Cooking Christmas Turkey in your 'Electrickit' converted Aga range cooker
Below you will find instructions for cooking your Christmas turkey fast and slow. Slow tastes best if you have the time to plan a little further ahead!
Preparing the turkey...
Line a full oven size roasting tin that fits on the runners with foil and then pop a non-stick liner onto the foil. Place the turkey inside!
Stuff the bird! If not stuffing, peel and cut up an onion and push that into the cavities, with a little butter. Weigh the turkey after it has been stuffed to calculate the cooking time.
Smear the bird with some butter, then cover it with more non-stick sheet and wrap tightly with the foil.
Slow roasting Christmas turkey in your 'Electrickit' converted Aga range cooker...
If your turkey weighs more than 16 lb (7kg), put it into the upper oven set to 220°C for an hour. Reduce the oven temperature on the controls to 200°C and then transfer the bird to the lower oven overnight. Time it according to the guide below.
For turkeys under 16 lb (7kg), just put into the lower oven with the oven temperature control set to 200°C and let the cooker do the rest!
All Aga range cookers cook at slightly different speeds but as a guide...
- 8 – 10 lb (3 – 4½kg) turkeys will take about 8 – 10 hours
- 10 – 16 lb (4½ - 7kg) turkeys will take about 9 – 12 hours
- 16 – 22 lb (7 – 10kg) turkeys will take about 10 – 14 hours
Next day, check the turkey mid-morning, it should be almost cooked. Pierce the thigh with a skewer and if the juices run clear from the hole, it is cooked. It will not be browned at this stage, so don’t worry if it is very pale looking.
If it is completely cooked at 11am and you plan to eat at 3pm, DON’T PANIC! Re-cover with the foil then lay a large bath towel, folded into quarters, or a cot duvet or your fleece jacket, or all three, over it and place it beside the cooker (on a 4 oven cooker, put it onto the warming plate) and just leave it. It has taken about 12 hours to get really hot and cooked through; it won’t cool down in any sort of hurry!
If it is not cooked through, re-cover and return it to the lower oven. Check it again in an hour. For finishing and browning the turkey see below.
Fast roasting Christmas turkey in your 'Electrickit' Aga range cooker...
Put the prepared turkey into the roasting oven set to 220°C and cook it, simple!
- 8 – 10 lb (3 – 4½kg) turkeys will take about 2 hours
- 10 – 16 lb (4½ - 7kg) turkeys will take about 2 ½ to 3 hours
- 16 – 22 lb (7 – 10kg) turkeys will take about 3 to 3 ½ hours
Finishing & browning the turkey...
When you and the turkey are ready, pour off the juices - this is easiest if you have a second, clean full oven roasting tin and just transfer the bird from one tin to the other, leaving the juices in the first. Put the turkey into the top oven wioth temperature set to 220°C, uncovered, for half an hour to brown the skin, while you make the gravy. Once the breast is browned, transfer to a serving plate and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.
