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Tried & Tested Christmas Turkeys 2017

The Good Housekeeping Institute's testers have sampled this year's Christmas offerings. Which turkey is tasty enough to be the centrepiece of your Christmas dinner?
By GHI Team
Dish, Food, Cuisine, Ingredient, Turkey meat, Drunken chicken, Garnish, Meat, Hendl, Produce,
1

Winner: Marks & Spencer British Oakham Turkey Crown with Pork, Sage & Onion Stuffing with Bacon Lattice

Cuisine, Food, Dish, Ingredient, Meat, Garnish, Roasting, Red meat, Ham, Veal,

A great centrepiece which is full of flavour, from the salty bacon lattice decoration to herby sage and onion stuffing. The meat was juicy and tender.

£27 for 1.68kg

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2

Runner-Up: Marks & Spencer British Whole Turkey (Stock Basted)

Dish, Food, Cuisine, Ingredient, Turkey meat, Roasting, Hendl, Garnish, Produce, Duck meat,

A big bird, so great for a large gathering. It’s simple and lets you add you own stuffing – the skin was crisp and its basted in stock to enhance the flavour.

£11.25 for 3kg

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3

Runner-Up: COOK Stuffed Crown of Turkey

Dish, Food, Cuisine, Ingredient, Meat, Roasting, Produce, Pork loin, Kassler, Recipe,

Smokey, honey flavour from the bacon and the stuffing is full of apples, cranberries as well as sage. It’s prettily dressed with an orange slice and rosemary.

£45.00 for 2.10kg 

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4

Runner-Up: Tesco Class A Medium Ready Basted Turkey Crown

Drink,

Lovely crispy skin with slightly sweet meat and a buttery aroma. Some parts were a little dry though.

£13 for 2.3kg

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5

Runner-Up: Sainsbury's Whole Basted British Turkey

Product, Bin bag,

A bronzed bird that looks perfect for a feast – the skin is salty and there’s juicy and tender dark meat. Although the white meat was a little dry.

£19.50 for 5.3kg

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6

Best of the rest: Iceland Luxury Butter Basted Turkey Joint with Pig in Blanket Stuffing

Food, Dish, Pork loin, Cuisine, Ingredient, Porchetta, Meat, Salo, Ham, Pork,

A small turkey but there’s tasty stuffing and it’s nicely decorated with orange and rosemary, so looks the part. The bacon is full of flavour but the turkey itself was lacking. The meat was moist depending on what part you got.

£15 for 1.5kg 

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7

Lidl Braemoor Small Self-Basting Turkey

Food,

Golden skin and with a lovely fresh aroma and melt in the mouth meat – but could be a little chewy depending on what part of the bird you got.

£8.99 for 4kg

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8

Morrisons Frozen Turkey Crown

Dish, Food, Turkey meat, Roasting, Hendl, Roast goose, Cuisine, Duck meat, Ingredient, Drunken chicken,

Testers loved its sweet, fatty aroma. The meat itself was rather bland. The turkey wasn't crispy and a little on the dry side.

£20 for 2.6kg 

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9

Iceland Luxury Golden Gilded Turkey

Dish, Cuisine, Food, Ingredient, Comfort food, Produce, Chicken meat, Garnish, Hendl, Duck meat,

The sticky marmalade tasting glaze divided some of the panel – some love it, others thought it too sweet. Most testers found the meat a little dry.

£15 for 3.5kg

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10

Aldi Large British Turkey Crown

Dish, Hendl, Food, Turkey meat, Roast goose, Cuisine, Roasting, Ingredient, Drunken chicken, Chicken meat,

Great skin with a lovely fatty flavour but the meat lacked flavour. But it was agreed that it was nothing a generous serving of gravy couldn’t solve.

£12.99 for 2.8kg

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11

Tesco Turkey Paupiette

Food, Cuisine, Dish, Ingredient, Stollen, Fruit cake, Gluten, Baked goods, Dessert, Produce,

The meat was juicy and the sage and garlic aroma from the stuffing was a hit.

£6 for 800g

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