Our 5 Top Tips for the Perfect Turkey!

5 days ago

Written by Mia-Jean Lee

5 days ago

Written by Mia-Jean Lee

Make the perfect Christmas dinner!

Christmas dinner is a big deal in any household, making sure everything is cooked to perfection and that all your guests enjoy their meal. So we can all admit when it comes to cooking Christmas dinner it can all get a bit stressful!! Working out portions and amounts of food to cook, how long to cook for and the best way to serve!

To help make Christmas less stressful we have created packs containing all you need for your festive breakfast, lunch and dinner including handy tips on how to perfect your Turkey this Christmas.

The ultimate Christmas Pack:

With covid relaxing and more families spending time together this festive season figuring out the portion sizes for your Christmas dinner can be challenging, to make this easier we have created the perfect pack containing everything from starters, mains, desserts and even an evening cheese kit. We have included where possible to a number of people this pack can feed.

Feeding around four people this pack is perfect for the family, containing a variety of foods that are bound to tingle anyone’s tastebuds. With a variety of starters ranging from Haggis Bon Bon’s to Brie and Cranberry Filo Crackers and soup. No matter your tastes this pack is perfect.

If you are feeding more then four then you can add in our various other trimmings packs. To grab our Christmas All Wrapped Up pack and make your cooking experience a little easier than click here!

Top Tips on the Perfect Turkey.

Cooking a 5kg Turkey and making sure it is 1. Cooked through! No one wants a cooked outside and raw middle. And 2. Make sure it is perfectly moist and not too dry. We know it can be stressful, we have all been there! So our kitchen team put their heads together to create the perfect guide on cooking that perfect turkey!

Picking the perfect size.

Our team in the kitchen created the perfect guide on how to pick the right sized turkey for the number of people you are feeding. For every Kilo you can feed around 2 people, this is a great guide to make sure you have enough turkey for your guests and not have an extortionate amount of leftovers. Below you can see a chart we created to help you pick your Turkey size, find the link to to our Delicious Whole Tullochbeg Turkey’s in 'How Long Should I Cook My Turkey?'

4-5kg Turkey	5-7 Guests
5-6kg Turkey	7-9 Guests
6-7kg Turkey	9-10 Guests
7-8kg Turkey	10-12 Guests
8-9kg Turkey	12-14 Guests
9-10kg Turkey	14-16 Guests
10-11kg Turkey	16-18 Guests

Here you can see the perfect size chart and links to our delicious Turkeys so you know which one is perfect for your Christmas dinner.

Stuffed to the max!

If you enjoy stuffing your turkey with delicious pork stuffing or anything else then you want to make sure this is done on the day of cooking and to make sure the cavity isn’t stuffed to the max. Make sure this is done at room temperature too, as this helps the bird cook better and more evenly.

To make sure your bird doesn’t come out of the oven too dry, try this handy little trick! Simply smother butter in between the skin of the turkey and the meat to keep it moist and also provide that extra flavour while roasting too. Finally, Baste! Make sure you baste the turkey regularly with the turkey stock created during cooking and cover up again with foil.

How long should I cook my turkey?

A rule of thumb our Chefs use in the kitchen is for every kilo of turkey it should be in the oven for 20 minutes per kilo plus 90 minutes. Luckily all our turkeys are weighed perfectly so this means that working out a time can be easier than having to weigh it on your bathroom scales and getting the calculator out! Below we created a rough guide on how long your turkey needs to be cooked for at 190C/fan 170C/gas 5.

4-5kg Turkey	2.45-3.05 Hours
5-6kg Turkey	3.05-3.5 Hours
6-7kg Turkey	3.5-3.45 Hours
7-8kg Turkey	3.45-4.05 Hours
8-9kg Turkey	4.05-4.5 Hours
9-10kg Turkey	4.5-4.45 Hours
10-11kg Turkey	4.45-5.05 Hours

When cooking the turkey, this table is a rough guide of how long to cook your turkey, this is only an approx time and it can depend on if your turkey is at room temperature when going into the oven. To make sure the turkey is cooked all the way through using your meat thermometer and enter into the deepest part of the turkey for 10 seconds and make sure it reads 65 degrees.

If not then put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes and test again!

Resting is key!

To make sure the bird is moist and ready for carving you want to make sure that it is well-rested, after the stress of cooking Christmas dinner we all need a little rest! Wrap your turkey and trimmings in a wet hot tea towel and rest for around 30 minutes before carving. This will help everything settle and make for a better carving turkey too instead of pulled turkey!

To help you when carving the turkey place the tea towel under the turkey to keep it in place when carving!

What to do with leftovers!

There are always leftovers after Christmas dinner, without fail! So making sure you don’t waste the food, we have a few easy recipes for you to try with your leftovers that everyone will love! Click on the recipe you want to try

For more leftover recipe inspiration head over to BBC Good Food here! To get all your yummy recipes and make sure you don't waste a thing!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!!

We hope these handy tips helped relieve the stress of all things Christmas and given you plenty of foodie ideas for all those leftovers to make sure not a single ounce of your hard work goes to waste! To view our Christmas range head on over to our website here! We have all you need from foodie hampers to sweet treats to enjoy in front of the fire!