You’ve brined and stuffed your turkey, now it’s ready for the oven. But first, there’s a crucial step towards a moist and delicious turkey that I suspect gets overlooked by cooks everywhere, and that’s bringing the bird to room temperature before roasting. To quell your fears, a well-brined, healthy turkey will not spontaneously become infected with unhealthy levels of bacteria in the time it is sitting on your bench waiting to be cooked (although I should say, as per good food safety practice, this period should never extend past 3 hours).

The other misunderstanding is that bringing it to room temperature can happen in 15 minutes. It may take an hour or more to remove that harsh chill from a large bird so it feels just gently cool to the touch. Christmas Day SOS: How to fix soggy spuds, dry turkey, rubbery crackling and more common cooking fails Pat it very dry before putting it in the roasting pan, on a roasting rack, breast side up.

Just before popping it in the oven, brush it with some melted butter all over the exterior. I don’t subscribe to theories about cooking large turkeys breast side down at first, as the thought of flipping a really large hot bird that is coated in butter sounds both dangerous and messy and I will almost certainly tear the beautiful skin, which I want to be intact at the end. How long should I cook my turkey? As for oven temperature, I like to start cooking the bird at 180C fan-forced (200C conventional) for about the first 15 minutes an.