Page 427 - YC Cooking School

do this, submerge it in a bath of cold water still in its packaging. You’ll need to keep
replacing the bath with fresh, cold water every 30 minutes. Once it’s defrosted, keep the

turkey in the fridge until you’re ready to cook it.

Here’s our guide to defrosting times:

Defrosting a turkey in the fridge: Approximately 8-12 hours per kg in a 4ºC fridge or 4-6
hours per pound in a 40°F fridge.
Defrosting a turkey in a water bath: Approximately 1 hour per kg or 30 minutes per
pound in cold tap water.

For extra help, read the recommendations for defrosting on the turkey packaging.

Remember that the turkey needs to be completely thawed before you start preparing it. A

handy tip for testing this is to pull on the thighbones and try to separate the legs. If you feel
any frozen resistance, you’ll need more defrosting time.

Buy the right sized turkey to feed your guests
A 7-8kg (15-17 pound) turkey will feed 15 people comfortably, whereas a 4-5 kg (9-11 pound)
bird is a good size for 10 people. If you’re cooking for a smaller crowd, buy a 3 kg (7 pound)

bird and save any leftovers to make delicious turkey sandwiches or wraps the next day. As a
rule, rather overcater than risk your guests going home hungry.

Make your own stuffing
A stuffing needs to complement the flavours you use to cook the turkey. So if you’re going

for, say, a Northern African feel by using cumin and preserved lemon to flavour the cavity,
flavour your stuffing with the same cumin and lemon combination. Adding cream and eggs
will give your stuffing extra body and texture, and you can also add lightly fried bacon for an
even juicier, richer flavour. Once you’ve made the stuffing, allow it to rest in the fridge for at
least 20 minutes before you use it. This window of time is the magic step that will allow the
breadcrumbs the opportunity to soak up the cream and the overall mixture to firm up a bit.

Prepare the roasting tray
The meat and vegetables that you use to prepare the roasting tray will form the base of
your gravy. A rough chop for these bits and pieces is all that’s needed, because they’re
purely there for flavour and will be strained out of the gravy later.

Bring beautiful flavours to the turkey
When cooking a turkey, the biggest challenge you’ll face is that the legs take longer to cook
than the breast meat. Because you can’t cook them separately, breast meat can dry out in
the oven while you’re waiting for the legs to cook. But we have a cunning plan. Using your
hands, gently create space between the skin and breast meat and insert the stuffing into it,
moving it around so that it evenly coats the meat. This will increase the thickness of the

breast meat and help to insulate it from overcooking. If you’re not keen on using stuffing,
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