Cooking Christmas Turkey on Your Aga

Aga cooking is famed for those perfectly succulent, slow roasted meats, but so many recipes out there cater only for home cooks that use conventional ovens. Here, we’ve collated some tips to make the most out of your Aga this Christmas.

For more Christmas tips, check out our demos from the fabulous Sarah Whittaker, renowned Aga cooking expert and demonstrator. We have been extremely lucky to host some of her demos that focus on all things Christmas, so have a look at our recordings to create the perfect festive feast.

Words and recipes by Sarah Whittaker, with our thanks.

The Turkey

Preparation:

1) Wrap the turkey in foil and then place it in the large roasting tin. If you wrap the tin in foil it will rip as it goes into the oven and the steam will escape. 

2) Stuff the neck cavity only – I tend to cook any stuffing separately, we have more than once forgotten that the stuffing was in the bird until too late! If not putting stuffing into the bird, peel and cut up an onion and push that into the cavities, with a little butter. 

3) Weigh the turkey after it has been stuffed to calculate cooking time.

Slow Roasting Your Turkey:

1) If your turkey weighs more than 16 lb (7kg), put it into the roasting oven for an hour, then transfer to the simmering oven overnight. For turkeys under 16 lb (7kg), just put into the simmering oven and let the Aga do the rest! 

FOR A TOTAL CONTROL AGA, USE THE BAKING OVEN SET TO SLUMBER, THIS IS 120C WHEREAS THE SIMMERING OVEN IS 100C AND NOT HOT ENOUGH TO COOK THE TURKEY. All Agas cook at slightly different speeds, an older Aga will take longer than a new one, but as a rough guide: 8 – 10 lb (3 – 4½kg) turkeys will take about 8 – 10 hours, 10 – 16 lb (4½ - 7kg) turkeys will take about 9 – 12 hours and 16 – 22 lb (7 – 10kg) turkeys will take about 10 – 14 hours. 

2) Next day, check the turkey mid-morning; it should be almost cooked. Pierce the thigh with a skewer and if the juices run clear from the hole, it is cooked. The turkey skin will not be brown at this stage; it has steamed in the simmering oven and needs to be moved to the roasting oven for 20 minutes to brown, uncovered. Once it has browned, re-cover it to rest. If it is completely cooked at 11am and you plan to eat at 3pm, DON’T PANIC! Re-cover with the foil then lay a large bath towel folded into quarters over it (or a cot duvet, your fleece jacket, or all three) and place it ON TOP OF THE CLOSED SIMMERING PLATE LID and just leave it. It has taken about 12 hours to get really hot and cooked through; it won’t cool down in any sort of hurry! If it is not cooked through, re-cover and return it to the simmering oven. Check it again in an hour. 

Fast Roasting the Turkey:

Put the foil-covered turkey into the roasting oven and cook it.

Timing: 8 – 10 lb (3 – 4½kg) turkeys will take about 2 hours, 10 – 16 lb (4½ - 7kg) turkeys will take about 2 ½ to 3 hours and 16 – 22 lb (7 – 10kg) turkeys will take about 3 to 3 ½ hours.

Finishing the Turkey:

1) When you and the turkey are ready, pour off the juices - this is easiest if you have a second, clean roasting tin and just transfer the bird from one tin to the other, leaving the juices in the first.

2) Put the overnight turkey into the roasting oven, uncovered, for half an hour to brown the breast while you make the gravy.

3) Once the breast is browned, transfer to a serving plate and allow to rest for 30 minutes before carving. 

Turkey Crowns

I have had great success with crowns in the baking oven this year. Allow a third longer than the standard calculated cooking time and just chuck it in, uncovered. For example, a 4lb joint would normally need 30 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes bonus, or about an hour and a half. Add a third. Two hours. Off you go!

A larger crown can be cooked in the same way as a whole turkey, but it must weigh at least 10lb (5kg) or it will overcook. A 3.5kg crown should go into the baking oven for 2 hours and 30 minutes, then rest on top of the closed simmering plate lid, covered with foil and a towel, for an hour.

In a 2 oven, roast the crown for a third of the calculated time, uncovered, in the top oven, then transfer to the bottom oven to continue for the entire calculated cooking time, so that you are adding a third to the total calculated cooking time. 

MOST IMPORTANT – REST THE JOINT, WHATEVER IT IS, BEFORE CARVING!