Make the whole Christmas Day experience less stressful by using your Big Green Egg barbecue. Take some or all of the cooking outside and reduce the chaos in the kitchen!
A show-stopping Christmas dinner cooked on your Big Green Egg starts with the ultimate centrepiece, so here is a recipe for the best turkey ever!
Recipe: serves 12 people
- EGG set up: indirect
- Recommended charcoal: Canadian Maple
- EGG target temperature: 180°C
- Cooking time: 2-3 hours, or until internal temperature of 63°C breasts & 72°C legs
Ingredients:
- 7kg turkey
- Sea salt, cracked black pepper
- Root vegetables (such as celery, red onion and carrot)
- Water
- 250g butter (optional)
How to prepare your roasted turkey on the Big Green Egg
Get the turkey from the fridge
Make sure your turkey is at room temperature before you put it in your EGG to ensure even cooking, so at least 2 hours out of the fridge before you want to cook.
Load and light your EGG
Load and light your EGG with 100% organic lumpwood charcoal. You will need to set up for indirect cooking using a convEGGtor. Target temperature set to 180°C.
Cut the veg
Roughly chop some root vegetables & place in bottom of roasting pan. This will give a complex base flavour and will catch the meat juices for the perfect gravy.
Season your turkey
Season your turkey generously with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Remove any turkey giblets, and add them to the vegetables in the roasting pan. The EGG will keep the bird nice and moist throughout the cooking process but for extra indulgence, massage it all over with butter.
Place the turkey upside down
With the roasting rack in the roasting pan, place the turkey breast-side down. This will keep the turkey moist and means you wont have to baste it at all.
Now add water
Add cold water to the pan. This will turn your vegetables and giblets into the perfect stock and keep your bird succulent throughout the cook.
Cook for one hour
Place the roasting pan, turkey and all, into your pre-heated EGG at 180°C. Leave it for one hour, and as tempting as it may be, don't open the EGG!
Flip the turkey over
After the first hour, make sure to safely burp your EGG and then remove the roasting pan. Using EGG Mitts, pick up the turkey by the legs and carefully flip it over, so the breast faces upwards. Pierce the skin between the legs of the turkey and the body, releasing the juices. Return the turkey and roasting pan to the EGG.
Check the turkey
After a further 30 minutes, burp your EGG again. With a thermometer take a temperature reading at the deepest part of the breast. Temperatures at this point will vary, but your target temperature at the end of 2 hours will need to be 60°C. This reading is just a guide to give you a base temperature.
Keep on checking
At this point, take regular temperature readings at 10-15 minute intervals. You will notice the internal temperature of your bird increases as the skin starts to brown up.
Now rest
Once the internal temperature reaches 63°C in the thickest part of the leg (this will take around an hour after you've flipped it over) remove the turkey from the EGG and rest on a wooden board uncovered. While resting, the bird's internal temperature will continue to rise, you are aiming for a final temperature of 63°C in the breasts and 70°C in the legs.
Once it's there, you are ready to carve. For maximum juiciness, we recommend completely removing the breast from the turkey and slicing it on a board against the grain.
ENJOY & MERRY CHRISTMAS
