and beginning to color. Beat the eggs and add to the chestnut purée to help thin it, or it will be hard to mix everything together later (unless you’ve got one of those sturdy free-standing mixers). Add the chestnuts to the eggy purée, along with the bread crumbs, parsley, and buttery shallots and bacon. Season with the salt and pepper and a good grating of the nutmeg.
LIDGATE’S CRANBERRY AND ORANGE STUFFING
4½ cups fresh or thawed cranberries
zest and juice of 1 large orange
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in slices
4½ cups fresh bread crumbs (see page 22 )
2 eggs, beaten
salt and freshly milled black pepper
whole nutmeg
Put the cranberries into a heavy-bottomed saucepan with the orange juice and zest. Bring to simmering point on a moderate to high heat, then cover, turn down the heat slightly, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the butter gradually and stir, off the heat, until it melts, then add the bread crumbs and the eggs. Season with salt and pepper and a good grating of fresh nutmeg.
If you have a kitchen scale, weigh the stuffings before adding them to the turkey because you’ll need to count that weight in the total cooking time. Otherwise, know that 2 cups of stuffing equal about 10 ounces, and estimate stuffing weights accordingly.
Neither stuffing here uses sausage meat; if you think you’ll miss it, just get a pile of sausages to cook alongside.
To cook the turkey, proceed as follows.
Remove the giblets (though you should have done this when you first got the bird home). Reserve them for the gravy. Wash the inside of the bird with cold running water. Drain well and blot dry with a few paper towels.
Fill the neck end with the chestnut stuffing; you want to fill it firmly, but don’t pack it in. Cover the stuffing with the neck skin when you’ve done. Use the wing tips rather like pincers—or paper clips—to keep the neck skin in place while it’s cooking. Now, fill the body cavity with the cranberry and orange stuffing. Melt some goose fat (if you’ve got any) or some butter (if you haven’t) and brush over the turkey breast.
I don’t understand why people make such a song and dance about the length of time a turkey needs to be cooked. My mother made a great point of getting up at the crack of dawn to put the turkey in the oven. But one of the things that I discovered the first time I actually cooked turkey myself is that it doesn’t need that much cooking.
I have always followed the instructions given to me by my butcher, and the turkey’s been cooked perfectly. So don’t be alarmed by the shortness of the cooking times, below. And do remember to take the turkey out of the fridge in good time—it should be at room temperature when it goes in the oven. Also, take into account the additional stuffing weight when figuring the cooking time.
Put the turkey breast down in the roasting tray; the only fat deposits in a turkey are in the back, and this allows them to percolate through the breast meat as it cooks; this makes for the tenderest possible, succulent meat.
Preheat the oven to 400°F and keep it at this temperature for the first 30 minutes. Then turn it down to 350°F.
For the following weights of turkey (stuffing included, remember) you need to cook it for about these times:
Weight Time
5pounds 1½ hours
10 pounds 2 hours
15 pounds 23⁄4 hours
20 pounds 3½ hours
25 pounds 4½ hours
It is not possible to give one serve-all timing based on minutes per pound; this time decreases as the weight of the bird increases. For such information, you should consult those who are selling your bird to you.
Baste regularly throughout the cooking time and turn the bird the right way up for the last half hour of cooking to brown. I use no foil, as some do, to retard browning or retain moisture, but if you want to use it, add an
LIDGATE’S CRANBERRY AND ORANGE STUFFING
4½ cups fresh or thawed cranberries
zest and juice of 1 large orange
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in slices
4½ cups fresh bread crumbs (see page 22 )
2 eggs, beaten
salt and freshly milled black pepper
whole nutmeg
Put the cranberries into a heavy-bottomed saucepan with the orange juice and zest. Bring to simmering point on a moderate to high heat, then cover, turn down the heat slightly, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the butter gradually and stir, off the heat, until it melts, then add the bread crumbs and the eggs. Season with salt and pepper and a good grating of fresh nutmeg.
If you have a kitchen scale, weigh the stuffings before adding them to the turkey because you’ll need to count that weight in the total cooking time. Otherwise, know that 2 cups of stuffing equal about 10 ounces, and estimate stuffing weights accordingly.
Neither stuffing here uses sausage meat; if you think you’ll miss it, just get a pile of sausages to cook alongside.
To cook the turkey, proceed as follows.
Remove the giblets (though you should have done this when you first got the bird home). Reserve them for the gravy. Wash the inside of the bird with cold running water. Drain well and blot dry with a few paper towels.
Fill the neck end with the chestnut stuffing; you want to fill it firmly, but don’t pack it in. Cover the stuffing with the neck skin when you’ve done. Use the wing tips rather like pincers—or paper clips—to keep the neck skin in place while it’s cooking. Now, fill the body cavity with the cranberry and orange stuffing. Melt some goose fat (if you’ve got any) or some butter (if you haven’t) and brush over the turkey breast.
I don’t understand why people make such a song and dance about the length of time a turkey needs to be cooked. My mother made a great point of getting up at the crack of dawn to put the turkey in the oven. But one of the things that I discovered the first time I actually cooked turkey myself is that it doesn’t need that much cooking.
I have always followed the instructions given to me by my butcher, and the turkey’s been cooked perfectly. So don’t be alarmed by the shortness of the cooking times, below. And do remember to take the turkey out of the fridge in good time—it should be at room temperature when it goes in the oven. Also, take into account the additional stuffing weight when figuring the cooking time.
Put the turkey breast down in the roasting tray; the only fat deposits in a turkey are in the back, and this allows them to percolate through the breast meat as it cooks; this makes for the tenderest possible, succulent meat.
Preheat the oven to 400°F and keep it at this temperature for the first 30 minutes. Then turn it down to 350°F.
For the following weights of turkey (stuffing included, remember) you need to cook it for about these times:
Weight Time
5pounds 1½ hours
10 pounds 2 hours
15 pounds 23⁄4 hours
20 pounds 3½ hours
25 pounds 4½ hours
It is not possible to give one serve-all timing based on minutes per pound; this time decreases as the weight of the bird increases. For such information, you should consult those who are selling your bird to you.
Baste regularly throughout the cooking time and turn the bird the right way up for the last half hour of cooking to brown. I use no foil, as some do, to retard browning or retain moisture, but if you want to use it, add an
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