Making The Most Of Your Christmas Turkey
Ingredients:
- 1 small onion, diced
- 30g butter
- 1tbsp cranberry sauce
- 4 stuffing balls
- 200g cooked turkey meat, shredded
- Leftover gravy
- 4 brioche buns, halved
- 8 rashers cooked bacon
- 4 slices mature Cheddar
- 8 cooked pigs in blankets
- For the Coleslaw:
- 200g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and sliced finely
- 1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
- 2 cloves garlic, finely crushed
- 3 spring onions, sliced finely
- 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
- 4tbsp mayonnaise
- 2tbsp sour cream
- 2tsp Dijon mustard
- ½ lemon, zest and juice
- Sea salt flakes and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Tips on cooking your Christmas Day turkey – and a delicious recipe to help you use up the leftovers on Boxing Day!
Kate Martin, Golden Turkey accredited farmer and chairwoman of the Traditional Farmfresh Turkey Association, shares her expert tips on how to make the most of your Christmas turkey, including a delicious recipe for the leftovers from TV Chef Rachel Green…
Top turkey tips
“A high quality turkey does not need complicated cooking and preparation processes.” Kate says. “You don’t need to brine, baste or cover your turkey in butter or bacon in order to achieve a good flavour and tender meat. Because a Golden Turkey® is mature, dry plucked and game hung, it only needs very simple cooking to bring out its incredible flavour.
My top tip is to cook your turkey breast side down to start with as the white meat cooks quicker than the dark leg meat and wings. This keeps the juices in the breast and prevents it from becoming dry.
If your turkey is trussed, it is best to remove the string before cooking to allow the air to circulate and more even cooking. For this reason, we don’t recommend stuffing the main cavity as it can stop the turkey cooking evenly and properly. You can place an apple or peeled onion in the cavity instead for added flavour.
Take the turkey out of the fridge 2 hours before cooking. This means more even cooking all the way through and a juicier bird.
There is no need to cover your turkey in foil. In a high quality bird, the layer of fat under the skin will keep the meat moist. By leaving the bird uncovered you allow the turkey to develop that beautifully golden, crispy skin.
After cooking, allow the turkey to rest for 30-60 minutes but do not cover! The bird continues to cook even when it is out of the oven and covering the bird can result in the meat becoming dry and overdone. It can also result in soggy skin. A Golden Turkey® should have Golden skin!”
About Golden Turkeys®
For many, Christmas Day is the meal to really splash out on, sourcing the best quality turkey from a farm or butcher and working hard in the kitchen to cook it to perfection along with all the trimmings.
Only the highest quality turkeys are awarded the Golden Turkey® Quality Assurance mark. This ensures free-range, traditional breeds of turkey which are grown to maturity to the highest welfare standards. Golden Turkeys® are always dry plucked and game hung according to tradition. This is how turkeys have been prepared for centuries and for good reason. This hugely improves the flavour and texture of the meat and provides that all important golden, crispy skin after cooking.
There are 40 turkey farms across the UK which meet the stringent Golden Turkey® assurance standards and supply their high quality turkeys directly to the public from the farm or from quality farmshops and butchers.
What shall I do with the turkey leftovers?
To help you make the most of your Christmas day turkey, TV Chef Rachel Green has teamed up with the farmers at Golden Turkeys® to provide you with some brand new delicious ways to enjoy leftover turkey. Cooked turkey is the ideal leftover ingredient. It is versatile and is equally delicious cold or reheated, and especially good in this tasty hot roast turkey sandwich which includes a new way with sprouts!
The Perfect Hot Roast Turkey Sandwich with a Brussels Sprout Aioli Coleslaw
Makes: 4 sandwiches
- First, make the coleslaw. Put the Brussels sprouts into a bowl along with the red onion, garlic, spring onions and carrot and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, lemon zest and juice and season with a little salt and pepper. Tip the mayonnaise mixture into the bowl of vegetables and stir to coat.
- Fry the onion in the butter and add the cranberry sauce, stuffing and the turkey. Stir in enough gravy to moisten the meat, set aside and keep warm.
- Pre-heat the grill and toast the brioche buns under the grill, cut side up. Once toasted, top the bottom halves of the buns with the turkey mixture, followed by the bacon then the slices of cheese and grill until oozing. At the same time pop the pigs in blankets under the grill to warm through thoroughly.
- Top with the other bun halves, stick a couple of pigs in blankets into the top of the bun using a skewer and serve immediately with the Brussels sprout coleslaw.
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