Okay so I thought it was really important to talk about the principles of roasting a bird,
because so many people are scared of it and you shouldn't be scared of it it's
just basic principles, and you can apply those principles to a goose, to a duck,
to a lovely chicken down here. The cooking times will vary but the principles are the same and if
you follow the principles you're gonna be smashing out great birds every time every Christmas,
no tears. Okay first things first I put a little olive oil. You've got natural fat
there but a little bit of olive oil just to get it going, rub it all over like this. Some salt
and some pepper. And then stuffing, we've naturally got this little dip see this in here
right? So I want to stuff that, so I'll go back in through here right I'm going to put half of my
stuffing in here, this is just sage, onion, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and some good minced pork. Now
that is going to flavour this turkey and it will also keep it succulent and juicy. And once I've
done that I'm going to just twist this underneath and then I get some more stuffing and I put it in
this side. Here's one of the big problems if you stuff this whole area with stuffing then you're
gonna have to cook it for ages and ages and ages because it will stop the hot air from the oven
getting in there. So what I like to do is just get little bits of stuffing like this and I just
flip it in just like that, nice and loose like an inch at the bottom of the whole of the turkey
right. But if you want to add a little bit of a flavour bomb get a clementine and I'm going to
throw it just in the back here like that and a few bits of rosemary and that's it. So really it is a
dead simple thing to do. Salt, pepper, olive oil, a bit of stuffing of your choice scattered in the
bottom just a thin layer in the front end, herbs of your choice, but really that is the basis of a
beautiful roast. Now what I'll do is bang this in an oven that's been preheated to full whack okay.
So as soon as I close the door I'm going to turn that down to about 180 Celsius, 350 Fahrenheit,
and what will happen is the heat will go from really really hot hot hot hot hot in about half an
hour right, and I'll cook that bird for 20 minutes per kilo, and that principle of fast start turn it
straight down is really good for making crispy skin and juicy meat, giving it a bit of love.
What I'm going to do is the most incredible deconstructed chocolate truffles right,
I've got 300 ml of double cream right, I'm going to put that into a pan and I'm just
going to put that on a heat, bring that up to temperature, smash this chocolate up.
It's nice.
So this cream importantly hasn't come to the boil right. I'm going to put about a tablespoon
of butter in, a little bit of clementine, and that'll give it a nice Christmassy vibe.
And then what I do is get a cold glass bowl,
put in my bashed up chocolate, and then while this is nice and hot pour this over the chocolate.
Sometimes when you make truffles they split, that's going to happen if the heat's too high,
so that's why I pour the hot cream and butter over the chocolate in a cold bowl. Ooh,
a little pinch of salt makes a hell of a difference. And at this point I just want to add
about a shot of a nice booze you know I'm using brandy there but you could use whiskey,
even vodkas and grappas you know you can really play with the booze element. Look at that,
beautiful. Okay. So what I'm gonna do now is just put them into a serving dish
and that'll go in the fridge for about two hours. And then what I love to do is get a nice glass of
Vin Santo, try and find it it's a wicked drink right people love it, but any booze that you
kind of like. I've got some cocoa powder here, I've got some ground up nuts here and these are
always kicking about after Christmas, not salted though. Some biscotti, you can do some cookies
or stuff if you want, and I've got two little teaspoons with some boiling water in a teacup
and all I do is just get people to do a little spoon like this and then look that's what you get.
And then all you got to do is put it in a bit of the old cocoa and people love it. And that
is a beautiful little truffle, top top stuff. And you can make up as many sort of different toppings
as you want. Look at that. Y'know it's about having fun with stuff really. Some crunchy bits,
some cocoa, some biscotti. Have that just smeared across one of these little babies. Everyone buys
truffles so it's kind of like you know to do your own is pretty cool. So there you go.