Every Christmas I recall my mother debating about how long the turkey should go into the oven. What would be the right temperature? What time should she put it in the oven to make sure it was ready on time for Christmas?
The single biggest mistake that people make when preparing Christmas dinner is to try and finish everything at the same time. Turkey in the oven, potatoes need to be mashed, vegetables sitting in boiling water.
In order to ensure a stress-free Christmas, I put my turkey in the oven on Christmas eve at about 7pm. I set my oven to 70C degrees. I season the turkey with sea salt and dress with a little olive oil. That’s it. At this temperature, the turkey takes about 17 hours.
I usually stick the ham in as well, but a little later, before I go to bed, as it is usually smaller.
Because the temperature is so low, you lose less moisture. However, it won’t brown at this low temperature. So about 40 minutes before I take it out, I turn up the oven to 220C degrees in order to brown the bird.
To check if your turkey is done before you turn the oven up, you will need a digital food probe. This is essential. Your turkey is cooked when the internal temperature of the densest part of the meat reaches 70C degrees. I usually probe the thickest part of the breast. When your turkey is done, simply turn your oven down to 50C degrees and allow it to rest. You can rest your ham in there as well as vegetables that you have cooked.
You don’t need to be darting around the kitchen (like a headless turkey) trying to finish everything off. A word of advice: make your mash on Christmas morning; blanch your vegetables in boiling water for a few minutes then plunge into ice water. This way you can simply tray them up, season them with salt and butter and warm thoroughly in the oven. Warm mash in the oven as well.
No stress, no hassle. Christmas. As it should be.
