THIS is how to cook a turkey for Christmas Day - preparation tips, cooking time and more

• Turkey is a Christmas Day tradition, but it's not a meat most of us tend to eat on a regular basis.
• It can be easy to overcook your poultry, which causes it to dry out and lack a juicy flavour - however this can be avoided. . .
• With a little patience and preparation you can cook a perfect succulent and moist turkey, fit for all the family.
• We've rounded up some beautiful recipes you can make at home, from traditional offerings to a honey glazed version.

• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 5 hours, including chilling and simmer time
• Serves 10

Ingredients

1. 1 turkey, about 6kg
2. 1 bay leaf
3. 2 onions
4. 1 carrot
5. 100g unsalted butter, softened
6. Fresh parsley and thyme
7. 2 lemons

Method

• Remove the giblets on Christmas Eve and put everything except the liver in a pan, along with the bay leaf, one onion, the carrot and a few sprigs of parsley and thyme. Add 700ml water and cover the pan. Simmer for two hours, skimming the surface occasionally. Strain, cool and refrigerate.
• Also the day before, mix the butter with 1 tbsp each chopped parsley and thyme and the finely grated zest and juice of half a lemon. Season, cover with cling film and chill. Remove from the fridge one hour before you prepare the turkey.
• On Christmas Day, wipe the inside and outside of the turkey with damp kitchen paper. Prick the other lemon with a fork and put in the turkey cavity with a sprig of thyme and the other onion.
• Carefully lift the skin around the neck so you can get your hand underneath, then rub half the herb butter between the skin and the flesh. Rub the rest over the skin.
• Put the turkey in a roasting tin, breast-side up. Cover loosely with foil. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/170°C Fan/Gas 5.
• Calculate the cooking time, allowing 20 minutes per kg, plus 90 minutes. For birds up to 4kg cook for 20 minutes per kg, plus 70 minutes. Baste every hour. Remove the foil for the last 30 minutes to crisp the skin.
• Test if the turkey is cooked by piercing the thickest part of the thigh and the breast with a skewer. If the juices run clear, it's cooked. If they are pink, return the turkey to the oven for another 20 minutes and keep checking until cooked.
• Move the turkey to a platter, tilting the bird so that the juices in the cavity run out into the roasting pan. Cover with a double layer of foil, then with a tea towel wrung out in hot water. Leave to rest in a warm place for 30-60 minutes.
• Pour off most of the fat from the roasting tin and make gravy using the giblet stock, or with a stock cube.

Foolproof turkey

• Prep time: 15 minutes 
• Cooking time: 17 hours, including overnight cooking 
• Serves 10 

Ingredients

1. 6kg turkey
2. 1 bottle of wine (white or red)
3. 2 pints of good stock (chicken, beef or vegetable)
4. Seasoning, to taste 

Method (timings are given for lunch to be served at 1.30pm)

• Set your oven at 80˚C, 176˚F, Gas Mark 1 and at around 7.30pm on Christmas Eve, place your turkey on a rack in a roasting pan, crown side up. Pour over the wine, stock and seasoning (if using) and bring to the boil on your hob. Cover tightly with foil and place in the oven.
• At 10am on Christmas morning, turn the oven up to 200˚C (or move to another oven set at that temperature). Keep the foil over the bird until noon then remove it to let it go golden. Baste at 20 minute intervals.
• At 1pm the turkey will be done but check with a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the breast – all juices should run clear – then take the bird out of the oven and cover with a double layer of foil to rest until you start carving – no sooner than 1.25pm.

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey glazed turkey with honey glaze gravy

• Prep time: 30 minutes
• Cook time: 3–3½ hours approximately
• Serves: 8

Ingredients:

1. 5-6 kilo fresh turkey, giblets and neck removed (used later to make a stock)
2. 2 sprigs each of fresh thyme, rosemary and sage
3. Head of garlic, cut in half
4. 1 tbsp olive oil
5. 2 tbsp sea salt and 1 tbsp pepper
6. For the honey glaze:
7. 100ml Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, cooked down to 50ml
8. 50g unsalted butter
9. 20ml soy sauce
10. 40ml runny honey
11. 10-15ml hot sauce (Tabasco or Louisiana)
12. 1 tbsp dark marmalade
13. 1 tbsp cider vinegar
14. Stock for the honey gravy:
15. 120ml Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey
16. 57g (4 tbsp) turkey drippings fat or butter
17. 50g (4 tbsp) flour
18. 600ml of stock for gravy

Method for the honey gravy stock:

• Place oil in a large and heavy gauge sauce pan, sauté the neck, giblets and vegetables and cook 5 minutes.
• Add stock and simmer for one hour, skimming off fat as it simmers.
• Strain the stock and hold in sauce pan until needed for gravy. Should have 500ml, if not add some water.
• Put to one side, you will use this later.

Method for the honey glaze turkey:

• Preheat oven to 180˚C, 160 Fan, Gas Mark 4. Put a rack on lowest position.
• Take the turkey out of fridge one hour before roasting, to reach room temperature. Pat dry and stuff the cavity with garlic and herbs. Stuff it loosely in the cavity, as well as neck cavity and fold skin down under bird. Bake any remaining stuffing in a separate buttered dish.
• Place turkey on rack in large roasting tin. Oil and season the turkey generously.
• Tie the legs together and tuck the wing tips under the body. Add 500ml water to bottom of a pan. Cover loosely with foil if it browns too quickly.
• Baste with the honey glaze stock every 30 minutes. You may need to top up with water. Towards the last 30 minutes of roasting brush the turkey every 10 minutes.
• Remove turkey and tip the juices from the cavity in a pan. Pour the juices into a fat separator. Set turkey aside on a board to rest for 30 minutes loosely, covered with foil.
• Place the turkey tin over two burners and add 150ml Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, scraping to get all the brown bits. Cook for about one minute and tip into your gravy fat separator along with the remaining stock. You should have 100ml golden liquid. Strain to remove any bits. Reserve the fat from the stock. Add the pan juices to your giblet stock.
• Add the fat (should have, if not use some butter) and flour in a roasting tin and whisk, cooking about one minute then gradually add your stock to the pan, cook for about five minutes then season.
• You should now have one pint of gravy roughly. Remove stuffing and place turkey on platter, garnish as you like.