We all want to know how to cook the perfect turkey for our Christmas dinner - and avoiding common errors such as overcooking can be tricky.
If the success of your whole Christmas dinner hangs on pulling off this one roasting challenge, here are the five things to avoid.
1. Underestimating your turkey
Turkeys can be big! Before you bring home a bird that won't fit in the freezer, fridge or oven, be sure to measure up.
MORE: YOUR EASY CHRISTMAS DINNER TIME PLAN
2. Forgetting to properly defrost your bird
It can take at least a couple of days for a large bird to thaw, so remember to pop it at the bottom of your fridge well in advance of Christmas Day.
MORE: THIS IS WHY WE EAT TURKEY AT CHRISTMAS
3. Forgetting to take your turkey out of the fridge
Your turkey needs to reach a temperature of 74 degrees during cooking, which will take longer if it starts from fridge cold. Take your turkey out of the fridge (see above) an hour before cooking, to avoid your whole Christmas dinner being pushed back an hour.
4. Overcooking the turkey
Nobody wants dry turkey! Make sure you check the timings and heat settings before you start roasting your bird, and take it easy on the festive bubbly until you're done basting.
MORE : GOOD HOUSEKEEPING'S ULTIMATE TURKEY GUIDE
5. Undercooking the turkey
Short of burning your bird, this might be the worst turkey fail of all! Don't forget to weigh the turkey once stuffed with sausage meat (which needs to cook as well) and calculating the cooking time for the whole stuffed bird.
Got any top turkey tips to share? Tweet us @GHmagazine
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An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
