How to make the perfect Turkey 

There are many ways to cook a Turkey, I have been making it for years. Personally I found when you brine your turkey for 24 hours or overnight it makes the cooking process shorter and the Turkey softer and juicer. 

So what is brining? It’s basically a salt water bath that you prepare to submerge your turkey. 

Ingredients: 

• Depending how big your bucket is, you will need 5-7 litres of water to fill it up. 
• Turkey 7-9 kgs 
• 1 cup of sea salt 
• 3 tablespoons of coriander seeds
• Bunch of bay leaves 
• 3 tablespoons of whole black pepper 
• 1 tablespoon of fennel seeds 
• 1 tablespoon of mustard seeds 
• 2 table spoons of cloves 
• 1 whole crushed garlic 
• 2 onions sliced 
• 1 bunch of thyme, sage and rosemary
• 1 lifer of apple cider vinegar 
• 1 block of butter - 200g 

Instructions: 

• Brine your turkey a day before cooking. Boil 4 cups of water adding the salt, spices, bay leaves until salt is dissolved.

• Add the onions, garlic and leaves then let it cool completely. 

• In a big bucket/ pot place the turkey in then add the salt mixture and remaining water. Try to fill the bucket until the turkey is submerged.

• Cover the bucket and place it in the fridge for 24 hours, if you don't have space in the fridge you can use a cool box just add ice or leave it in a cold room.

• Next day remove the turkey from the brine, rinse it with cold water and, pat dry inside out & let it sit for an hour before roasting.

• Separate the skin (without removing it) and butter it inside out. 

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees,  place it in the roasting pan and cover with aluminium foil. 

• This step is very important; every 30-40 minutes butter the turkey using either the butter from the turkey itself or if you wish you could melt some butter and keep aside to be used to butter the turkey. 

• Depending on how big your bird is you will cook it in the oven. Mine was 9kg and took 4 - 4.5 hours to cook. I removed the foil half way through cooking. 

• Remove from the oven and allow it to rest for 20-30 minutes before you start carving it. 

Things to remember: 

⭕️ I do not stuff my turkey - I make the stuffing on the side. 

⭕️ Roasting time is 40 minutes for every 1kg. 

⭕️ Always let your bird rest before you carve it. 

⭕️ if you decide to stuff your turkey it will take longer to cook 

What the kids can do:

• Wear a Santa hat and sing Christmas songs
• Wash the herbs
• If they are brave enough butter the turkey - haha  

Enjoy the holiday season and please tag us with your delicious Turkeys if you decide to make one 🤩