Roast Turkey

A very famous dish during festive season especially in European countries. I thank my early mentors Chef Nick and Chef Scott for this wonderful recipe.

Though Roast turkeys are gaining popularity in India, there is still lot of confusion surrounding 2 things

1. The time/duration for cooking this game 
We are so used to cooking and roasting chicken daily that the moment we get Duck,Turkey or other game we tend to scratch our heads. And specially with turkey because its size ranges from 3 kg(6 pound) up to 12 kg(24 pounds).To make this easy always remember 15 minutes cooking is required for every pound of the bird. This is at 170 deg cel in an pre heated convention oven.
2. Dryness of the meat
Turkey meat is a darker meat. The more you tend to cook darker meats the dryer the breast turns out to be. Off course you can keep basting it with fat or brine in regular intervals but this turns out to be not very effective( Also for this you need to keep opening the oven door which results in loosing the desired temperature). A more simpler and effective technique is to stuff soft butter between the skin and the flesh throughout the bird before roasting. Be careful not to prick or tear up the skin while stuffing as this will leak out all the butter. The skin then protects the butter from flowing out and tends to soften the meat while roasting. You can also mix chop herbs in the butter to give additional flavors.

Mashed/Roast potato,blanched Brussels sprouts, roast gravy,yolk shire pudding, cranberry sauce all accompany very well along roasted turkey.