The turkey appeared on Christmas tables in England in the 16th century, and popular history tells of King Henry VIII being the first English monarch to have turkey for Christmas.
About 10 million turkeys eaten on christmas in Uk alone. From UK the tradition has spread to americas .Today i am going to give you a recipe for traditional british christmas turkey .
The secret of turkey is covering turkey with bacon and lay it on shallots bed before baking .
serves ; 6
cooking time ; 5 hours
ingredients
1 turkey of approximately 6 kilos.
1 package of bacon or smoked bacon (about 14 slices).
1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Black pepper
Sea salt
butter
1 large garlic clove.
1 tablespoon thyme leaves.
Zest of 1 lemon.
100 g of soft butter.
shallots
400 g of peeled shallots.
1 handful of thyme sprigs.
1 handful of bay leaves
lemon that we grated, cut in to halves
preparation
A day or two before cooking, season the turkey intensively with sea salt, inside, outside and under the skin. Store in the refrigerator breast side up; the longer you leave it salting in this way, the tastier the end result will be: that's the secret of the English.
Grind the garlic with the thyme, lemon zest and a pinch of salt in a mortar, then beat the mixture with the butter until smooth. It is also advisable to prepare it a couple of days before and cool it well.
Put your hands very carefully under the skin of the turkey, until it has entered the entire length of the breast, taking care not to break the skin. That way, spread the butter until it covers the breast between the meat and the skin, reserving a tablespoon for the shallots.
Carefully put the bacon or bacon slices under the skin, until they cover the entire breast. This can be done the night before, but remember to take the turkey out of the refrigerator an hour before putting it in the oven, because it should be at room temperature when cooking begins.
When the day of preparation comes, put the whole shallots in a bowl with the thyme, bay leaf and the reserved tablespoon of butter, and mix all the ingredients well.
Put the turkey in a large roasting pan, rub the skin with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Surround it with the shallots , and cover the cavities with the lemon halves. Cover loosely with aluminum foil, and cook for about four hours in a preheated 180 degree oven.
During the last half hour, remove the aluminum foil, drain all the cooking juice, and reserve it for the sauce.
Spoon the shallots into the turkey, and increase the oven temperature to 200 degrees. Grill it for those last few minutes until it looks golden and the juice of the bird runs clear when you pierce them. If you have a digital thermometer, wait until it reaches 70 degrees.
Let the turkey rest for half an hour covered with aluminum foil. Don't worry, it will stay warm for about an hour.
To prepare the sauce, put the cooking juices on the heat until they boil and put them in a sauce boat. If you prefer, you can add flour to thicken it, but it should be done before it boils so that no lumps form.
Bring the whole turkey to the table, chop it up and serve the portions with sauce.
All leftovers, including the sauce, can be frozen .
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