Traditional Roast Turkey with Sage, Lemon and Chestnut Stuffing and all the Trimmings

Name: Traditional Roast Turkey with Sage, Lemon and Chestnut Stuffing and all the Trimmings
Yield: Serves 6–8
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 450 g (1 lb) fresh cranberries; 1 small onion (optional); Salt, pepper and ground mace; 100 g (4 oz) caster sugar; 600 ml (1 pint) turkey stock, made from fried or roasted giblets boiled in water and reduced, or Chicken Stock or 450 ml (¾ pint) Veal Jus or alternative; ½-1 oz plain flour (optional); Chipolata sausages; Rashers of streaky bacon; 100–175 g (4–6 oz) roasted chestnuts, chopped; Butter; Salt and pepper; 2 apples, grated; 100 g (4 oz) fresh white breadcrumbs; Juice of 2 large oranges; ½ teaspoon very finely chopped shallots; 675 g (1½ lb) good-quality pork sausagemeat; 1 heaped tablespoon chopped fresh sage; 4.5–5.4 kg (10–12 lb) fresh turkey, oven-ready; Grated zest of 2 lemons (juice may also be needed); 1 glass port; 2 large onions, finely chopped or grated; 50 g (2 oz) butter; Turkey liver (optional); 2 eggs

Preparation info

Serves
6–8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

New British Classics

By Gary Rhodes

Published 1999

About

Here we have the biggest ‘roast’ of the year. The secret to success with a roast turkey is keep it simple and, of course, moist and juicy. Quite often I hear that the bird has been roasted for up to 6 hours, or even throughout the night! It’s purely because of the size and volume of the bird that we like to cook ‘safely’ and just leave it for another hour to be sure.

A 1.6 kg (3½ lb) chicken will only take 50–60 minutes to roast. Multiply that by three and you have a 4.5 kg (10 lb)