Get your Turkey on the table

Tis the season to eat, drink and celebrate and I have already started making my Christmas dinner shopping list.

Turkey is a must on my Christmas table spread. We quite often end up having three or four different meals, as you must please everyone, but my choice is, and always has been, turkey. But turkey is a bit like bubbles, they’re not all crated equal and you must choose your bird wisely!

My pick for 2020 is Canter Valley Turkeys. If you haven’t heard about Canter Valley yet (where have you been?!) then let us introduce you. They are producers and suppliers of quality gourmet poultry products to restaurants, food service and retail markets in NZ. The company began back in 1987 and are proudly family-owned.

The turkeys are the best in NZ - these are free range, big-breasted white turkeys, they have a lot of meat on them and the best part is that they are not given any hormones or steroids. They always cook perfectly and taste delicious.

So, once you have chosen your turkey you have to cook it! I firmly believe that everyone should know how to cook a turkey – it’s just one of those skills, like cooking the perfect roast potatoes (coincidentally the perfect accompaniment to turkey).

Firstly, I grab a glass of Bollinger to sip on (because why not) and I brine my bird. I use cider vinegar and water and place in the fridge overnight.

Once you remove the turkey from the brine, wash and dry it with paper towels and pop back in fridge for another 24 hours. You want the skin to get a good crisp and drying it helps this.

Our family is the typical kiwi family, that loves using BBQ equipment all summer long, so we like to cook our Turkey in our Green Egg .

Once your bird has been drying in the fridge for 25 hours, get it out and rub it with seasoning, I use garlic pepper and parsley for this. Next up you’ll want to stuff it with homemade stuffing and a lemon to finish. Pop it on a rotisserie skewer and place a drip pan underneath with chicken stock, onion, butter, and some tarragon (or seasoning of your choosing). Every hour during the cooking process use a turkey baster to draw the juices and baste the bird. Depending on the size it will cook in around 2 and half hours at 325 degrees.

So once the Christmas period is done and dusted, we all know that the festivities don’t end there. Which is why we’re enlisting Canter Valley to cater or provide inspiration for our New Year’s celebrations, summer BBQ’s and get togethers.