Turkey Wellington | Turkey Recipes | Jamie Oliver (2024)

FAQs

Should I put butter under the skin of my turkey? ›

Impart rich flavor and add moisture to your Thanksgiving turkey by adding a layer of butter under the skin before roasting. Learn how to do this simple (but genius) technique for a delicious Thanksgiving turkey.

Ramsay's key for a guaranteed delicious and juicy turkey is a parsley and garlic butter that gets generously slathered both under the skin and on top of the turkey. While the turkey is cooking, you'll want to baste the bird with the melted butter pan juices to ensure a crispy skin while cooking.

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.

Yes! You can season, stuffed and butter up the turkey the night before and place it onto a roasting pan, then into the refrigerator. Can I make the garlic butter ahead of time? Yes, I recommend making the garlic butter ahead of time to save time the day of, especially if you have lots of other dishes to prepare.

Rub the skin with fat

Fat is going to help the skin get brown and crisp, and contrary to what most might think, butter isn't better. Butter does an okay job, but because it contains a lot of water, oil is a better fat to rub on the skin to ensure it gets extra crispy.

Can I Use Salted Butter to Replace Unsalted Butter and Visa Versa? In a pinch, you can replace unsalted butter with salted, as long as you reduce the amount of additional salt in the recipe.

Your turkey will cook more evenly and faster if you start it out at room temperature so remove the turkey from the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting. If you plan to stuff your turkey, wait until you're ready to put it in the oven before putting the stuffing in the turkey.

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.

Throw away turkey, stuffing, and gravy left out at room temperature longer than 2 hours (1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F). Divide leftovers into small portions. Refrigerate or freeze in covered shallow containers for quicker cooling. Use refrigerated turkey and stuffing within 3 to 4 days.

Bake for exactly 1 hour and turn off the oven. Do not open the oven door! Leave the turkey in the oven until the oven completely cools; this may take 4 to 6 hours. Reserve the pan juices and refrigerate the turkey if it will not be served soon after roasting.

How does Gordon Ramsay cook a turkey? ›

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.

Never pass up the opportunity to add flavor to turkey by stuffing the cavity with a simple aromatics mix. Fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary, and sage along with a half lemon go a long way to add flavor, and stuffing it into the bird takes almost no time at all.

Why isn't the butter sticking to the turkey? The bird may be condensating or your butter may be too cold and firm. Make sure the turkey comes to room temperature for an hour and pat it with paper towels to remove moisture before you butter it.

Yes, I always buy a very large turkey that takes many hours to cook…so I stuff and slather it with butter and cover lightly with tin foil the night before and pop it in the oven early in the morning. Leave the foil on for the first 3/4 of roasting time…but BASTE c. every 1/2 hr… add more butter if you need to.

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.

Gently separate the skin from the breast by lifting up on the skin and then pushing your hand in between the skin and muscle. Rub about ⅓ of the herb butter under the skin. Rub the remaining butter over the outside of the turkey. Making sure to get the drumsticks and wings.

4 ½ to 5 hours before dinner: Remove the turkey from the fridge so it has some time to take off the chill. This will help it cook more evenly. This is also when you can rub the bird with the garlic herb butter and tie up the legs with twine if you didn't do that the day before.

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.