Expert butcher’s top tips for cooking your Christmas meat

Richard Turner, co-founder of London’s expert butchers Turner & George, has offered his top tips for perfect meat cookery this Christmas.

Richard is a voice of authority in the field given his background as the founding chef at renowned steakhouse Hawksmoor, as well as previously working at Blacklock and bringing the Meatopia festival to the UK.

He is currently reigniting Bodean’s BBQ restaurant menu, alongside his work at Turner & George.

Here are Richard’s tips this festive season.

How to avoid a dry turkey this Christmas

• The single best thing you can do for a juicy turkey is to brine it overnight in a 3% salt solution.
• For extra flavour add aromatics such as bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic, thyme, rosemary, citrus peel or juniper berries.
• Start cooking early the next day at a low temperature, around 140 degrees. Roast until the internal temperature reaches 70 degrees at the thigh joint. This gentle heat ensures the meat stays moist rather than seizing and drying out.
• Once it hits 70 degrees at the thigh joint, switch off the oven and let the turkey rest in the warm oven for around 20 minutes, allowing the juices to redistribute, making the bird far more succulent.
• The turkey will continue to rise in temperature as it sits in the warm oven, and once it reaches 72 degrees at the thigh joint and has sufficiently rested, it is perfect.

Alternative meat options

If turkey isn’t the star of your table this year, there are brilliant alternatives depending on the size of your gathering.

Some of the meats that appear on my table are a beautifully cooked pork shoulder or loin, especially with crackling.

Goose is also a great option as it is rich, festive, and perfect for slightly smaller groups as a whole goose usually serves fewer people than a turkey.

Or a glazed Christmas ham also works for large parties or intimate festive gatherings, and it doubles as excellent leftovers.

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Top side dishes

• To make your pigs in blankets extra tasty, cook the bacon for the pigs in blankets in a pan, and use the same pan to roast your Brussels sprouts until they are golden brown. You can do this with root vegetables too.
• For my stuffing, I’ll use broken-up sourdough, chunks of onion and a really good sausage meat. Stuffed inside a bird, the sourdough helps soak up and reduce some of the juices. Don’t make your stuffing too refined, it’s better rustic.

What to do with leftovers

Potting meats is an excellent way of keeping leftover goose, ham, or turkey, but you do need to think ahead, and buy goose or duck fat before the festivities take over the shops shut.

• First, I strip the carcass of all meat and place it in a cast iron casserole dish. I then chuck in the gravy and chop in any leftover stuffing and, in the unlikely event that any are still left by this point, even pigs in blankets.
• Top this off with a tin of goose or duck fat, cover, and place in a low oven around 120 degrees, overnight.
• The following morning, remove from the oven and mix thoroughly to redistribute the fat and meat, any gravy should have reduced to an intensely salty goo.
• Taste to make sure it’s not under-seasoned, and if it is then correct this.
• Pack this into glass jars and cover with a layer of goose fat to seal, then refrigerate for a few days to allow the potted meat to mature.
• If you want to keep it for longer than a few days, you can sterilise your sealed jars in a cardboard-lined pan of boiling water, or in a steamer.