As described in my Christmas cooking page, we usually eat
turkey for Christmas. This page describes the version I make. My wife Yvonne once made a different version, Turkey with Whisky.
Turkeys are not the easiest dish to prepare:
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Turkeys are bred intensively; even big ones are very young. I won't start worrying too
much about the methods the breeders use to make them grow so fast, but it's worth noting that
in different countries, the typical turkey can be very different in size. In France, for
example, it seems that it's possible to get “average” turkeys that weigh less
than 3 kg without the innards. In Australia, the very smallest weigh about 4.2 kg.
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The smallest turkeys are also the youngest. They tend to have very soft, mushy meat,
which is less pleasant to most people.
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Turkey breast meat cooks much faster than the legs. If you don't take any precautions,
you will end up with overcooked breast, undercooked legs, or both.
Since 2005, I've been refining the following recipe:
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