Turkey is the traditional meat to eat at Christmas, but it wasn’t always this way.
As recently as the 1950’s, turkey was a luxury that few could afford, and goose was the more commonly eaten Christmas meat.
Turkeys were brought to the UK for the first time less than 500 years ago, when the first produce began to arrive back in England from America.
Henry VIII was the first monarch to eat turkey at Christmas, and until then most people had enjoyed goose, capon and boar – or even peacock and swan for the very rich!
However, due to better refrigeration and increased turkey numbers bringing the prices down, turkey is now the most popular choice for Christmas dinner.
There are in fact so many turkeys to choose from it can be a daunting task! If you’re looking to buy a turkey for Christmas we would advise you to buy a Bronze or Black-feathered variety. These are slow-growing, and are renowned for having a fuller flavour and keeping more moist than their white-feathered cousins.
Also, always choose a free-range bird if possible as they will have led a stress-free, happy and very natural life, with their welfare paramount.
Turkey is prone to drying out if overcooked and it is a difficult task to cook the bird through properly and avoid very dry meat.
We recommend covering in butter, including putting it under the skin over the breasts, covering with rashers of streaky bacon, and wrapping in foil for most of the cooking time.
Once your Christmas turkey is cooked, remove it from the oven, cover and leave to rest for around 30 minutes, as this will allow the juices to settle and go back into the meat to help keep it moist.
You can order a turkey online from Keevil and Keevil for delivery right up until 23rd December. As turkey is officially classed as game it has a much longer shelf life than chicken or duck, and all turkeys delivered from 13th December will have a best before date of Boxing Day or later.
Our turkeys are free-range Bronze-feathered and from Surrey. We pride ourselves on the welfare standards that our turkeys are reared under, and think you won’t find a better bird to serve on Christmas Day.
For more information please see:
Keevils’ Bronze Turkeys
1st December 2016
