Jamie's easy turkey | Turkey recipes | Jamie Oliver recipes (2024)

FAQs

How to keep turkey moist in Jamie Oliver? ›

Check on your turkey every 30 minutes or so and keep it from drying out by basting it with the lovely juices from the bottom of the pan. After 3½ hours, remove the foil so the skin gets golden and crispy. If you are at all worried just stick a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast.

There are four essential steps for a perfectly roasted Thanksgiving turkey: brining, stuffing with aromatics, rubbing with herb compound butter, and roasting to perfection. The herb butter does double duty. Part of it is rubbed under the skin and over the meat of the bird for a major boost in flavor.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4 and season the crown with sea salt and black pepper. As a guide, you want to cook a stuffed higher-welfare bird for 25 to 30 minutes per kilo, and a standard bird for 35 to 40 minutes per kilo.

HOW TO COOK A PERFECTLY MOIST AND JUICY TURKEY. Start by “brining” the turkey. This means soaking it in salt water overnight in the fridge (generally using a brining bag). You can also add a few flavors to the brine if you so desire.

Oven-Roasted Turkey

We recommend starting the turkey in a 425 degree oven for 30-45 minutes before tenting the pan with foil and lowering the temperature to 350 degrees until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest part of the bird.

Stick with salt and pepper, put herbs like rosemary, thyme, and sage to work, or take spicy Cajun seasoning for a spin for some kick. Whatever blend you choose, spread it all over the turkey—on top, underneath, between the body and wings and legs, under the skin, and even in the cavity of the bird.

Don't butter your bird

Placing butter under the skin won't make the meat juicier, though it might help the skin brown faster. However, butter is about 17 percent water, and it will make your bird splotchy, says López-Alt. Instead, rub the skin with vegetable oil before you roast.

You don't want the meat to dry out while it sits overnight, so you will need to cover it with a liquid. Spoon some chicken broth or the drippings from the roasting pan (and the cutting board) over the turkey so it stays moist. Cover snugly and refrigerate overnight.

Having some liquid in the bottom of your roasting tray, smearing with butter and draping over smoked bacon will all help to keep the crown moist during cooking and stop it from drying out.

Lift up the skin of the turkey with your fingers and separate it from the flesh. Divide the herb butter and spread it under the skin. Season well, place in a roasting tin. Cook the crown for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and cook the turkey for 1½ hours, or until the juices run clear.

Why is my turkey crown tough? ›

While this is caused by overcooking the turkey, it sometimes seems that some birds are just made dry. Step one in dealing with dry turkey is to fill a spray bottle filled with warm chicken stock and spray it over the meat as you carve it (it's best to keep this secret).

Roast 1 hour, then baste every 30 minutes with pan liquids, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of thigh (avoiding bone) registers 125°F, about 3 hours. Remove foil; raise oven heat to 400°F. Continue roasting, basting occasionally, until thigh reaches 180°F, 45 to 60 minutes more.

Put the turkey on top of the vegetables, put in the oven and roast in the oven for 45 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Reduce the heat to 350 and continue roasting, basting with the warm chicken stock every 15 minutes until basting with some of the chicken stock every 15 minutes, about 2 to 2 ¼ hours longer.

In an ideal world, the turkey would be out of the oven exactly 30 minutes before serving, so that you can remove it from the roasting pan and let it rest for about 20 minutes before carving and serving warm.

To keep the turkey moist, add a little broth or water and cover. Cover your food and rotate it for even heating.

If you let the turkey rest a bit, the juices reabsorb into the meat rather than running out of the bird and landing on the cutting board. Carve it to order. The longer you let it sit after you slice it, the drier it will be. If you need to slice it, cover it with foil or plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.