Once a year

Christmas comes but once and year that is the only time my wife & I eat turkey. Over the years we have experienced different ways of cooking the turkey so that it doesn’t dry out.
The ‘must have Christmas turkey’ is a hangover from our time in the UK, before we emigrated. Our Australian friends lean towards pork, ham or shellfish – prawns, oysters etc.

The best turkey recipe that we have found was sent to me a few years ago by a friend, who is half Dutch and half English, and now lives in the UK.

The process is quite simple – cover the turkey in streaky bacon, and then foil.

This year we set our oven to come on at 1.30 am Christmas morning at a temperature of 70 degrees ‘C’. (set for seven hours at 70 degrees)

At 8.30 am the temperature was increased to 180 degrees ‘C’ for three hours, which allowed us to go to 9.00 am church.

At 10.30 am the foil was removed from the turkey – the oven remaining at 180 c – depending on your needs, the removal of the foil can be between 30 to 60 minutes, before the end of the three hour period.

At 11.30 am the bird was removed from the oven and wrapped in plenty of towels (or you can use a blanket). The turkey will stay warm for hours, leaving the oven free for other food to be cooked.

We sat down for lunch at 2.00 pm and the meat was moist, tasty and appetising – dry turkey is a thing of the past.

Author: 1944april

Traveled a great deal - about 80 countries - first foreign country I suppose was Wales, which was only 80 miles away from where I was born. Visited each Continent, except Antarctica, and I doubt that it is on my bucket list - too cold. I love Asian food, Australian wine & British beer & trying to entertain by writing. View all posts by 1944april