants a dry, flavourless bird on the table on December 25.
So how can you avoid this happening, especially if cooking isn’t your forte? Thankfully two top chefs have shared their expert tips, and they’re pretty easy to follow.
But you’re going to want to get cracking right away, to ensure you’ve got enough time to prepare ahead of the big day.
The secret to cooking the perfect turkey, according to the chefs is to ‘brine’ the meat. However, each has a slightly different take on this method.
For Elliot Day, the Co-Founder at FieldGoods (a meal delivery service), he uses a ‘wet brine’ technique for his turkey claims he discovered the tip from his American relatives.
Speaking to Metro, he claimed it’s a ‘failsafe’ for making a ‘juicy and delicious’ turkey and shared his recipe.
He said: ‘Famously dry and overcooked, the Turkey has a rough ride getting left in the oven for hours on end until it resembles something more akin to a choking hazard than a delicious meal – enter the turkey brine!
‘Brining your turkey will infuse the meat with flavour and moisture you didn’t even know existed.
Elliot Day's Turkey Brine Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ltrs water
- 2 ltr of ale
- 1 ltr apple cider
- 3 oranges, zest and juice (use a peeler to get the zest off in nice ribbons)
- 10 large bay leaves
- 10 sprigs of rosemary, fronds stripped.
- 8 cloves garlic, sliced
- 300g smoked streaky bacon, sliced
- 4 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1.1 ltrs sea salt
- 220g brown sugar
Method
- Put all the ingredients in a pan and add half of the water, the ale and the cider. Bring to a simmer and stir to dissolve the sugar and salt.
- Remove from heat and add remaining cold water and leave the brine to cool completely.
- Stuff your bird into a pan/bucket big enough and pour over the brine, it is essential the turkey is completely covered in liquid. Place it in the fridge to soak.
- The longer the brine the more flavour and salt it takes on. We usually brine an 8kg bird for 24hrs.
- Once you remove the bird from the brine give it a really good rinse and pat dry before roasting.
The non-negotiables
You’ll need to make sure you have ratios of 10% salt to liquid and 2% sugar to liquid.
Don’t leave your turkey in the brine for more than 12 to 24hrs, depending on size of the bird.
‘It may seem weird to soak a whole turkey in salty water, but trust me, you’ll never look back! We make our brine with water, beer, salt, sugar, orange, cloves and smoked bacon.
‘You want to make enough brine to cover your bird, this mix usually does us [the Day family] for a very reasonable 8kg turkey size, if you need more, just scale up the recipe.’
Elliot continued to say that turkey needs a lot of flavour, and that brine is a ‘perfect vessel’ for this, so don’t be afraid to add plenty into the mix – even if they’re not listed in the ingredients he suggests. Perfect flavour pairings include apple, sage, bacon, cloves, cinnamon, orange, black pepper, rosemary, or garlic.
‘The absolute non-negotiables are the ratio of salt and sugar to liquid, and the time in the brine,’ he adds.
But if a wet brine doesn’t sound all that appealing to you, there’s always a ‘dry brine’ to consider.
This method is the go-to for Rob Mitchell, the executive chef at Drake & Morgan and according to the pro it’ll leave your turkey juicy, but with the ‘crispiest skin’ on the outside.
Rob recommends doing the dry brine a day in advance, so you can leave it inside the fridge for at least 12 hours. He claims that while it sits, the salt will pull out any liquid that’s trapped inside the meat, and create ‘salty turkey juices’ that soak back in to create a ‘juicy and delicious turkey’.
‘To dry brine your turkey, pat all over with paper towels and generously rub a mixture of good quality sea salt, black pepper and a little light brown sugar all over and inside the turkey, and leave for at least 12 hours in the fridge. The mixture helps crisp up the skin like it’s been glazed,’ the chef tells Metro.
‘Once you’re ready to cook, get a stick of unsalted butter and work it into the entire surface, the cavity and under the skin, as this will add a delicious flavour and help make the skin crisp.’
For those that do like a really crisp skin on their meat, he warns against basting your turkey as he claims the hot cooking juices will make the whole thing soggy. Instead, he recommends sitting the bird on a trivet of seasonal vegetables and onions which will capture the juice during cooking and make ‘a stunning gravy’ afterwards.
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He adds: ‘Cooking times will vary depending on the size of turkey you have; your oven should be at 180C and then depending on weight make sure you cook the turkey through until the juices run clear when pricked on the thigh. A meat thermometer is incredibly helpful here and you’ll want the internal temperature to be between 68-70c (it will keep rising once removed from the oven).
‘Now it’s all about rest – once removed from the oven for a 4-6kg bird you can rest for an hour, anything bigger at least an hour and a half. This gives the muscles of the bird (which tighten when cooking) time to relax – don’t worry about it going cold as it will retain its heat for a long while. Then, you’ll be ready to serve a perfectly crisp and tasty roast turkey!’
Once you’ve mastered the art of cooking turkey, your attention will likely turn to the side dishes and we’ve got you covered with those as well.
Celebrity chef, Marcus Wareing recently shared his method for making perfectly crisp roast potatoes – and it’s all about the way you boil and cook them.
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Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
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