Christmas is just days away and the pressure to serve the perfect Christmas dinner for your family or friends mounting, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
No one wants to be the person who ruins the turkey on Christmas day. Which is why Jonny Perez-Bradley, sous chef at Elmbank Hotel in York, who has been specialising in festive dining for four years, shares how you might be prepping turkey all wrong – and his recipe for cooking the perfect bird this Christmas.
“With tons of festive recipes out there, it can be difficult to know where to start to create a meal that will wow your guests,” says Perez-Bradley, who’s here to destroy the myth you need to wake up super early to prep it on the big day.
“One of the main worries we all face is managing the prime cooking time for the meat as the table centrepiece, whether that be the traditional turkey or the more cost-effective chicken,” Perez-Bradley says. “But long gone are the days of needing to wake up at 4am to prep your turkey, as there are some great tricks out there to help you get ahead and begin preparations early.”
Instead, Perez-Bradley recommends making use of all those festive ingredients you already have lying around the kitchen to create a wet brine for the turkey in advance. “By using items such as cinnamon sticks, cloves and allspice pan-fried and then boiled in water with fruit and cider, this creates a beautiful aromatic base for your turkey,” he says.
“This is such a quick and easy job for Christmas Eve then you can leave your turkey to soak for a minimum of six hours – I would recommend 24 hours if possible – and then it’s completely ready for roasting on Christmas morning.
“Your guests will be delighted with a succulent and flavoursome turkey without realising you’ve had your feet up all morning with a mince pie,” he adds.
Jonny Perez-Bradley’s aromatic turkey brine recipe
Ingredients
2 gallons of water
2.5 cups of kosher salt
1.5 cups of apple cider
5 cinnamon sticks
1.5 tablespoon of cloves
1.5 tablespoons of peppercorns
1.5 tablespoons of allspice
3 bay leaves
4 or 5 sprigs of rosemary, sage & thyme
3 oranges
3 lemons
3 apples
10 cloves of garlic
Method
- Pan fry all the spices to release the flavours.
- Bring the water to the boil in a large pan with the salt and add all the aromatics, the apple cider and sliced fruits, boil for a couple of minutes until the colour of the water changes.
- Allow the brine to cool.
- Once it’s nice and cool place your turkey in the brine and pop it in the fridge. Allow this to stand for at least six hours (24 hours recommended)
- You can now roast your turkey on Christmas morning and enjoy a well-deserved mince pie!