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Roast turkey with fruit stuffing and bacon rolls

Traditional roast turkey requires stuffing, bacon rolls, turkey gravy, and roast potatoes. Serve with seasonal vegetables on the side. Bread sauce and sausages can be also part of a traditional Holiday turkey dinner.

Ingredients

1 turkey (10-14 pounds, thawed if frozen)
6 T butter (about 5 oz)
1 T flour
15 sli bacon (American bacon or streaky bacon)
30 dates (pitted)
3 sli bread (crust removed, lightly toasted)
1 orange (peeled and divided into segments)
1 apple (peeled and diced, rubbed with lemon juice)
2 T raisin
2 T nuts (chopped)
1 pn nutmeg (ground)
4 T wine (red wine, or broth)
1 egg (medium size)
  salt (to taste)
  pepper (to taste)

Instructions

Fruit stuffing

  1. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat. Add orange segments, raisins, nuts, apple, salt and nutmeg. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add broth and cook for 2-3 minutes more.
  2. Beat egg and add to the pan. Stir to mix well. Turn heat off and let the mixture stand for 10 minutes before stuffing the turkey

Preparing bacon rolls

Halve the bacon rashers, stretch them with the back of a knife. Place a date on one half bacon rasher and roll tightly. Hold together with a toothpick.

Roast turkey

  1. Preheat oven to 425º F (220ºC)
  2. Rinse turkey in and out. Wipe dry with kitchen towels.
  3. Stuff the bird, the neck cavity only. Be careful not to pack it too tight as the stuffing will expand. Fold over the neck and truss the turkey with the wings under and legs held together. Form small balls from the remaining stuffing.
  4. Place the turkey in a roasting pan. Rub butter all over it and season with salt and pepper. Cover with foil.
  5. Roast for 40 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325ºF (160ºC) and roast for a further 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
  6. Remove turkey from oven. Discard foil and baste. Tuck bacon rolls and stuffing balls around the turkey if there is room for it.
  7. Roast turkey for a further 30 minutes, until breast in brown. Test to see if the turkey is cooked; cook for longer if it was not done.
  8. Lift the turkey from the pan, tipping it slightly to allow juices to run into pan. Place onto a large, warm serving dish, and cover with foil to keep it warm. Leave to stand for 30 minutes.
  9. Garnish turkey with bacon rolls, stuffing balls and herbs - bay leaves or watercress, for instance.
Total time
5 hours
Cooking time
210
Preparation time
90
Yield
10 servings

Notes

Don't stuff the body cavity as it might prevent thorough cooking, put a small onion, quartered, a piece of lemon or orange, or some herbs, if you want more flavor.

Lining the roasting pan with foil will help to keep the pan clean.

Put the potatoes into the oven when you add the bacon rolls and stuffing.

Source

Western cuisine

Turkey is the traditional roast for a Thanksgiving dinner and Turkey is the traditional roast for a British Christmas. Except that one would be served at Christmas and the other at Thanksgiving, the way to prepare the bird and the recipes for stuffing are very similar. Everything you find in a British cookbook about roast turkey could appear in a USA cookbook and vice versa. Not surprising, turkey is one of the food items British menus, and world menus, acquired from America.

challenging, celebration
poultry, main course
Holiday food recipes
Food in U.S.A.
British food

 

There is a recipe for bread stuffing with pecans and dried apricots between the Thanksgiving recipes, at food in the USA, that can be used instead of the fruit stuffing explained here.