For a Hairy Bikers roast turkey, you stuff a 6kg bird with sausage meat, chestnuts and grated apple, then butter it all over. That British Classics bird feeds 8 to 10, and I’d allow about 5 hours all told, at around 895 calories a head by my estimate.
Their first piece of advice is about the bird itself: “Buy the best turkey you can afford, the more free-range the better.” Then the stuffing gets split, with some in the cavity and the rest pushed up under the loosened skin at the neck.
Most of the roast happens under a sheet of foil tucked over the tin, and it only comes off for the last 50 minutes. So I’d credit the foil with keeping the breast moist, while that final uncovered stretch is what browns the buttered skin.
Hairy Bikers Roast Turkey
Description
A whole turkey is filled with a hand-mixed sausage, chestnut and apple stuffing, then smeared with butter and seasoned well. While it roasts, the giblets simmer into a stock that becomes a proper pan gravy at the end.
Ingredients
For the turkey
For the stuffing
For the gravy
Instructions
- Mix the stuffing: Put all the stuffing ingredients in a bowl and mix them thoroughly by hand, then let it come to room temperature. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C/Gas 5.
- Weigh and stuff: Weigh the turkey and the stuffing, then work out the cooking time from their combined weight. Then split the stuffing between the cavity and the neck end, pushing it under the loosened neck skin and tucking the flap underneath.
- Butter and cover: Put the turkey breast-side up in a large roasting tin and smear the butter all over, concentrating on the breast. Season, then cover the whole bird with a large sheet of foil tucked over the edges of the tin.
- Roast: Allow 20 minutes per kilo of bird and stuffing, plus 90 minutes, which by my sums is about 4 hours for these quantities. Then take the foil off 50 minutes before the end so the skin browns, and start checking after 20 minutes more.
- Make the giblet stock: While the turkey roasts, put the giblets, except the liver, in a pan with the onion, carrots, celery, bay and thyme. Add the water and stock, season and bring to the boil, then simmer for 1 to 1½ hours and strain.
- Check and rest: The thickest part of the thigh should read 71°C, or its juices should run clear with no hint of pink. Then push a metal skewer into the stuffing for 5 seconds, and it is ready if it is too hot to touch after 1 second. Once both pass, lift the turkey onto a platter to rest under foil.
- Make the gravy: Strain the tin juices, spoon off as much fat as possible, then return them to the tin over a medium heat. Stir in the flour, scraping up the sediment, and add up to 500ml of giblet stock. Then pour it into a saucepan with the wine, simmer for a few minutes and season to taste.
FAQs
How long does a 6kg turkey take?
Their rule is 20 minutes per kilo of bird and stuffing, plus 90 minutes, at 190°C/Fan 170°C/Gas 5. But the book’s own example says a 6kg turkey with stuffing needs about 3½ hours, which only adds up for the bird alone.
This stuffing weighs roughly 1.3 to 1.4kg by my estimate, so the rule gives closer to 4 hours. And for their two-stuffing Christmas turkey on GoodtoKnow, they count 1kg for the stuffings and arrive at about 3 hours 50 minutes. So I would weigh both and trust the 71°C thigh reading over the clock.
How do you cook a turkey crown?
Stuff the cavity and weigh it, then roast for half an hour with the oven on its highest setting. After that, turn it down to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4 and give it 15 minutes per kilo, until the juices run clear. Then check the stuffing with the same hot-skewer test as for a whole bird.
Their BBC Food crown recipe is slower, at 15 minutes per kilo plus 90 minutes, so a 3kg stuffed crown takes 2¼ hours. And in British Classics they show how to make your own crown, cutting both legs off a whole bird and saving them for another day. By my sums, a 2.5kg stuffed crown takes just over an hour their British Classics way.
Which turkey should you buy?
They recommend bronze turkeys, a breed they describe as gamey and fabulous, and they prefer a bird with its giblets. And those giblets matter, because they make the gravy stock while the liver goes into the stuffing.
If you only have a small gathering, they suggest a crown instead of a whole bird. As a rough guide, their 6kg bird serves 8 to 10, which works out at roughly 600 to 750g of oven-ready weight a head.
What do you serve with it?
They serve it with the gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce and roast potatoes, so their goose fat roast potatoes are the obvious match. Or if you would rather a second, lighter stuffing alongside, their sage and onion stuffing bakes in its own dish.
On a big Christmas table, a glazed gammon ham is a natural partner, since both feed a crowd. And the ham can be cooked the day before, which frees the oven for the bird.
What can you do with leftover turkey?
They call the carcass “leftover heaven”, using it for stock, turkey curry or soup. Then for Boxing Day, their turkey and ham pie turns the leftover meat into a creamy double-crust pie.
Leftover turkey also stands in for chicken in their jambalaya with chorizo, which is an easy way to use it up. And the Food Standards Agency says to get leftovers into the fridge within two hours, then eat them within 48 hours or freeze them.
