How to Cook Anna’s Christmas Turkey

The next instalment in our How to Cook Series

It’s been a while since we’ve brought a new recipe to our How to Cook series, and with Christmas only 10 days away a lot of us are probably starting to wonder what’s the best way to cook turkey? We’ve been selling organic turkeys for years now, and equally discussing the perfect turkey recipe. But this year, we’ve been in touch with our founder and farmer Mark’s daughter Anna, to get her family approved turkey recipe. And with this, we present to you How to Cook Turkey.

Why Choose Organic Turkey?

At Eversfield Organic, we supply the very best British, organic turkeys from the heart of Devon. Our organic turkeys live the most natural life on a handful of organic farms across Dartmoor. Both our award-winning Bronze Turkeys and heritage Norfolk Black Turkeys are well fed on an organic mixture and slow grown as nature intended. This provides our organic turkeys with a juicy fat covering for outstanding taste. As well as their organic feed, the free range turkeys are allowed to roam the pasture rich farms, exploring and rummaging for their own treats too.

Once they’ve reached the end of their lives on the high animal welfare farms, they are game hung for two weeks. This allows the meat to develop and fully mature, producing a second-to-none flavour and texture.

A Family Recipe

Of course, the turkey you choose to purchase can only do part of the work. Even the most luxury of organic turkeys can seem a little less than impressive if not cooked in the right way. To help you get the best out of your organic turkey, we’ve been in touch with our very own Anna Elliot, our Founder and farmer Mark’s daughter, who sits on our board of directors too. Anna is a true ambassador for everything organic, having lived and worked on our organic farm for almost 20 years. In fact, Anna and the Bury family actually turned the Eversfield Organic farm into the organic haven it is today, after years of hard work.

Having lived and worked in regenerative farming and ethical food production for most of her adult life, Anna is now bringing the next generation into the farming family. This year, Anna welcomed her first child, baby Ewan, and it’s safe to say he approves of the family’s turkey recipe too. As the family tuck in to an organic turkey at Christmas every year, we couldn’t think of anyone better to explain just how to cook the perfect turkey.

The Best Turkey Recipe

We understand that cooking your organic turkey for the big day can sometimes feel like a lot of pressure, especially if you’re having a big family Christmas this year. As many of us are looking forward to spending Christmas with loved ones again, don’t let cooking your organic turkey take the fun out of the celebrations. Follow Anna’s approved Christmas turkey recipe to cook a succulent, flavoursome and all-round crowd-pleasing centrepiece.

As all turkeys come in different sizes, we recommend checking the exact weight of your organic turkey to determine the perfect cooking time. Our recipe is based on a 5kg turkey. However, when cooking at the suggested temperature of 180°C / 160°C fan / gas mark 4, we like to follow the general rule of 40 minutes per kg up to 4kg, then an additional 45 minutes per kg after. Here’s a table of our timings guide.

Ingredients:

• Organic Turkey, 5kg
• Eversfield Organic Salted Butter
• Black Pepper
• Sea Salt Flakes
• Organic Rosemary

Method:

1. To ease the load on the big day, we recommend prepping your turkey the day before.
2. Check the main cavity for giblets and remove (saving them for the gravy in your roasting tray later). Once removed, rub a mixture of the butter, sea salt, black pepper and rosemary generously onto the bird. Push your fingers under the skin too for a crispy skin once cooked.

3. If you have streaky bacon, Anna recommends arranging overlapping slices over the turkey breast. Remember to remove the bacon for the last 30 minutes of cooking to crisp the skin of the bird.
4. Add any stuffing that you’d like to the neck cavity but be sure not to pack it in too tightly. Season the bird well with additional salt and pepper.

5. Place a large sheet of greaseproof paper or tin foil over the bird and refrigerate until ready for cooking.
6. Before you’re ready for cooking, take the turkey out of the fridge for a few hours prior to allow the bird to come to room temperature.
7. Preheat your oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / gas mark 4.
8. Place the turkey in a large roasting dish and add one cup of water or gravy to the cavity and two cups to the bottom of the roasting tray along with the giblets.
9. Cook your turkey breast side up for 3-4 hours, basting as required throughout. If the turkey starts to look a little too brown towards the end, cover with foil for the remaining time.
10. To check if the bird is cooked, place a sharp knife into the thickest part of the thigh. If the juices run clear, your turkey is cooked. If it’s not done, continue to cook the bird for 5-10 minutes at a time.
11. Once fully cooked, set the turkey aside and allow to rest for 45-60 minutes before carving.