Christmas began early for me this Winter. It was a chilly November night when I negotiated the cobbled paths of London Bridge’s backstreets to arrive at a quiet set of business units. I’d been invited to a Christmas party-cum-tasting where, I was told, we were going to learn all about ‘the art of Christmas’. ‘Christmas?’ I thought, ‘How ridiculous. It’s barely even November’. All this nonsense about Christmas songs and ‘getting in the spirit of things’ still irked, and the Grinch very much reigned in my mind. The idea of planning my Christmas meal certainly hadn’t registered.
This all thawed slightly when I walked into the party. Decorated with holly and pine and glowing with warm, twinkling lights, the space was magical. Probably what thawed me the most however was the sight of a long table, spread with no less than 9 golden, roasted turkeys and a fleet of champagne glasses. If there is anything to get me in the mood for Christmas, it is abject plenty.
However, behind generosity also comes hard work. For this very reason, turkey has always seemed an intimidating choice. It is such a large bird with so much work required to pull it off. The bird has hundreds of feathers to pluck and such a lot of gutting to perform. It’s also blessed with these huge plump breasts which dwarf its leaner legs (here’s for wishing…). Quite frankly, I’ve been scared of it and I’ve always suspected that an inescapable compromise exists between underdone breast meat with perfect legs and overcooked legs with perfect breasts.
The birds are totally free range, spending 80% of their lives outside and matured to 26 weeks on natural food; this extended maturation period allows a deeper, more flavoursome meat than other turkeys, which can be brought to slaughter younger (after only 2 months!) or pumped up with water. This flavour is intensified by a 14 day hanging period, which also tenderises the meat and brings out gamey notes. When raised like this they have a natural layer of fat under the skin which means that you barely need to do anything to produce a perfectly golden, moist turkey – it literally bastes itself. Some seasoning, an optional stuffing of sausage meat flavoured with sage and onion and into the oven for a few hours (circa. 20 minutes per 500g): job done.
The team then taught us how to perform the perfect carving; something which again can be a little scary to the turkey novice! It’s actually surprisingly easy; no harder than carving a chicken and once you’ve done it once, all intimidation disappears. And besides…one must remember that all of the above is a means to an end. A glorious, face-stuffing, gluttonous end: the eating. Needless to say, that portion of the evening went down well with me. The bird was delicious; wonderfully moist white meat, with deeply flavoursome brown leg meat and tender, slippery oysters (the hidden gem of any roasted bird; tiny nuggets taken from the bottom of the bird). We tried them with some of Copas’ traditional sauces; a cranberry sauce with rosemary, which was sort of a revelation, and a lightly curried coronation sauce with apricots.
And so, this Christmas I approach the 25th with somewhat of a changed outlook. No longer shall I flee the kitchen when mother cat calls for me to assist prepping the bird. No longer will I beg for pork or beef; no, this year it’s all about turkey. It’s delicious, generous and totally festive. And besides, Copas do all the hard work and planning so you don’t have to.
www.copasturkeys.co.uk
