How to Make Christmas Turkey
Turkey is a Christmas classic, and today I'll teach you a really quick and delicious recipe that doesn't even need marinating. Let's learn how to make it!
Equipment
- Oven
Ingredients
Side Dish
- 35.2 oz Baby Potatoes (1 kg)
- 2 tbsp of Olive Oil 0.87 fl oz (26 mL)
- Salt to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
Turkey
- 5 tbsp of Butter 3.53 oz (100 g)
- 3 cloves of Garlic minced
- 1 unit Orange Zest
- Salt to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
- 1 unit of Turkey (approximately 123.5 oz or 3,5kg)
Stuffing
- 1 unit of Green Apple chopped
- 3.53 oz of Bacon chopped (100 g)
- 1 tbsp of Brown Sugar 0.53 oz (15g)
For Basting
- 1/4 cup of Orange Juice (1/4 cup) 2.03 fl oz (60 mL)
- Twigs of Rosemary
Instructions
Side Dish
- In a large baking dish, place the washed baby potatoes and season with olive oil, salt, and black pepper
- Mix well
Turkey
- In a small bowl, mix the butter with garlic, orange zest, salt, and black pepper
- Take the turkey and release the legs attached to the skin, do not cut this skin
- Remove the bag with giblets; you can use it to make another side dish as farofa with corn flour, if you want it.
- Dry both sides of the turkey with paper towels so that the skin becomes crispier
- With your fingertips, start separating the skin from the meat; do this gently
- Take the butter mixture and start seasoning the turkey under the skin and then on top; reserve about 1/3 of this mixture for later use
- Place the turkey on top of the seasoned baby potatoes
Stuffing
- Mix the green apple, bacon, and brown sugar and stuff the turkey
- Hold the turkey legs together with that skin, and to make sure it doesn't open. truss it with twine
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 392°F (200ºC) for 1 hour (if your turkey is larger, 11-13 lbs (5-6 kg), bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes)
- Now, remove from the oven and take that remaining butter mixture, add the orange juice, mix a bit
- Brush the entire turkey; this will make it golden brown (there will be leftover butter mixture)
- If you like it, you can even stir the baby potatoes a bit to ensure even cooking
- Also, cover the tips of the wings with aluminum foil so they don’t burn, and secure them closer to the body with toothpicks
- Return to the oven at the same temperature and bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, brushing with more butter mixture and juice every 30 minutes (if your turkey is larger, 11-13 lbs (5-6 kg), bake for about 2 hours)
- In the last 30 minutes after basting, remove the aluminum foil from the wings and place rosemary around for fragrance
- TIP: If the turkey pop-up timer doesn't pop up in this time, you can stick a thermometer in a thick part of the turkey and check if it reaches 165°F (74ºC); as you can see, mine reached 172°F (78ºC) here
- While I arranged the turkey on the plate with the baby potatoes around and more twigs of rosemary, the pop-up timer went up, and at this point, I noticed that it might have been the fat around the timer that made it difficult to pop up, so for this reason, it's important to check with a thermometer to avoid overcooking and drying out
Notes
Tips:
– Valid to: after it’s done, immediate consumption is recommended, but it lasts up to 3 days under refrigeration, or if you prefer, you can remove the meat from the bones and keep it frozen for up to 90 days in the freezer.
