Brilliant Turkey Butterfly
We asked our Head Development Chef, Mike House, to share his turkey tips.
Cooking ahead is the key to turkey success. This saves time, enables you to serve large numbers at high speed and ensures the turkey is thoroughly cooked. Our turkey butterfly is a raw, boneless, double breast joint.
The butterfly can be cooked whole or split in half if you need to reduce the cooking time. To cook whole, I recommend tying the butterfly with string. Gather the edges of the butterfly, fold neatly underneath, then tie with string. Cover the turkey with oil and season. I favour the traditional ‘trivet’ method.
I place the turkey on a bed of roots (large thick-cut potatoes, carrots and quartered onions), this helps to achieve a succulent, easy-to-carve finish, as the trivet protects the bottom of the breast from becoming dry and hard.
The vegetables will absorb the meaty flavour and become caramelised, perfect for making your gravy.
Preheat a convection oven to 160 degrees, the turkey will need approximately 20 minutes cooking time per pound. When fully cooked, the juices should run clear and the core temperature should be 75 degrees. Always test the temperature at the thickest part of the turkey.”
Based on raw turkey weights. Allow approximately 454g for 2 portions. This should be plenty, providing 160g of cooked turkey per person.
Once the turkey is fully cooked, remove from the oven and cool as quickly and safely as possible (preferably in a blast chiller). If you don’t have a blast chiller, place on a cooling rack with a tray underneath, leave for half an hour in a cool place, cover with cling film and place in the fridge.
Remember to keep hot food away from chilled products so their temperatures are not raised.
If you want to reheat turkey, I have found this method has given me great results over the years, ensuring a moist texture. Slice the turkey, once cold, in to portions and place on a gastronorm tray, lined with greaseproof paper.
Cover completely with cling film and place in the combi oven on the steam setting for approximately 8 to 10 minutes.
If you don’t have a combi oven, place in a gastronorm tray with a small quantity of stock, cover with foil and reheat at 160 degrees.
As an alternative to the raw butterfly, we also stock cooked Fenton Barns Turkey Breast Saddles.