Nobody rings us on Christmas morning asking what to cook. They ring asking when to put it on. Here is the plan we give them.
At least 4 weeks out
Order. Bone-in ham and whole turkey sell out before the 13 December online cut-off, every year, and the cure runs to a timetable that cannot be shortened.
Decide how many you are feeding and work the quantities out now, not on the day. How much ham per person. How much turkey per person.
The day before
Collect. Make your glaze or purchase our certified organic pineapple glaze. Take the turkey out of its packaging, pat it dry and leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight if you want better skin.
Set the table. It is the only job that gets harder with people in the room.
Buy a thermometer
Every time below is a guide. Internal temperature is the only thing that actually tells you when meat is done, and a cheap probe thermometer will save you more grief on Christmas Day than any recipe.
Christmas morning, early
Everything out of the fridge an hour before it goes in the oven. Meat at room temperature cooks evenly. Cold meat straight into a hot oven is the main cause of a dry outside and an underdone middle.
How long it takes
Conventional oven. For fan-forced, drop every temperature by 20°C and keep the times the same.
| Product | Oven | Time | Pull at | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole free range turkey, unstuffed | 180°C | 40 min per kg, plus 20 min | 65°C at the thigh | 30 to 45 min |
| Boneless turkey roast | 180°C | 50 min per kg | 74°C at the centre | 20 to 30 min |
| Glazed ham, served warm | 170°C | Baste with glaze every 15 minutes until golden | Warm through. It is already cooked. | 15 min |
| Porchetta | 240°C for 30 min, then 160°C | 40min per kg after the blast | 60°C at the centre | 20 min, uncovered |
| Certified Organic rib eye roast, medium rare | 220°C for 20 min, then 180°C | 20 min per kg after the sear | 55 to 57°C | 20 to 30 min |
| Certified Organic lamb leg, medium | 220°C | 25 min per 500g | 60 to 65°C | 20 min |
A worked example, lunch at 1:30pm
A 5kg whole turkey and a 4kg half leg of ham. Adjust by the rates above if your weights differ.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 7:45am | Turkey out of the fridge. Ham out too, if you are serving it warm. |
| 8:45am | Turkey into the oven at 180°C, covered loosely with foil. |
| 11:30am | Foil off the turkey for the last stretch, so the skin colours. |
| 12:20am | Turkey out. Tent with foil and leave it alone. It will not go cold. |
| 12:20pm | Oven down to 160°C for the ham |
| 12:25pm | Ham in the oven, studded and glazed. Roast vegetables in, using the turkey's heat and fat. |
| 1:10pm | Ham out & veg out. The glaze should be dark and bubbling. |
| 1:20pm | Carve the turkey. The ham can be carved at the table. |
| 1:30pm | Served. |
One oven, and what that really means
You cannot fit a turkey, a porchetta and a roast in a domestic oven. Pick one main, plus the ham.
The ham is the one that flexes, because it is already cooked. Glaze it early in the morning, serve it at room temperature, and your oven is free for the rest of the day. Most households work this out at 11am on Christmas Day, which is too late to be useful.
The bit everyone skips
Rest it. A roast carries on cooking off the heat, and cutting it early loses the juice onto the board instead of keeping it in the meat.
Resting is not dead time either. It is when the vegetables go in and the gravy gets made. Cover the meat loosely with foil, not tightly, and never cover crackling at all or it softens.
Carving early, finding it underdone and putting it back is the single most common reason Christmas lunch runs late.
Ask us
Ring the store. Tell us what you have and what time you want to eat, and we will tell you when to put it on.
Also useful: how to glaze a ham, how to carve it and how to get the perfect crackle.
