Turkey Breast and Brined Turkey Queries

Asked by foodiemummy. Answered on 19th December 2015

Full question

I am planning to cook Nigella's turkey breast stuffed with italian sausage and my question is do I buy a 5kg breast joint and then asked for it to be boned, or should it be 5kg after being boned? I have never cooked on Christmas day!

I would like to make the Spiced And Superjuicy Turkey. Can I use Kosher salt in place of Maldon salt to brine my turkey?

Do you cover the Spiced And Superjuicy turkey during cooking?

Hello, if I roast a brined turkey crown, should I cook it on a rack or a bed of vegtables (might be waste with all the salt from the brine) or directly on the roasting pan? Just curious as there are so many opinions out there and I would like to do Nigella's turkey justice!

Good afternoon Team. I want to cook Nigella's Spiced And Superjuicy Turkey this year but will be using a two oven AGA (roasting and simmering ovens). You usually put a large Turkey (to feed 12) in the top Roasting oven for an hour to bring up to temp and brown before transferring it to the slow cook simmering oven for around 12 hours. Could you please advise me on how the turkey in this recipe should be cooked utilising my AGA! Kind regards, Ross

Our answer

Nigella's Turkey Breast Stuffed With Italian Sausage And Marsala Steeped Cranberries (from Nigellissima and on the Nigella website) specifies a 5kg (11-pound) turkey breast that is boned, butterfiied and has the skin left on. the weight is given before the bone is removed.

For this recipe it is important that the skin is left on the turkey breast and it is usually easier to find the skin on if you buy a whole double breast on the bone (sometimes called a turkey crown). It may also be easiest to order this in advance from a good butcher, unless you are confident in your own knife skills. As turkey sizes vary it will not matter too much if the breast is not exactly 5kg, but try to get one as close to this size as possible.

Nigella uses Maldon sea salt flakes as it is readily available where she lives and dissolves easily. However you can use kosher salt as an alternative. The volume of salt is the same as for the sea salt flakes if using Crystal Diamond brand and 3/4 cup if using Morton's.

The Spiced And Superjuicy Turkey is not covered during cooking. The brining process helps to prevent the turkey from drying out during its time in the oven. You could roast the turkey or a brined crown, on a bed of vegetables, however the juices from the turkey are usually be too salty to make a pan gravy. So it may not be that worthwhile using the vegetables. We would suggest that you make the gravy separately and perhaps try Nigella's Allspice Gravy (from Christmas and on the Nigella website).

Unfortunately we do not have much experience of cooking with AGAs and other similar range cookers so we regret that we are unable to give advice on how to cook the Spiced And Superjuicy Turkey. However the British Turkey website has directions on how to cook turkeys using an AGA so you may wish to refer to their advice.