Now we're going to show you how to make the perfect Christmas or Thanksgiving bird today. It's a turkey I'm sure a few times you have cooked it, it's either ended up too dry, it's maybe taken a long time to cook. We're going to keep it very simple and stuff with a really flavorsome stuffing. It's going to be fantastic.
So to start that stuffing, some bread. It doesn't matter if it's couple of days old. That's going to go into that stuffing and moisten up. It's probably better, if it's crusty bread. So the first thing we're going to do is just take those crusts off. Now we're just going to dice it up quite roughly and we are actually going to soak it in a little bit of booze. I am just going to lay that for about 10 minutes, that would soften up and that would give a real nice body to the stuffing, just roughly chopped into our bowl.
Now what I've got, a little bit of Cognac and a little bit of pork. I am just going to soak the bread basically in that, about three or four minutes just until it starts to soften up and break down a little bit. So just mix that together. We are just going to set that side for a couple of minutes. Now we're going to start adding some great flavors in there. I am going to start off with few chestnuts. Now basically I have just got these out of like a vacuum pack today. They come ready prepared, really, really handy. You'd also find them intense, if you are doing them fresh, just boil them up and get them ready like that but I really find that these are nice and handy, great flavors.
So just a rough chop, the first ingredient into our stuffing. Now the next one that I am going to add are some prunes. Now basically just rough chop again and it's going to be quite a rusty earthy stuffing. So you don't mind if you got those nice pieces in there because once you bite into, they are going to be great flavor. Same thing with the apples. Just taking the core out, basically peel them and dice them. Make sure you do this towards the end, because they we'll start to lose a bit of their color. So in they go.
Also got some great fresh herbs. First of all, just add some sage leaves, just roughly chop them up. In they go. I'm also going to pick in a few fresh thyme leaves. Now when you are picking a thyme leaf, I have got the whole bunch, what I am going to do is up at the end, grab it and just pull all the way back and that leaves you with just the little leaves. And the last ingredient that I am going to add is basically sausage meat. Now I went down and got some Italian sausages and what happens is they are big fat ones and they are in the casing. I just split the casing with a knife and just basically took this skin off and I'm left with the sausage meat from the inside.
So in that goes. I am also going to be very generous with the salt, just quite a big amount of seasoning there. So just some sea salt in there and to finish it up just a little bit of cracked black pepper. Now sometimes when you actually open up the turkey, they will have the giblets in there, the liver. Basically what I would do is I would chop up the liver and put it in there is as well, don't have for today. So we're just going to keep it, as it is.
So I'd just basically mix that for about two minutes until it all combines together, then we have a great stuffing and we can move on to start putting it into the bird. Now, I've got the two main components ready, I have got the turkey and I've got the lovely stuffing. Just a couple of the little parts that I am going to add to that. I've got some very simple vegetables, an onion, carrot and some celery. What we're going to use those for is basically just an extra little flavor and then this sauce. So, I'm going to chop them very roughly and just basically spread them around my tray.
And what I am actually going to do, very useful actually this, the turkey is actually just going to sit slightly on top of those, so it's not actually touching the bottom and it won't catch on that heat coming from the bottom of your oven. And basically we're ready to move on our turkey. I want to tell you a couple of interesting tips about it.
What I've got here today is a really small turkey. It's about 3.5 kilos 6 pounds. Now why go ahead and buy one of those huge turkeys that a) you are going to have trouble getting into your oven, b) you might not be the best chef in the world and it worries you getting it nice and juicy, because they can really dry out. So I really recommend that you get one of these little fellows. If that's not enough for you, just get two or even the three of the, and they will fit really easy into your oven, they will be lovely and juicy and the young bird has got much more flavor. A little tip for you, we're going to take out that little wishbone; wishbone is at the very back.
The reason for taking that out is it's a lot easier to carve, once outside you can carve it much more simpler. If you are not comfortable doing this, it's not the end of the world if you don't. But you just see that knife, we run it on both sides and then you just need to get your hands in there. Now obviously you need to make sure your hands are so, so clean before you start working with the turkey.
Now those are wishbone. It's just to save you a lot of other later on. Now what I am going to do is I'm just going to pop open the cavity there, and you can see right down inside, it's nice and clean. So we are just going to basically start stuffing our bird. In it goes. Now when you are working with any sort of poultry, turkey, any fresh meats or fish, it's so important that your hands are clean. Now a lot of people say, it's a little bit dangerous to stuff the bird. I don't think so. If you have a little bird like this and as long as you use a little meat thermometer, pop it right into the center of the stuffing and the core center is a 165 degrees right in the middle of that stuffing. You're laughing.
So basically pack that right in. Now you can see today that this little string here is holding those legs together perfectly. If that's not on the bird already, just a little bit cooking string and wrap them up and tie them in the center. Because it's very important when you are cooking a bird that's it's nice and uniform like that. The little wings, tuck them in underneath. Now we are ready to basically season that up and pop it on to our tray. So I'm just going to wash my hands before I get my hands into that salt.
Now the first thing that I'm going to do with the bird is basically season it up. So starting up with the black pepper, generous amount all over. And next thing, because my hands are now nice and clean, I can dip them into the salt and give it a very generous season. Now the salt does two things, because it's coarse sea salt, basically it will season it up and secondly it will draw out any moisture and we will get a lovely crispy skin on it. So just pat it down into any of those little crevasses.
Now we are just going to give that tray tiny little bit of oil to make sure those vegetables don't stick and then we can lift our bird up on top. Now I have also got some butter. I am just going to take tiny little bit up on top of the bird and we're just going to rub that in, just using your hands. So you can see why it's so important to basically have really clean hands here. Now just a few nice little knobs down into those crevasses. Be very, very generous with the butter. It's after all Christmas or Thanksgiving. So we're not going to skimp on anything at all, just rub that in. That's really just going to base down into and cook and really have that lovely brown skin.
One last thing to do, a little bit of my stuffing left over, I'm just going to pick this separately just to show you that it can be done. Maybe you're not comfortable with the stuffing being inside the bird. So we will just put it into a little bread tin just like that and one thing that you have to do here is just make sure it's evenly distributed.
Now with this stuffing inside the bird, that's going to have loads of moisture when the juice is coming out of it. We're going to have to help this one a little bit, so it doesn't dry out. So just a few little lumps of butter over the top. As I said it's definitely sinful, but that's the time of the year when you can be forgiven. Just this once for having something fantastic.
Now really looking great. I think we're just about ready to start cooking it up. So now our bird's been in there for a little while. Now it's very important that every 20 minutes you just tip that tray down ever so slightly and you're going to get those lovely juices that have come out of the turkey. So what we're doing here is a process called basing. I'm just basically taking that liquid and putting it over the top of the bird. That helps keep it nice and moist. We're also going to ensure that it's got great color on it all over.
But you can see because it has been cooking for a while, thanks to the salt and the butter. We did that wonderful brown even color over the top. Now I'm just going to grab a little piece of tin foil and basically just pop that up on top of the breast. We're keeping the legs exposed. Now what that does is it ensures that the bird is going to keep cooking but it also makes sure that we're not going to get anymore color up on top and get it burnt. Also, at this stage, I've got my stuffing that I cooked separately. You can see that that's golden brown, perfectly cooked. We're going to take that out and put it to one side. So I close that up and make sure you keep visiting the turkey once every 20 minutes.
So you are taking the turkey out of the oven and you can see lovely and golden brown all over. If you're not sure that it's cooked, little thermometer turning the back of it there, up into stuffing, make sure that it's like I said 165 degrees. Now I'm just going to transfer it very carefully using the carving tongs and a tea towel on to a separate plate. Now I'm just going to set that to one side and basically let it rest. When you rest a turkey, very, very important part of the whole cooking process. There is plenty of heat left in there. So we can literally rest it for 20, 30 minutes on the site, just a little bit tin foil over the top and that'll ensure that your meat is lovely and really, really moist. So now I am moving on to the gravy.
Now we're going to use all those lovely flavors that are in here. There is definitely some fat in there but I'm going to show you how to skim that off. Make sure you get every last piece of goodness dripping in there. Now we're also going to add into that our red wine and our brined chicken stock. Now if are not sure how to make the brined chicken sauce, there is a separate recipe that accompanies this. It really will make a huge difference making your own one at home from scratch. And of course you don't need to do this on the day, a week beforehand, make up a little part, freeze it, put it in your fridge, takes a lot of the hassle out of the whole Christmas dinner. But as I said, it will make such a difference in your gravy.
So in that goes. Now we're going to get that on a pretty decent heat and we're going to do a process which is basically called re-juicing it. So I'm going to turn that up. Now in a few minutes time, I'm going to show how to just skim that and get rid of all the fat and impurities. Now you can see at the very top that's been reducing down for a couple of minutes. We've got what's basically a layer of fat at the top and some little impurities that have come out of that bird. So basically just using your little spoon, if you look - just put the spoon there, I'm taking the top level off. Now the top level is what all the fat and the impurities have risen to in that gravy.
We don't want to go down any deeper because down below is the lovely flavorsome gravy where all the goodness is. Now this is basically going to reduce to about a quarter of its original size. And what you're going to end up is possibly the most flavorsome gravy you could ever imagine. Now, the next stage, we want to get rid of all those vegetables that are in there. So through a little sieve now what we are left with is basically a pot that's full of complete and utter goodness. It's a really, really good gravy.
One last thing that I want to do, it's still a little bit thin. Now there are two options that you can use here. First one, is you can use roux which is basically butter cooked out with the flour that we can add in a couple of different recipes. But I am actually going to use cornflour today. I'm going to add in some water. If you put the cornflour straight in, you would end up a really lumpy gravy. So it's very important to dilute it first with a little bit of that water.
Another very important factor is we bring the gravy back up to the boil. You don't want to put the cornflour in when it's not boiling. It's very, very important. So, I am going to pour it in and just about a quarter at the start off and whisk continuously, you don't want any lumps, if you didn't whisk that's what would happen. So cornflour goes in, I'm already whisking. That's about a quarter of it.
So basically you can see that's thickening up a little bit but I'm still not happy. I want it just that little bit thicker. And this is where you can play around with it. If you prefer a thicker gravy, more cornflour. If you want it a little bit more runny, don't put as much in. If it ever gets too thick on you, just add in another little bit of stock or even just a little bit of water to thin it out. That is looking absolutely delicious. I am getting the most amazing odors coming off it. And if I just poured in sauce bowl you can see that lovely gravy consistency. All we have to do now is basically get our bird and serve it up to the whole family who are waiting outside.
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