All round the table for Christmas dinner yesterday, there were 15 of us in all & we had a great time.
A rather stressful time cooking that large turkey.....I thought the thing was never going to get cooked. If you have never cooked a boned & rolled whole turkey before, a bit of advice put it in the oven in plenty of time!
I put ours in the electric at 220c for forty minutes, transferred it to the Aga for supposed to be four & a half hour with a final blast with the foil off for another 30 minutes. All this recommended by Mary Berry.
At 2pm it was not even on the first red marker of the meat thermometer so had to be put back in the electric oven changing the dish as the other wouldn't fit in the oven We had to squash it in a foil tin & push the side in so the door would shut.
I have never watched a meat thermometer so intensely in all my life!!
Just in time the needle rose to almost the required temperature & then as we lifted it out the fat spilled over my new suede boots & all over the floor....it only needed me to slip & fall over for it to be a complete farce!!
You can see Harry & me at the far end of the table.....I got my glass of wine & didn't move again letting the young ones do all the work.
Cathy & Garth did a tremendous job organising & getting all the food ready, they are so good at the entertaining bit.
Thankfully the whole turkey was cooked beautifully & was lovely & moist. I think it was something to do with the solidness of the whole bird....as there was no cavity in the middle containing more heat it took a long time to get going.
I think there is a possibility we might eat out next year!!
Three good things:
1. A talk on the telephone to our families in NZ , we miss them so much at this time of the year.
2. Some lovely presents!
3. A day today sitting by the fire eating chocolates & catching up with TV programmes.
Love those smiley faces in the foreground, and what a happy family shot. sounds like a nightmare with the turkey. Ours was almost 20 lb, in the oven at 7.50am then out about 1.40pm. Done to a T - thankfully - courtesy of Delia.
Good on you Pat, it is stressful cooking such a large turkey. You San Cook it in your simmer oven overnight, may be the way forward next year,poor suede boots!! What a happy looking family, well done Pat. Turkey fricasse tonight?
@lucypics That will be tomorrow Lucy....have just had it cold today. I did once think of cooking it in the simmer oven but mine is an old cooker & it doesn't get hot enough down there ...I can just about finish a rice pudding off & that is it! All forgotten now but when there are folk waiting it does get a little stressful!! We did consider replacing our Aga with an electric version , more receptive to oven temp changes but in the end I preferred a constant warm kitchen to the advantages of modern technology!!
Looks like a great xmas, even though with the turkey drama,.. that why I enjoy we mostly have cold meats and salads.. not too much stress on the day...
Looks like fun! You should have gone with Delia's 7 hours! I think you're right about the boned and rolled though - it makes it trickier. I didn't quite get up to turkey temp on the thermometer but Peter had been listening to Anthony Worrall Thompson in the car on the way up and his said you only need 72C so I went in between! Love all the young ones at one end having a good time.
Talk about a long lunch! This was obviously one! So much on the table too! That same experience happened to me with a duck - wild. We had it for dinner instead of lunch! We had a family skype last night - Napier, Japan, British Virgin Islands - our Xmas get together!
What a cheerful family Christmas shot! You've reminded me of my mother getting up at some unearthly hour to start the turkey cooking. Glad yours was OK in the end and hope the boots will survive.
What a lovely picture full of happiness, isn't it amazing what we put ourselves through to get just one meal on the table, loved the back story although I was sorry to hear about the fat spilling on your new boots.
Lovely warm shot. Such fun. Thanks for sharing -- and sharing your narrative. I helped my son roast his first turkey, and dinner ended up being quite a bit late. Oh well, certainly delicious. Merry Christmas, Pat!
Really nice family gathering shot! Looks like you had an awesome Christmas!
Life gets hectic at this time of the year. I have not been able to view or comment on all your great photos lately. I have missed my time on 365.
Hope to get back to it in the New Year.
Until then, wishing you the very Merriest Belated Christmas, and all the best of the New Year!
Wendy
Well I can relate to the fact that cooking for a large group can be very stressful. You want everything to be just right, and then when you have something like that, wow, that really turns up the heat, but I'm sure it all turned out great. They all look happy.
Lol did so love the story of that fat ole bird! I have never cooked a turkey in my life. I went with Cola Chicken Nibbles. They took 3 hours so they get all sticky and divine.
What a lovely family shot. Such a special time and yes I know what it's like to have others on the other side of the world and how they are missed. I did it to my mother and father for 7 years when I lived away from NZ.
Thank goodness for Skype nowadays.
Hope you can fix the suede boots!
Life gets hectic at this time of the year. I have not been able to view or comment on all your great photos lately. I have missed my time on 365.
Hope to get back to it in the New Year.
Until then, wishing you the very Merriest Belated Christmas, and all the best of the New Year!
Wendy
New year
What a lovely family shot. Such a special time and yes I know what it's like to have others on the other side of the world and how they are missed. I did it to my mother and father for 7 years when I lived away from NZ.
Thank goodness for Skype nowadays.
Hope you can fix the suede boots!