Turkey Salad | Turkey Recipes | Jamie Oliver Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How to prepare a turkey Jamie Oliver? ›

Preheat your oven to full whack, get the turkey in the roasting tray and cover with foil. As soon as it goes in the oven, immediately turn the heat down to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. As a rough guide, you want to cook the turkey for about 35 to 40 minutes per kilogram, so a 7kg turkey will want about 4 to 4½ hours in the oven.

Check the main turkey cavity for the bag of giblets, and if they're in there, remove and tip them into your roasting tray, discarding the bag. The added flavour they'll give your gravy will be incredible – trust me.

Inside of the turkey you can put sliced lemons, herbs like rosemary, thyme and sage, whole garlic cloves, shallots and celery, which will perfume the meat and flavor the drippings.

Roast the turkey in the hot oven for 10–15 minutes. Take the tray out of the oven, baste the bird with the pan juices and lay the bacon rashers over the breast to keep it moist. Baste again. Lower the setting to 180°C/Gas 4 and cook for about 2 1⁄2 hours (calculating at 30 minutes per kg), basting occasionally.

Turkey is a relatively lean bird, particularly the breast meat, meaning that it doesn't have a lot of fat to help keep the meat from becoming dry and tough. By giving your turkey a dunk in a luxurious saltwater brine, you can coax more moisture and flavor into your meal before it's ready to roast.

To achieve a perfectly golden, juicy turkey, let the bird spend time both covered and uncovered in the oven. We recommend covering your bird for most of the cooking time to prevent it from drying out; then, during the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, remove the cover so the skin crisps in the hot oven.

"Often, consumers will inquire about adding water to the bottom of their roasting pans. We do not recommend adding water to the bottom of the pan. Cooking a turkey with steam is a moist heat-cook method and is acceptable, sure, but is not the preferred method for cooking your turkey."

If you do forget to remove the giblets before roasting your turkey, all may not be lost. Giblets wrapped in paper can cook safely inside the cavity. If the giblets are wrapped in plastic, however, the plastic may melt inside the turkey and release harmful chemicals.

Some giblets are paper wrapped before being inserted into the poultry body cavity. In this case, there would be no concern if the giblets are accidentally cooked inside the bird to a safe temperature.

You should remove these parts from the cavity and save all but the liver (which can impart a mineral, bitter taste to stock) for making gravy. The neck, gizzard, and heart contribute meaty favor to stock. The liver, identifiable by its amorphous shape and shiny, dark red exterior, can impart a mineral taste to stock.

What is the secret to a moist turkey? ›

Brine your turkey for the best juicy bird.

In recent years, brining has become more popular and can be done with either a wet or dry brine. A wet brine involves immersing the turkey in a salt-water solution for 12-24 hours. Dry-brining is where salt is rubbed over the turkey skin for 24-48 hours before cooking.

Add halved onions, carrot chunks, celery and fresh herbs to the cavity of your turkey, inserting them loosely. These flavor builders are the base of stock and most soups. As your turkey cooks, they'll steam and infuse your bird with moisture and flavor.

Mayo is a simple and apt pairing when the sandwich consists of richly flavored dark meat. Pat Eby takes it up a notch, though, mixing equal parts of Duke's with a country Dijon. “Grey Poupon is nice but not mandatory—but Duke's is sacred,” she says.

To achieve a perfectly golden, juicy turkey, let the bird spend time both covered and uncovered in the oven. We recommend covering your bird for most of the cooking time to prevent it from drying out; then, during the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, remove the cover so the skin crisps in the hot oven.

Try a combo of lime zest with cumin and coriander, or something more traditional like fresh parsley, sage and rosemary folded into the butter. Not only does this help season the bird, but it also makes the meat extra juicy.