Cooking the Christmas Turkey doesn’t need to be a chore but there’s two tricks. The first trick is prepare and freeze the stuffing in advance to free your up to enjoy more of your Christmas day champagne! The second is choose a turkey stuffing flavour that you love. Citrus, country sage, cashews even spinach and ricotta can make for a delicious day for the family. Whatever you choose, the preparation of the turkey remains the same.

Preparing the Turkey

Remove the neck and giblets from inside and wash the turkey well. Pat dry inside and out with paper towels.

Make the stuffing you prefer and loosely stuff into the turkey. Remember to stuff just before cooking!  Make sure to tuck the wings underneath and join the cavity with a skewer. Tie the legs together and place on a rack in a baking dish.

Roast for 2 hours, basting with the combined oil and 1/2 cup of chicken stock. We recommend our ‘made by the masters’ Chicken Stock. Cover the breast and legs with foil after 1 hour if the turkey is over browning.

Remove from the oven, cover and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Making the gravy

When making the gravy, remove all but 2 tablespoons of delicious turkey pan juices and place on the stove over low heat, add flour and stir well. Stir over medium heat until browned. Gradually add the remaining stock, stirring until the gravy boils and thickens.

Pia’s adopted American Turkey recipe

“This is a recipe from a beautiful American friend of my mothers and it is their recipe for Thanksgiving turkey but my family has adopted it as our traditional christmas turkey. It is delicious and you can adapt it to use a boneless turkey which I will be doing two of this year for feeding the family” says Pia.

Read Traditional stuffed turkey with hazelnut butter recipe.