Bacon on top of turkey...

I love it too!

Me too - ohhhh my mouths watering !

Oh yes - its gorgeous!

I cook the turkey christmas eve in the evening and we have the bacon for sadwiches late evening after the turkey is done. It makes a nice end to xmas eve!

so you have cold turkey on christmas day?

My turkey is usually cold by the time we have christmas dinner. I only have a small oven so have to cook it before anything ese can fit in there.

Are we commiting yet another 'sin' chef?

Oh, and i love the bacon too

I m just asking, thats all ? sheesh ?

if you want to keep it warm though ginge just wrap it tightly in foil over the top, it ll stay hot for at least an hour ie the time it takes to cook your roast potatoes.

Oh ? i was waiting to be told off and mocked for serving council house turkey or something.

So, wrapping it in foil won't make it keep cooking and so go all dry and rubbish then? (can you tell i am grrrrrrrrrreat cook?) ta for the tip, warm turkey it is!

No not at all. if you dont put foil on it, more moisture evaporates so more chance of it being dry, and it cools far quicker too. the only downside is that you dont get crisp skin, because the moisture trapped between the foil and skin softens it, but that doesnt bother me really.

Ahh, the skin on a turkey is too tough anyway i think, so floppy skin is good. Ta for that.

Yup, it's soon warmed by the gravy. I just think it has a lovely flavour when it's been sitting awhile before too. I'm not one for a mad rush on xmas day, so cooking it the night before just makes it soooo much easier. I like to make life as easy as possible.

Fair enough. each to their own and all that. not my scene though.

? ? not my scene maaaaan, where are you? the 70's?

Anyone read the title as Baron on top of the turkey?

Just me then ?

its just not my bag, baby ?

funnily enough, i am currently planning a trip which takes in a route from a famous car movie from the 70's, and i ve got really into it, so maybe its affected my speech ?

Well, i would only start to worry if you find yourself growing a long tash ala porn star stylee, and have 'wacka wacka' music going on whenver you walk.

If you do grow the tash, i would like to see a picture for piss taking purposes.

No, a tash isnt my bag either, baby. though i am sporting 4 days worth of facial hair, which i plan to keep over christmas, just to annoy my father.

Admit, it, you are not the grouch you would have us believe you are, and have grown a real santa beard for all the little children.

(facial hair is grim, unless you are jonny depp)

Well we do have some children over christmas, and i have child-proofed the whole downstairs of the house because of it. and i m more likely to scare them than be father christmas ?

anyway, mrsnick thinks i look "sexy" ? with stubble, so to ensure christmas oral, its staying ?

My vision of you child proofing is just wrapping the whole of downstairs in cling film. I have no idea why. ?

I don't know whether to put bacon on the turkey this year as Nigella's brining thingy has spices etc in and I wonder if it will taste right.

I dont think nigellas spices will affect the taste one little bit. the brining might make it a bit more tender though, who k nows? be interesting to hear about the results from those who are doing it.

and look, my version of child proofing involves removing anything and everything which can be pulled over, knocked over, smashed, picked up and dropped, you name it. oh, and i bought those plug blanking things as well, thoughtful sole that i am. cant really save them from the sharp edges of furniture though, so if theres any running about and crashing into things, there ll be tears and A&E before bedtime.

So basically removing almost everything from downstairs then instead? ? Sounds to me like you've done more than enough and from my long experience, a child will always hurt themselves somehow on a trip somewhere, so just minimising the chances is the best you can do.

I'm looking forward to trying the brining actually, will just go ahead with the bacon.

sounds a bit fishy to me...

Ahh, come on KTC it is not really your plaice to comment..

What makes me wonder about the nigella thing is the cooking duration. i actually like overcooked turkey, as long as its still moist and not dry, and brining or no, i cant see the short cooking time working. still, am happy to be corrected by those who do it successfully. for this year at least, i ll stick with the usual way, which is cooking it with flavoured butter stuffed up the breast, covered in foil and then removing it for the last 40 mins or so.

skate over it, why dont you.

had dock nother hitcher made this error, bet nick cod have said something...

Surely though you could still brine the turkey and stick to your preferred cooking time. Her book says that she cooks it hot and fast, but also gives cooking times for turkey if you want to do it your own way. Anyway, will have a go and if it's crap, it's only me and H this year anyway.

Be interested to hear how it turns out

i always cook birds very hot, and as fast as pos eg a "normal" sized chicken i cook in an hour, at 230 ish (fan)

I'll let you know.

I tend to cook meat fast as well, unless it's a casserole etc. Am making pretty much all of Nigella's christmas dinner this year, looking forward to it, never get to do anything cooking wise if at mums or MIL's. Also making an oriental salad of Jamie's with leftover turkey, supposed to be like crispy duck.

I was going to do it her way, and then i watched jamies christmas programme and i just thought sod that, i ll do it the normal way. same with her roast potatoes with semolina, i m sure it works, but i cant be arsed with it, they turn out great the normal way anyway. last year i did her sprouts with pancetta, chesnuts and marsala, and wasnt wowed by it at all.

Images of Nick j