How to cook the perfect turkey this Christmas

Allow plenty of time
You can always let the bird sit and wait for you once it is done. Never, under any circumstances, serve underdone turkey.

Calculate the roasting time
It’s helpful to do this the night before and make a note – it’s one less thing to do on a busy Christmas morning. All ovens are different so find out if yours is fast or slow (hot or not so hot.) Ask your butcher to give you the oven-ready weight, or go by the weight on the packaging. A handy tip is to weigh the stuffing separately and add it to the weight of the bird. This will give you the total weight to calculate the roasting time.

Prepare the bird
Place the turkey in the roasting tin, rub with butter or olive oil, season with salt and pepper and cover loosely with a tent of foil. This still allows it to go brown but helps prevent the breast from drying out. Also, you don’t want the foil wrapped too tight because you’ll need to baste the breast regularly. Make sure your oven is at full temperature when you first put the turkey in. For larger birds, it’s best to start the roasting at a moderately high temperature, then turn it down for the remainder of the time.

Basting
Let the turkey cook for just over half its roasting time, then baste with the juices using a baster or large spoon. Do this every 20 minutes or so, increasing the intervals to 10 minutes for the final half hour of cooking.

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