Turkey in 67 words

I had a panic text from a family friend last year, on Christmas morning.  Claire was helping her daughter to cook Christmas lunch – and they had not a single recipe book in the house with the advice on how to cook the turkey.  I managed to send them the entire recipe by text!.  If you can text a recipe, then it can’t be so difficult – can it?  Here it is, in its entirety:

“Turkey – 14lb, for serving at 1.45, cooked by 1.15, rested before carving. Start at 8.15 with bird at room temperature.  Loads of butter and strips of bacon on the breast.  First 45 minutes at 220 C or 200 C for fan oven.  Lower to 170 (160 fan).  Foil off / peeled back at 12.30.  Then lots of basting (every15 mins) to 1.15.  Usually takes longer than you think.”

67 words must be a record for a Christmas Turkey recipe! But at least with these timings, you can be confident of the main attraction being OK?

Perhaps you would like a little more detail?  And something to go with it?  Not unreasonable requests, I suppose!  Well, tune in again later today!

(I am re publishing this blog by request – of Claire, the originator of the panic text!)

Trimmings and other stuff for tomorrow

Can Men Cook?

OK. Three hours of cooking and washing up…just for once, it felt like being in a professional kitchen.  You know, that horrible feeling of lack of control because you are prepping 5 different dishes.  Only one casualty. A plastic egg slice got too close to the flame…so it is in the bin now.  Otherwise, ok!

Here’s the bits:

1. Get the beef in beer stew fried off and into the slow cooker
2. Make the cranberry sauce
3. Make the Chicken Liver – orange infused – Pate
4. Wash up….
5. Make the sage and onion stuffing
6. Make the Chestnut and Apple stuffing

Beef in beer was easy – just fry off an onion, then the beef (coated in flour and paprika) and a mushroom.  Wash out the pan with London Pride beer.  Add a bit of salt and pepper, Lea and Perrins and mushroom ketchup.  It sitting there now, waiting for us later…will put…

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