About the Recipe
There is so much mythology around cooking a turkey, some people advise wrapping and stuffing the bird with all sorts of weird and wonderful ingredients or soaking it overnight, others get up at an unearthly hour on Christmas Day to get the bird cooked on time. None of this is necessary.
Because our birds are grown slowly and are allowed to mature, they are self-basting, cook quickly and will not require much attention once in the oven. So here is how we will be cooking our turkey on Christmas Day.
Ingredients
PA Mobbs Turkey
Roasting tin
Tin foil
Preparation
Cooking:
We preheat the oven to 200c, place the turkey in a large roasting tin and place in the oven without any added extras. Roast for the first 30 minutes in a hot oven, then reduce the temperature of the oven to 160c. The length of cooking time will then depend on the turkey’s size. Allow 15 minutes per pound total cooking time (including the first 30 minutes) for a smaller bird, or 12 minutes per pound for a larger bird. You can place some rashers of streaky bacon over the breast near the end of cooking if you like.
Is it done? The turkey is cooked when the juices run clear if you pierce it with a skewer or fork in the thickest part of the thigh. If you are unsure you can use a meat thermometer. If turkey is getting well browned on the skin or legs before it has finished cooking through, cover with foil to prevent further browning towards the end of cooking.
To stuff or not to stuff?
We put stuffing in the neck end only of our bird and leave the body cavity clear, this means that hot air can get into the body cavity and help to cook the bird from the inside. If you do choose to stuff the body cavity then remember this will increase the cooking time.