Best Christmas Turkey | Turkey Recipes | Jamie Oliver Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How does Jamie Oliver cook a turkey? ›

Preheat your oven to full whack, get the turkey in the roasting tray and cover with foil. As soon as it goes in the oven, immediately turn the heat down to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. As a rough guide, you want to cook the turkey for about 35 to 40 minutes per kilogram, so a 7kg turkey will want about 4 to 4½ hours in the oven.

There are four essential steps for a perfectly roasted Thanksgiving turkey: brining, stuffing with aromatics, rubbing with herb compound butter, and roasting to perfection. The herb butter does double duty. Part of it is rubbed under the skin and over the meat of the bird for a major boost in flavor.

The basics, like onion, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and sage, help lend that traditional Thanksgiving flavor. Take your aromatics up a notch by adding halved lemons or oranges. The citrus will add a nice brightness to the turkey and keep it perfectly moist.

Bake for exactly 1 hour and turn off the oven. Do not open the oven door! Leave the turkey in the oven until the oven completely cools; this may take 4 to 6 hours. Reserve the pan juices and refrigerate the turkey if it will not be served soon after roasting.

Put the turkey on top of the vegetables, put in the oven and roast in the oven for 45 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Reduce the heat to 350 and continue roasting, basting with the warm chicken stock every 15 minutes until basting with some of the chicken stock every 15 minutes, about 2 to 2 ¼ hours longer.

Brine your turkey for the best juicy bird.

In recent years, brining has become more popular and can be done with either a wet or dry brine. A wet brine involves immersing the turkey in a salt-water solution for 12-24 hours. Dry-brining is where salt is rubbed over the turkey skin for 24-48 hours before cooking.

To achieve a perfectly golden, juicy turkey, let the bird spend time both covered and uncovered in the oven. We recommend covering your bird for most of the cooking time to prevent it from drying out; then, during the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, remove the cover so the skin crisps in the hot oven.

We recommend roasting turkey at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 13 minutes per pound for an unstuffed turkey.

Should you rub turkey with butter or oil? Some chefs suggest rubbing the turkey skin with vegetable or olive oil rather than using butter for turkey. This debate has very little to do with the meat itself but more to do with getting brown, crispy skin.

Stick with salt and pepper, put herbs like rosemary, thyme, and sage to work, or take spicy Cajun seasoning for a spin for some kick. Whatever blend you choose, spread it all over the turkey—on top, underneath, between the body and wings and legs, under the skin, and even in the cavity of the bird.

Do you put water in the bottom of a roasting pan for turkey? ›

Place roast, skin side up, on a flat roasting rack in 2-inch deep roasting pan. Do not add water to pan. Roast uncovered according to Cooking Schedule or until meat thermometer in center of breast roast reaches 170° F and in center of turkey roast reaches 175° F.

Add halved onions, carrot chunks, celery and fresh herbs to the cavity of your turkey, inserting them loosely. These flavor builders are the base of stock and most soups. As your turkey cooks, they'll steam and infuse your bird with moisture and flavor.

Calculate turkey cooking time and temperature. The simplest way to figure out turkey roasting times is to calculate 13 minutes per pound at 350°F for an unstuffed turkey (that's about 3 hours for a 12- to 14-lb. turkey), or 15 minutes per pound for a stuffed turkey.

Plan to roast the turkey for about 13 minutes per pound for a whole unstuffed bird, and about 15 minutes for a stuffed bird. Pros: A roasted turkey will always make a stunning centerpiece and is the most traditional way to prepare the meat. You don't need any special equipment, just a standard roasting pan.

Brining is the method whereby meat (turkey, in this case) is soaked in a salty water mixed with aromatics like bay leaves, peppercorns and garlic for a couple of days. This has the effect of trapping moisture in the flesh while it roasts, yielding super juicy turkey.

Jamie chooses Wolf Dual Fuel ranges as his ovens of choice for his London and Essex homes and also his London studio (demo model pictured below).

In his own kitchen, Jamie Oliver uses pots and pans from the brand Tefal. Which he uses both in a professional manner and for daily use. Jamie Oliver is also quoted on the Tefal website stating “I've been working with Tefal for nearly two decades now.