If you're still wondering what to cook for Christmas, consider turkey. This dish is traditional in America, but it confidently masters the festive tables here too. There are different ways to cook a turkey in the oven for Christmas, you can choose your own recipe and delight guests and loved ones with aromatic meat.
Christmas turkey recipe
You will need:
- 1 turkey carcass (3-4 kg);
- head of garlic;
- 1 orange;
- 2 sour apples;
- 30 g butter;
- mustard to taste;
- paprika to taste;
- ground black pepper to taste;
- salt to taste;
- rosemary and sage leaves;
- vegetable oil and chicken fat.
We begin to prepare a dish for Christmas by choosing a turkey. It is better to purchase fresh poultry, if the carcass is frozen, leave it in a cool room from the evening of the previous day.
You cannot defrost a turkey, like any other bird, in the microwave, under hot water and near the battery. At best, the meat will lose its flavor, at worst it will deteriorate.
Stuffing the turkey
Turn on the oven immediately so that it has time to warm up to 220 ° C while you stuff the Christmas turkey. Rinse completely defrosted poultry with cold water and be sure to wipe off excess moisture. Rub with a mixture of salt and pepper, including dry crushed paprika. Now make the cuts with a knife, insert half a clove of garlic into them. For a juicier turkey for Christmas, add some butter or chicken fat to the cuts.
Brush the surface of the whole carcass with mustard and olive oil. Place a few sage and rosemary leaves inside for flavor, and stuff the turkey with quarters of fruit.
Baking a turkey for Christmas
Wrap the prepared stuffed poultry in foil coated with butter. Place the turkey breast side down on a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 40 minutes. It should already warm up to 220 ° C. Then lower the temperature to 170 ° C and bake the turkey for another 3 hours.
Then take out the bird, remove the foil, pour all the juice on top of the carcass and bake again, this time for 30-40 minutes. Check the readiness - pierce the meat, if pink juice appears, cover the carcass with new foil and keep it in the oven for another 30-40 minutes. If the juice is bloodless, the whole baked turkey is ready for Christmas. Transfer it to a beautiful dish, you can decorate with herbs and boiled potatoes.
Sleeve baked turkey
Sleeve roasting is much preferable to regular frying and roasting meat. Firstly, it is useful, and secondly, the dishes are not so dry. Therefore, consider a recipe for a dish for Christmas - a turkey up its sleeve.
Turkey drumstick baked in sleeve
Ingredients:
- 2 turkey drumsticks;
- 500 g potatoes;
- 1 sour apple;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- spices for roasting poultry to taste
- vegetable oil.
Thaw the turkey drumsticks, rinse and dry with napkins. Brush with vegetable oil and rub well with a mixture of salt, pepper and crushed garlic, and spices chosen to taste. Place the roast turkey drumsticks in the bag. Put pieces of peeled potatoes and thin apple slices there. We put in the oven and bake the turkey in the sleeve for about 1, 5 hours, while the temperature should be 200 degrees.
Turkey fillet in the sleeve
Ingredients:
- 500-600 g turkey fillet;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- 2 tsp Caucasian adjika;
- other spices to taste.
A Christmas dish can be made with turkey fillets baked in a sleeve. Rinse it in cold water and blot it with tissues. Make slits in the meat and insert the garlic pieces into them. Then rub the turkey fillet with salt, black pepper and adjika, you can sprinkle with your favorite spices. Place the prepared poultry in a roasting bag and place in the oven. Cook for 1 hour at 180 ° C.
Sleeve baked turkey breast
Ingredients:
- 1 kg turkey breast;
- 1 cube of chicken stock;
- 300 ml of water;
- 3 tbsp. tablespoons of olive oil;
- 1 onion;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of dry greens;
- fresh herbs;
- a pinch of granulated garlic.
For the sauce:
- chicken bouillon;
- 1 tbsp. l. balsamic vinegar;
- powder for thickening the sauce.
Wash the turkey breast and wipe off the water. Prepare such a mixture - chop the onion finely, pour in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and spices to taste, add garlic, pepper, dry herbs. Stir and grate the breasts, then place in the roasting sleeve and add the broth from the cube (first dilute it in hot boiled water). Tie, make a small hole on top for steam to escape. Send the turkey in a bag to the oven and bake for 50 minutes at 180 degrees. Remove the finished breasts from the sleeve, place them on a platter and pour over the sauce made from broth, vinegar and thickening powder. Sprinkle with fresh herbs.
Baked turkey thigh in the sleeve
Ingredients:
1 kg turkey thighs
For the marinade:
- 3 tbsp. spoons of soy sauce;
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar;
- a piece of fresh ginger root;
- half a pod of hot pepper;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- 1 red bell pepper;
- greens.
Rinse the turkey thighs and pat dry. Grind ginger root, sweet and hot peppers, onions, garlic with a blender. Add soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. Pour the marinade over the turkey meat for a few hours. Turn on the oven, preheat to 200 degrees. Put the marinated turkey in a roasting sleeve, fasten the edges with special clips or tie, put on a baking sheet, cut a small hole on top for steam to escape. Cook for 1 hour.
Christmas turkey recipe tips
- Choose a turkey carcass, not a turkey, the latter has tougher meat
- Pay attention to the size if you are cooking the turkey. entirely. A large carcass is baked for a long time and may burn, but inside it may remain raw.
- For stuffing, use different fillings, for example, it turns out delicious to cook a turkey with prunes and rice.
