*PR Sample. This was not a sponsored post and honesty is the best policy!
Now that our kitchen is almost complete, I've been getting a bit of turkey-cooking practice under my belt for when my in-laws come on Christmas day. But to make sure I don't leave my own parents out, last month I invited them for an early family feast. The star of the show was an award winning Moreton's Traditional Taste Black Norfolk Turkey*.
I've never officially cooked a big dinner for them (and my brother) before. In fact, for the last few Christmases, we've spent it by the sea in our camper van and kept things simple. But this year was a great excuse to use our new-to-us gorgeous Oak Furniture Land table with eight chairs that we'll probably never fill up. What a difference a pretty table makes! I bought plenty of crackers, plate chargers, filled my slow cooker with mulled wine. I don't think we've had so much fun around a family table before!
But getting back to the turkey. It was posted by Rob from his family farm and is more importantly, it was free range. Once it arrived, it was still partially frozen in its box and well packaged. (You can see me unboxing it in the video below). I also then left it to thaw in my spare fridge for a couple of days until I was ready to cook it.
Then, I turned to good ol' Delia to butter, season and layer it with streaky bacon to prevent the breast from drying out and everyone said it was beautiful. Even my fiance said it was the best turkey he'd ever tasted and he's not usually a fan. HOORAH!
So if you do fancy a traditional turkey this year too, here's a few tips I picked up to avoid stress along the way!
- Don't refreeze a thawed turkey.
- Make sure you have plenty of tin foil - you'll need a LOT.
- Do all your veg prep the night before or par boil and freeze up to a month ahead.
- You can cook the turkey the night before, but if you cook over night, even after a blast of heat, apparently you can't stuff it.
- A turkey needs a blast of heat to kill bacteria before lowering the temperature.
- All ovens vary, so make sure stick your turkey in the oven around 6am in case you need to cook for longer as I did.
- Layer with butter and bacon to prevent the breast from drying out (you don't have to eat the layer if you want to stay lean).
- Get yourself a meat thermometer if you can as the upper parts of the turkey cook much quicker. Make sure the juices run clear when prodded, not pink. For more info, you can find a cooking guide here.
- Leave it to rest before serving.
- Be prepared for lots of leftovers which I'll post some recipes I made soon. Even my parents took lots home!
Recipes I Used in the Video
- Delia Smith's Buttering and Bacon Turkey Method (avoids dryness).
- Buttered Sprouts with Chestnuts & Bacon (Oh my word, this is amazing).
- Hairy Biker's Chestnut & Sage Stuffing (Note I cooked mine the night before and stuffed the turkey in the morning).
If you have any questions, then please ask in the comments below and I'll do my best to answer.
To find out what turkey is best for you, then you can check Moreton's buyer's guide here.
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