Thread: How to christmas dinner

Start to finish in order of cooking time, pick and choose as you like or take some inspiration

How to turkey good

(for a 4kg bird)

Separate the legs from the breast plate and take off the wings, place everything but the wings, kneck and giblets in a large bucket full of a brine of your choosing, anything goes here, simple 50/50 salt and sugar mix works fine for me but you can go nuts with aditions. Brine overnight

Debone the legs and pull the tendons out with a pair of tweezers, butterfly them out with a boning knife to to flatten both of them out, season one libberally with salt, pepper, a minced glove of galic, a handful of chopped thyme, sage, and parsley and a handful of chopped dried cranberries. Place on a sheet of tinfoil, layer the other on top, carefully roll into a log and roll incredibly tightly in the foil, twisting each end in opposite directions until it's super tight and a log shape, tie off each end and reserve.

Preheat oven to 150, smear the breast with softened butter. fill the cavaty with citrus fruit, sage and thyme and put in the oven on a bed of vegetables with a small amount of water, tent with foil and after 30 minutes, add the roulade to the pan, cook the breast meat until it registers 62 degrees at its thickets part, cook the roulade until it registers 73.

in a jug, add 50/50 butter and maple syrup and a pinch of salt and nuke in the microwave until melted. When the breast and roulade are 10 degrees off the desired temp, remove foil, turn the heat up to 200 and brush with the glaze every 5 minutes or so until it's well browned. You can cook the bird ahead of time and do this step later if you prefer.

How to stuffing

Stuffing a turkey doesn't make a whole lot of sense because by the time stuffing cooks the bird is bone dry so it's best to do seperate.

Remove 6-8 (depending on how large they are/how hungry your guests are) of your favourite pork sausages from their casings, add 1/2 cup of bread crumbs soaked in milk, chopped dried cranberries, a finely chopped onion, sage, chopped pre cooked chesnuts (about 1/3 cup), the zest of one orange and salt and pepper to taste, lay out a layer of bacon strips on a sheet of foil and run a log of the stuffing mix down the centre. wrap with the bacon then wrap tightly with foil, bake until cooked through at 180 (about 40-45 minutes) you can do this ahead of time then crisp it up out of the foil in the oven with the turkey.

How to veges

Parsnips and carrots, sliced into pieces, roll in oil, salt and pepper, sprinkle with cumin seeds and a drizzle of honey and cook until crisp and cooked through at 180

Shred 800g of brussel sprouts and cook in some butter with a squeeze of lemon, once it starts to cook down add a generous handful of chopped rasins and an equal handful of chopped walnuts

Peel spuds, in a pan add a large knob of butter, and a good couple tablespoons of beef dripping and melt over the hob, slice the tops and bottoms off the spuds and cut them so they're all about the same height, add to the tray, baste with the hot fat and season with salt and some fresh rosemary, cook at 180 and turn every 20 minutes.

how to gravy

with a heavy duty knife, chop the wings and kneck into smaller pieces, cook in some butter, if your turkey didn't come with a kneck or you want to make a lot of gravy you can also use chicken frames from the supermarket.
Cook in the butter until really REALLY dark and caramalized but not burnt. Add a decent handful of flour and cook out 2 minutes, add the veges from the turkey roasting pan and any juices, add a 50/50 mix of chicken stock and white wine, cook until slightly thickened, add a teaspoon of marmite (trust me this really helps) and remove all the bones, blitz with a stick blender and strain.


More to come, just thought i'd get that typed up before i head out, i fucking love christmas man

Legend Angus!! your effort to detail is appreciated no end!

Merry Xmas Angus and a here's to a bloody good next year for ya!

Right on que

Originally Posted by stingray

Legend Angus!! your effort to detail is appreciated no end!

Merry Xmas Angus and a here's to a bloody good next year for ya!

I try

too much gus

Going to put that stuffing tip to use