Please find below our cooking instructions for our meat this Christmas.
You can download and print all the instructions on the right corner of this page, under the section 'Download'. 
 

Merry Christmas to all our lovely customers.

 

Quick access : 

Turkey

Leave your turkey outside the fridge within an ambient temperature for at least 30min before cooking. Season the turkey before cooking (salt. pepper, herbs). If using, wrap your turkey with pancetta or bacon to keep it extra moist. Use a large roasting tin and place your bird upside down; this will help the juices to run to the breast of the meat keeping it moist. 

Pre-heat your oven and cook at 180C under the foil and baste regularly. 
Calculate approximately 40min per KG, or 45min per KG if the turkey is over 4KG. 
Remove the foil 30min before the end of the cooking time. 
Juices should run clear (rather than pink), if not continue cooking and check every 5min. 

Let rest for 30-45min before serving under the foil. 

Ideal internal temperature is 65-70C+ for Free Range Turkey, and 74C + for all other turkeys. 

To make a gravy: 

Add some roughly cut vegetables in the tin before cooking the turkey (carrots, onions, garlic, celery, etc.) and some herbs (thyme, bay leaf, Herbs de Provence, etc) and season well with salt and pepper. For a bit more flavour you can also add mustard and olive oil on your turkey (under the pancetta). Add a glass of water in the tin, then place your turkey on top of the vegetables. 

If using gibblets, place them in a saucepan with 2 large glasses of water. Add some herbs such as thyme, bay leaf, etc. and some onions and let it boils. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. 

Once the turkey is cooked, keep all the vegetables and juices, and place the roasting tin on your hob, or transfer to a pan. Add some turkey or chicken stock, around 3tbsp of flour and a large glass of white wine. If using, strain the gibblets stock and add it to the pan. Let it simmer and then reduce heat, leave it to cook gently while you are looking after the rest of your dinner and the gravy will thicken. When ready to serve, taste your gravy and season furthermore with salt and pepper if needed, then sieve the juice and serve.

Turkey Crown

Take your turkey crown outside of the fridge, at room temperature, for at least 20min before cooking. Use this time to do your butter spread. You can use herbs (thyme, rosemary & parsley are great together) and add salt and pepper. Spread the mixture under the skin of the turkey. To keep it extra moist, you can cover it with pancetta or bacon. 

Pre-heat your oven and cook at 190C under the foil. Calculate approx. 20min per KG then add some extra time:
If the total weight is under 4KG, add 70min to the total.
If it's over 4kg, add 90min to the total. 

Keep basting regularly to avoid it getting dry. Baste once half way through if using pancetta or bacon. 

Remove the foil 30min before the end of cooking time and raise temperature to 200C.

Juices should run clear (rather than pink), if not continue cooking and check every 5min. 

Let rest for 15-20min under the foil. 

Ideal internal temperature : rise to 74C.

To make a gravy: 

Cut and cook some onions in olive oil and add 3tbsp on white wine. Let it boil and then lower the heat, add some herbs (such as thyme, rosemary or bay leaves) and let it reduces. Add some chicken or turkey stock and boil again until reduced by half. Add the turkey pan juices, let it boil then add about 3tbsp of flour, reduce the heat and let the gravy thicken. Season with salt and pepper if needed and strain before serving.

Turkey Rolled Breast

Leave your turkey outside the fridge within an ambient temperature for at least 30min before cooking.
Pre-heat your oven and cook at 190C. Calculate approx. 40min per KG and add 20min to the total. 

Rest for 30min under the foil, in a warm place. 

Ideal internal temperature should rise to 70C. 

To make a gravy: 

We recommend doing a simple gravy to serve with your turkey rolled breast. Cook some onions in olive oil and add a large glass of white wine with any remaining juices from the turkey breast. Let it reduces by half, then add some chicken or turkey stock (use the same quantity as you did for the wine) and repeat. Add about 130ml of double cream, season to taste with salt and pepper and let it reduces and strain before serving. You can add some parsley at the end if you wish.

Goose

Pre-heat your oven and cook for 10min at 240C, then reduce to 190C. Calculate approx. 20min per KG for medium rare or 32min per KG for well done. 

Gently score the breast and leg skin (criss-cross) with the tip of a shark knife to help the fat to render down during roasting. Start seasonning your goose (You can use salt, pepper, lemons, limes, spices, honey and herbs such as thyme) by gently rubbing the your choosen seasonning both into the skin, as well as inside of the cavity. For extra flavours, add some mustard inside of the cavity. Keep basting every 30min or so. 

Let it rest for 30min under the foil. 

Ideal internal temperature : over 74C. 

To make a gravy: 

We recommend to try a cider gravy with your goose. Alternatively, check our Chicken or Turkey Rolled Breast recipes for more gravy ideas. 

Start your gravy while the goose is roasting. Heat some sunflower oil in a pan and add pieces of goose neck (if you have) when the oil is really hot. Fry until browned and caramelised. Add two carrots and two onions to the pan (start here if you don't have the goose neck), fry them for about 10 mins until brown. Add some fresh thyme, pour over 500ml of cider and boil down by about two-thirds. Skim off any froth coming to the top. Add about 1l of chicken stock and let it reduces by half, then strain and set aside. When your goose is ready, pour out the fat (you can leave about 2tbsp of fat in it) and place the roasting tin on the heat. Add 3-4tbsp of flour to make a paste and start adding your cider stock until it makes a smooth gravy. Taste and season again if needed. Strain one last time before serving. 

Chicken

Take your chicken out of the fridge about 20-30min before starting to cook. Start by seasonning your bird with salt and pepper, olive oil, and your choice of herbs (we recommend thyme and rosemary) and eventually lemon. If you plan on doing a gravy, add some vegetables in your roasting tin (such as onions, celery, garlic, carrots, lemons, etc) and a glass of water. 

Pre-heat your oven and cook at 180C. Count 30-40min per KG, use foil if the chicken becomes browning too much. Continue cooking until juices run clear (rather than pink), if not check every 5min. 

Baste half way through cooking. Rest for 15-20min under the foil. 

Ideal internal temperature : rise to 75C. 

To make a gravy: 

We recommend following the recipes for Turkey or Turkey Rolled Breast as they are ideal for chicken too. 

Cockerel

Leave your cockerel outside of the fridge within an ambiant temperature for at least 30min before cooking. Start by seasonning your bird with salt and pepper, butter, and your choice of herbs. If using, add your stuffing into the cavity (make sure to adjust your cooking time). 

Pre-heat your oven and cook at 190C. Count 30-40min per KG, use foil if the cockerel becomes browning too much. Continue cooking until juices run clear (rather than pink), if not check every 5min. Baste every 45min. 

Rest for 20min under the foil. 

Ideal internal temperature : rise to 75C. 

For the stuffing : Our friends at Packington suggest to serve the cockerel with a cranberries and sausage meat stuffing. Mix together 4 slices of white bread, 900g of sausage meat, one onion, some fresh sage and parsley, 50g of dried cranberries and the zest of a lemon. Combine all the ingredients together, add the stuffing into the bird's cavity and keep the rest to form balls, cook them separately. 

To make a gravy: 

We recommend following the recipes for Turkey or Turkey Rolled Breast as they are ideal for chicken too. 

Gammon

Start by letting your gammon soaking into water ahead of cooking. Then put your gammon into a large saucepan covered with boiling water, and drain. Make sure you rinse off any white starch from the ham and saucepan before returning it into the saucepan and covering it with water again and bring the pan to the boil. At this stage, you might want to add some onions and cloves to the pan to bring in some flavours. Simmer and count 20min per 450G and add 30min to the total. The ham should be cooked through and the internal temperature should reach 68C. Transfer to a work surface and leave it to cool. 

Pre-heat your oven at 180C. Cut off the string and cut away the outer rind; this should leave at least half the thickness of fat underneath attached to the ham. Using a sharp knife, score the fat making a diamond pattern and stud cloves into each corner. Cook for 1H30 - 2H00 and glaze (See below for glazing instructions). 

Let the gammon rest for about 15min and serve in slices.  

Ideal internal temperature : 62C +

To make a glaze: 

Blend about 150g of cherry conserve to make it smooth, then put it in a saucepan with about 100ml of Bourbon whiskey bourbon, some ginger, 1 tbsp of brown sugar and some cinnamon. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15min. It is ready when it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Brush the glaze over the ham. Either use all the glaze at once in the last 30min before the end of cooking, or use less but keep glazing every 15min or so throughout cooking. 

Pigs in blanket

Your pigs in blanket will arrive frozen and will need to defrost before cooking. Make sure you allow them some time outside the fridge at room temperature before cooking. 

Pre-heat your oven and cook at 180C for about 30min until done (the back should be crispy).
Let rest for a few minutes before serving.

Ideal internal temperature : 71C. 

Chipolatas

Allow some time outside of the fridge at room temperature before cooking. Pre-heat your oven and cook at 200C for about 15-20min until done.
Let rest for a few minutes before serving.

Ideal internal temperature : 71C.