If you buy your turkey fresh, most likely from a butcher then you are ready to begin cooking it. If, on the other hand it is frozen you will need to ensure that it is thoroughly defrosted first. A turkey is a bird that people often concern themselves with cooking, from fear that they will not do it correctly. By following a few simple rules and ensuring that turkey cooking times are properly adhered to you will run in to no trouble at all. The cooking time will ultimately depend on the size of the turkey and whether or not you have stuffed it.
Turkey cooking times will depend on the temperature you are cooking it at. To ensure it is cooked all of the way through usually you will need to cook it at 160C for the majority of the cooking time. You can obviously look at the packaging for advice if you have bought the turkey from a supermarket, or ask your butcher if you have bought it from there. Although usually 160C is the optimum temperature, you make like to turn the oven up full for the first twenty minutes of cooking to crisp up the skin.
The roasting tin should be deep enough for the turkey to be stable and to enable you to be able to handle it safely when putting it in and out of the oven. A tin about two to three inches deep is usually sufficient. Put a rack in the bottom of the tin so the turkey does not sit in its own juices during cooking. You can stuff the bird with a stuffing of your choice, bearing in mind that overall turkey cooking times will need to be adjusted to take account of this, usually by adding an extra thirty minutes. As turkey is a bird that can easily dry out you may like to smother the skin in butter, or put butter under the skin to keep it moist during cooking. Cover it with a layer of tin foil, do not wrap it tightly but lay it over loosely, this will also help to prevent it from drying out. You can take this off when the turkey has about an hour left to cook.
Turkey cooking times do not take account of the variation in different ovens; the temperature on the dial may not necessarily be accurate to the temperature inside the oven. You could use an oven thermometer, although these are notoriously inaccurate. By far the best way to check that the turkey is properly cooked is to use a meat thermometer. You can pierce the thickest part of the meat and take a reading to ensure that the internal temperature is as required; the thermometer will usually have an indicator of the temperature required for different types of meat. Also ensure that the juices run clear and there are no traces of blood. If it needs a bit longer cooking, return it to the often for a short while and then retest.
