Festive Roast Turkey

Festive roast turkey with herb butter, crisp golden skin and moist meat.

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Roasting by internal temperature rather than time alone protects the breast from drying out while ensuring the bird is safely cooked.

Ingredients

• 1 whole turkey, about 5 kg, fully thawed
• 120 g softened butter
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped thyme
• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary
• 1 lemon, halved
• 1 onion, quartered
• 500 ml chicken stock
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Step-by-step method

1. Remove the turkey from the refrigerator about 45 minutes before cooking. Heat the oven to 190°C conventional or 170°C fan.
2. Remove the neck and giblets if present, pat the turkey very dry inside and out, and never rinse raw poultry.
3. Mix butter with parsley, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper; carefully loosen the breast skin and rub some butter underneath and the rest over the outside.
4. Place lemon and onion loosely in the cavity, set the turkey breast-side up on a rack in a roasting pan and pour stock into the pan.
5. Roast for about 2.5–3 hours, tenting loosely with foil if the skin browns too quickly and adding a little water if the pan dries.
6. Check with a thermometer in the thickest breast and thigh areas without touching bone; continue cooking until the turkey reaches a safe minimum of 74°C.
7. Rest loosely covered for at least 30 minutes before carving so the juices redistribute through the meat.