It’s the annual meal celebrated every year but with the main event Christmas dinner comes a great deal of stress and pressure.
With the cost of living rising, food, housing and energy prices are making it more difficult to stretch a euro.
All we want for Christmas is a holiday table heavy with our favourite trimmings, turkey, roasted potatoes, pudding, and, sure, some roasted veggies.
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One worry that often comes with prepping raw meat — especially the task of cooking the Christmas turkey — is cross contamination.
Whether or not you’re a fan of Brussels sprouts, a traditional Christmas dinner has something for everyone.
Many people worry about turkey meat drying out while it roasts, but Gordon Ramsay has a trick for that.
He says: "This is my favourite way to roast turkey – with a savoury butter under the skin to keep the breast meat moist and flavourful. Another of my secrets is to rest the turkey for a couple of hours or more. As it relaxes, the juices are re-absorbed, making the meat succulent, tender and easier to carve."
According to legendary chef Gordon Ramsay, here is the best way to ensure a tasty Christmas dinner using the best ingredients and the result is a finely cooked meal sure to leave you in a food coma.
Gordon Ramsay's roast turkey is simple but special and makes the perfect centrepiece to serve up at Christmas.
Ingredients
This recipe serves 8–10 people, more than enough if you are cooking for a full house.
1 free-range turkey, about 5–5.5kg
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 onions, peeled and halved
1 lemon, halved
1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
6 bay leaves
Olive oil, to drizzle
8 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
Lemon, parsley and garlic butter:
375g butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp olive oil
finely grated zest and juice of 2 small lemons
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
small bunch of flat leaf parsley, leaves only, chopped
Method and Cooking instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas 7. Meanwhile, prepare the herb butter. Put the butter into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the olive oil and mix well. Add the lemon zest and juice, crushed garlic and chopped parsley. Mix well to combine.
2. Remove the giblets from the turkey cavity. Season the cavity well with salt and pepper, then stuff with the onions, lemon, garlic halves and 2 bay leaves.
3 . With your hands, loosen the skin on the breast from both ends of the bird so that you will be able to stuff the flavoured butter underneath it, making sure you keep the skin intact. Repeat with the skin on the legs – from the lower side of the breast feel your way under the skin and out towards the leg, loosening the gap.
4. Stuff half the butter mix into the opened spaces under the skin. From the outside of the skin, gently massage the butter around the breasts so that the meat is evenly covered. Finally, insert the rest of the bay leaves under the skin of the breasts.
5 . Place the bird in a large roasting tray, breast side up. Spread the rest of the butter all over the skin. Season well with salt and pepper, then drizzle with a little olive oil. (If preparing a day ahead, cover the turkey with foil and refrigerate at this stage.)
6. Roast the turkey in the hot oven for 10–15 minutes. Take the tray out of the oven, baste the bird with the pan juices and lay the bacon rashers over the breast to keep it moist. Baste again. Lower the setting to 180°C/Gas 4 and cook for about 2 1⁄2 hours (calculating at 30 minutes per kg), basting occasionally.
7. To test whether your turkey is cooked, insert a skewer into the thickest part of the leg and check that the juices are running clear, rather than pink. As oven temperatures and turkey shapes and sizes vary, it is crucial to check your turkey about 30 minutes before the calculated roasting time. If the juices are pink, roast for another 15 minutes and check again. Repeat as necessary until the turkey is cooked.
8. Transfer the turkey to a warmed platter and remove the parson’s nose, wings and tips of the drumsticks; reserve these for the gravy. Leave the turkey to rest in a warm place for at least 45 minutes; make the gravy in the meantime. Remove the bay leaves from under the skin before carving. Serve the turkey with the piping hot gravy, stuffing and accompaniments.
Should You Cover Your Turkey with Aluminium Foil?
Using aluminium foil to cover a turkey traps it in steam and prevents it from drying out while keeping the skin crisp.
Covering the bird with foil simulates what a roaster lid would do.
Don’t forget to uncover the turkey about 30 minutes before it’s done roasting so the skin has a chance to get crispy brown.
Can you cook Turkey straight from the fridge?
When stuffing your turkey, please wait until it is about to go into the oven before stuffing.
Be sure to pull the turkey out of the fridge approximately an hour before cooking.
Cooking a turkey straight out of the fridge is fine, but you’ll get faster if you start it at room temperature.
What temperature should I take my Turkey out of the oven?
Gordon recommends removing the turkey from the oven when the breast temperature reaches 165 degrees, and the thickest part of the thighs reaches 170 and 175 degrees.
Insert the thermometer into the deepest part of the breast, holding it parallel to the neck end of the bird.
How long should a Turkey rest after cooking?
The famous chef and TV personality Gordon Ramsey rests his turkey for a few hours, but the amount of resting time depends on the size of the Turkey; the most minor needed is 20-30 minutes.
Depending on the room’s temperature, a giant turkey can rest for up to 40 minutes.
Which is easier and better for cutting Turkey, hot or cold?
Cooled-down turkey will be slightly stiffer, making cutting into thinner serving slices easier.
Move your turkey from the roasting pan to a carving board or cutting board, and don’t carve the turkey until the last minute since slices of turkey will cool off a lot faster than the whole bird.
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