Perfect Roast Turkey

I have a confession- I was in the No Turkey at Christmas camp until I came up with this version.

It will deliver a moist succulent and tender bird.

This is almost a no fail recipe – all you have to do is adjust the cooking times for a different sized bird and that includes taking into account the weight of the stuffing. I estimated that there was about 500g of stuffing in our turkey.

If you don’t need your oven for anything else on Christmas day you can shorten the cooking time by 30 minutes, turn off the heat, keep the door closed and leave it for 2 hours until its required, it will be juicy and hot and tender and give you more time to enjoy another glass of chilled sparkling Shiraz!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

7kg Turkey

3/4 cup salt

3tbs brown sugar

Pat dry the turkey and place on a rack in a large baking tray.

Work the salt and sugar together in a bowl and rub all over the bird and pack inside the cavity.

Chill uncovered for 2 days.

Stuffing

200g bacon, chopped

1 onion, diced

1 fennel bulb, diced

4 cups roughly torn fruit bread

1/2 cup pinenuts

1 lemon, tested

2 eggs, whisked

Saute the bacon onion and fennel.

Toss through the breadcrumbs, pine nuts and lemon zest.

Stir through the eggs.

Season with salt and pepper

Bring the turkey out of the fridge an hour before cooking.

Rinse and pat dry the turkey.

Pack loosely with stuffing and if there is any left over bake it in a seperate buttered dish or cupcake tins if you want individual servings

Melt 100g butter with 4 tbs maple syrup.

Brush some of the butter mix over the turkey and tie the legs together with a bit of string.

Place the turkey in a roasting pan that has had enough boiling water in to cover the bottom by 2 cm.

Roast for 30 minutes in a preheated 200c oven.

Pull out the turkey, brush with more maple butter and return to the oven with a foil tent over the top.

Baste every 30 minutes.

The total cooking time for a 7kg bird with around 500g stuffing is 3 1/2 hours.

Wrap in a couple of towels and rest for an hour or so before carving.