When it came to Christmas dinner, Dad had a lot in common with King Charles.
In our family, the prerogative of cooking Christmas dinner was held by the eldest male. My Grandfather Hurmuses (Papou) held the post until he died at 93. Then and only then, at the age of 73, was my father finally promoted to the Master of Christmas Dinner...which got later and later every year throughout his reign. Fortunately, along with change, came innovation, including this new method for cooking turkey at 400º..a big hit with my family, who have always been late to start the actual dinner preparations.
In the era of Papou, we typically had Christmas dinner on Greek time somewhere between 7pm – 8pm…which came on as late as 9pm once Dad took the helm (a good cook, but not the most efficient one).
Turkey, the fast way proved to accommodate a late start, and was also for my money, the more delicious way. This method produces an exceptionally juicy bird, with a nice crispy skin).
Ingredients
- Turkey
- Salt
- Pepper
- Sage
- Oregano
- Thyme
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º.
- Bring bird to room temperature (and definitely NOT still frozen).
- Remove the neck and innards.
- Rub the skin with butter or oil to keep it from drying and to help get a crispy skin on the bird.
- Season the bird inside and out. My family puts a mixture of salt, pepper, sage, oregano and thyme together in a shaker to season our birds with, you can use a commercial poultry seasoning if you wish.
- Place the bird on a rack in a roasting pan and cook at 15 minutes per pound (lb) for the first 10lbs, then for 7 minutes per lb for each additional lb.
- If your bird is stuffed, add another 10 minutes to the total, an extra 20 if your bird was over 20lbs before being stuffed.
- This means that a 12lb turkey would be cooked for 150 minutes for the first 10lbs, plus 15 minutes for the additional 2lbs, plus 10 minutes if stuffed, for a total of 175 minutes, or 2 hours and 55 minutes.
- Best practice for cooking a turkey is to use a good meat thermometer, inserted inside the thickest point of the thigh juncture, where the leg meets the body of the bird, but without touching any bone (bone will be at a different temperature than the meat). This will tell you when the bird is at exactly 180º
- Let the bird rest for 20 minutes before carving, or you will lose all of the juices and burn yourself in the process.
