Roast Turkey Crown

Ingredients

• 2.5 kg turkey crown, on the bone
• 40 g salt, for the brine
• 120 g soft butter
• a small bunch of thyme
• a few sage leaves, chopped
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 onions, thickly sliced
• 2 carrots, halved
• 8 rashers of streaky bacon
• 400 ml chicken stock

Method

1. Dry-brine overnight

   Rub the salt all over the crown and leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight. Turkey breast is very lean and this is the single most effective thing you can do — the salt seasons deep and helps the meat hold moisture. Pat it dry before cooking.

   12 h

2. Bring it to room temperature

   Take it out a full hour before roasting. A fridge-cold crown cooks unevenly and the outer inch is overdone before the centre is safe.

   1 h

3. Butter under the skin

   Mash the butter with the thyme, sage and lemon zest, then work your fingers under the skin from the neck end and push most of it directly onto the meat. Butter on top of the skin just runs into the tin.

4. Roast on a trivet

   Sit the crown on the onions and carrots, pour the stock into the tin, and lay the bacon over the breast. The bacon shields the meat from direct heat for the first hour and bastes it as it renders.

5. Cook to temperature

   Roast at 190°C for about 1 hour 45 minutes, removing the bacon for the last 30 minutes to brown the skin. Pull it at 65°C in the thickest part — it climbs to a safe 70°C while resting, and cooking to 70°C in the oven gives you dry turkey.

   1 h 45 min

6. Rest for 30 minutes

   Rest, loosely tented with foil, for a full half hour. A crown this size holds its heat easily and the rest is what makes the difference between juicy and sawdust.

   30 min