Much time has transpired since the last turkey outing. The day I put a whole turkey into a brick dome oven during Christmas of 2021 seems like aeons away. But those were the things you did in Nikki’s hometown of Sicuani, Cusco. 2022 hadn’t been turkilicious for some, yet I am proud to say we could conclude the tumultuous chapter with a Christmas vacation turkey.
Christmas Turkey Recipe – Day 1
While some of you bubble blisters might be looking for ideas for a Christmas dinner other than turkey, me and the brotherman don’t stray from tradition. Christmas turkey in my family has been/ should be a generational endeavor.
Brotherman says the process starts with the deliberation of weight to number of mouths to feed ratio. I haven’t the slightest clue how this Christmas turkey formula worked out. However, it did work out just fine. We started by thawing out the whole bird for a day. He suggested he was doing the whole Gordon Ramsay Christmas Turkey ordeal, with slight variations.
He minced up some English parsley, fresh thyme and finely grated the zest of two lemons. However, he juiced 3 lemons to expedite the emulsification of the butter and added thyme as a personal touch. Gordon’s called for two lemons. And make sure to leave two sticks of butter out at room temp for at least a day. This gives you a peace of mind when whisking the compound together. He threw everything together and mashed the butter with the ingredients. As the butter emulsified, he commenced to whip it into a thick creamy delicious paste.
Now the delicate work begins. Brotherman needed to gently release the turkey skin from the meat without ripping it. Releasing it first will aid the stuffing process. This is exactly where the compound butter goes. Under the skin. The butter will seep into the meat and tenderize it as it cooks, producing an immaculate and moist Christmas Turkey dinner. It just take a lot of care, the lifting of skin does, and love and patience. Once that’s done, gently take lumps of compound butter and stuff it under the skin to your hearts content.
Next, we coated the bird with a generous amount of salt and freshly ground black pepper. All hands on deck/ bird literally. The remaining compound butter, we dumped over the bird after two rounds of basic seasoning.
Christmas Turkey Recipe – Day 2
After refrigerating overnight, we removed it at least three hours before putting the turkey into the oven. Now, brotherman minced up some garlic and halved more garlic and onions horizontally to stuff the bird with. Onions should be peeled but leave ’em damn garlic peels alone. He incorporated the minced garlic into the compound butter on top of the turkey and stuffed the onions and garlic into the cavity. In the neck cavity, he inserted half a lemon. We got some frozen chestnut stuffing at Village Grocer’s. Nothing too fancy. We crumbled that up and stuffed it into the bottom cavity. If you’re doing this, remember to leave space for airflow. We preheated the oven to the conventional setting at 200 degrees Celsius for about 1/2 hour.
Before throwing this beauty into the oven, remember to ninja tuck (involves a little bone cracking) the wings under the bird to avoid burning the wing tips. Ideally, now is the time you should also drizzle the Christmas Turkey with olive oil. We did however forget this step. Well, well.
Now turn the setting to broiler at 220 degrees Celsius and send the turkey off to the oven. This will power melt all that compound butter and aid it seeping into the bird. It also caramelizes the skin with that intense flavor. Notice how we strewed the giblets along the tray for the gravy. After 15 minutes, we pulled it out and for the first basting ceremony and thankfully remembered the olive oil. We drizzled a little over the Christmas turkey, basted it with all that butter and sent it back in.
Now reduce the heat to a 180 degrees Celsius and let the oven do its thing. It should take around 2 1/2 hours to cook depending on the oven. We took it out every hour to baste and let me tell you about the smells and aromas that perfumed the kitchen. We I can’t. You’d just have to imagine.
Turkey Dinner
I have to say, after 2 1/2 hours and doing the poke test (inserting a skewer into the bird and making sure the juices come out clear, however, a thermometer is recommended), the Christmas turkey came out looking pretty scrumptious. In a perfect world, we would let the bird rest for equal amounts cooking time, but we had a lot of mouths to feed. We were behind schedule as always and always will be, notwithstanding.
It was a glorious experience I got to partake in, thanks to the brotherman. We dined on the remains of the carcass for the remaining week into the new year and it was just as delightful cold. Dip it in gravy or top it with cranberry sauce according to your liking. You can’t go wrong with a Christmas dinner vacation.
