Roast turkey crown

This recipe shows you how to cook a turkey crown to ensure moist, tender meat with minimum faff.

Ingredients

• 1 turkey breast crown (a wingless, legless turkey)
• 50g/2oz butter
• salt and pepper
• about 10 rashers streaky bacon

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
   
2. Rub the butter all over the bird and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then lay the bacon rashers over the bird, more or less covering it completely. The job of the bacon is twofold: to help keep the breast basted without you having to open (and therefore cool) the oven every ten minutes; and to buy you time, so the skin doesn't burn before the breast is cooked through.
   
3. Place the bird in a roasting tray in the centre of the oven. Cook on this high heat for 25-30 minutes until the bacon is almost burnt.
   
4. Remove the bacon from the breast of the bird and put on one side. Baste the breast of the bird with the fat and juices in the pan and return to the oven. Turn down the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and continue to cook for about 12 minutes per 1kg/2¼lb, protecting the skin with buttered foil only if it seems to need it. Cook until the juices run clear when the thickest part of the breast is pierced with a skewer and the skin is brown and crispy. Cooked like this even a big bird (say 6-7kg/13½-15¾lb legless weight) shouldn't take more than 1½-2 hours in total.
   
5. Serve slices of roast turkey breast and spoonfuls of the leg meat in their rich gravy, with all the usual trimmings: roast potatoes, bread sauce, steamed sprouts, chipolatas wrapped in bacon and stuffing.
   
   by
   

   

     Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
   
   

How to roast a turkey

 

Ingredients

• 1 free-range turkey weighing 4kg/8lb 11oz
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 175g/6oz unsalted or lightly salted butter

For the bread sauce

• 450ml/15fl oz full-cream milk
• 1 small onion
• 4 cloves
• 75-100g (2½ to 3½ oz) fresh white breadcrumbs
• freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
• 40g/1½oz butter or 2 tbsp double cream
• cayenne pepper, for sprinkling

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Check that you have not left the plastic bag of giblets lurking inside the bird. Put the turkey in a large, deep roasting tin. Season generously all over with salt and pepper and massage the seasoning into the skin.
   
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Fold the muslin in four and lower it into the melted butter, pushing it in so that it soaks up virtually all the butter.
   
3. Lift out the butter-soaked muslin and lay it over the turkey, making sure that it completely covers the breast and upper thighs.
   
4. Pour about 300ml/½ pint water into the roasting tin and slide it into the oven. Cook for approximately 3 hours 20 minutes, basting the bird approximately every 30 minutes with the pan juices.
   
5. Test that the turkey is properly cooked in just the same way as you would a chicken. Pierce the thickest part of the thigh with a skewer. If the juices run clear then the turkey is done. If they are pink, slide it straight back into the oven for a further 15 minutes before testing again and continue to do this until they do run clear.
   
6. Once it's done, transfer the turkey to a large serving dish, discard the muslin and leave in a warm place to rest for at least half an hour. Cover with foil to stop the meat going cold.
   
7. While the turkey is cooking, make the bread sauce. Pour the milk into a heavy-based saucepan. Stick the four cloves into the onion, add to the milk and bring very, very slowly up to the boil, so that the milk has plenty of time to absorb the flavours of the onion and the cloves.
   
8. Remove the onion and cloves and stir enough breadcrumbs into the milk to give a thick sauce. Season to taste with nutmeg and salt. Stir in the butter or cream, adjust the seasoning, then spoon into a warm serving bowl, sprinkle with a little cayenne pepper and place on the table. If making in advance, leave to cool, then cover with cling film and store in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat thoroughly before serving. Sprinkle with the cayenne pepper just before serving.
   

Christmas cake

Christmas cake with pecan marzipan and brandy butter icing

 

Ingredients

For the fruit cake

• 80g/2¾oz golden syrup
• 80g/2¾oz black treacle
• 50g/1¾oz honey
• 250g/9oz dark brown sugar
• 200ml/7fl oz double cream
• 15g/½oz (about 2 tbsp) mixed spice
• 250g/9oz unsalted butter
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 6 medium free-range eggs
• 350g/12oz currants
• 350g/12oz raisins
• 350g/12oz chopped pitted prunes
• 350g/12oz glacé cherries or more dried fruit
• 500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• brandy, whisky or orange juice, for feeding the cake
• 2 tbsp apricot jam, boiled and sieved

For the pecan marzipan

• 200g/7oz finely ground pecans, or half walnuts and half pecans
• 100g/3½oz icing sugar
• 125g4½oz soft brown sugar
• 3 free-range egg yolks
• 2 tsp liquid glucose
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp glycerine
• 1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

For the brandy butter frosting

• 300g/10½oz icing sugar
• 50g/1¾oz butter
• 25ml/1fl oz double cream
• 25ml/1fl oz brandy

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/335F/Gas 3 and line a 25cm/10in round, deep cake tin with non-stick paper.
   
2. Place the syrup, treacle, honey, sugar, cream and spices in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl, add the butter in pieces and stir until melted, then add the orange and lemon extracts.
   
3. Beat in the eggs until smooth, then stir in the fruit. Mix the flour and soda together, then stir this through evenly.
   
4. Spoon into the tin and bake for about 2-2½ hours, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin, then carefully remove from the tin.
   
5. When cold, spoon the top liberally with brandy, whisky or boiled orange juice, wrap well and leave in a cool, dark place for 3-4 days before icing.The cake will keep for up to 3 months and should be ‘fed’ (covered with brandy, whisky or boiled orange juice every 4-5 days).
   
6. For the pecan marzipan, combine the ground pecans and icing sugar in a bowl and mix together.
   
7. In a saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, egg yolks, glucose, honey, glycerine, cinnamon and vanilla, then cook over a low heat whisking constantly until pale, light and piping hot.
   
8. Pour this over the pecan mixture and stir well to make a smooth paste. Leave to cool, then wrap in cling film.
   
9. To cover the cake in marzipan, first lightly knead the marzipan so it’s smooth then roll it out on a worktop dusted with icing sugar. Roll the marzipan into a disc about 1cm/½in thick and 1-2cm/½-1in wider than the diameter of your cake (check the marzipan isn’t sticking to the worktop by dusting underneath it again with icing sugar).
   
10. Brush the top of the cake with the sieved jam then leave a few minutes for it to set. Turn the cake upside down onto the marzipan and wiggle it gently so the top is stuck firmly.
    
11. Trim any excess marzipan leaving a 2cm/1in border. Using a knife, gently press up into the gap caused by the curve of the cake, then scrape it up smoothly so it is level with the side of the cake.
    
12. Carefully turn the cake the right way up and you should be left with a perfectly flat top surface and straight sides.
    
13. Wrap the cake in cling film and leave to dry in a cool, dark place for 4-5 days.
    
14. For the brandy butter icing, measure the icing sugar into a bowl, then melt the butter for a few seconds in the microwave or in a small pan over a low heat, taking care not to burn it.
    
15. Pour the melted butter with the cream and brandy into the sugar and mix until smooth.
    
16. Spread the icing onto the top of the cake and make small peaks using a knife. Set aside for a few hours, or until the icing has set.
    
17. Dust with icing sugar before serving.