I'm not speaking to Nigella

That does sound a bit risky!

I had read about brining but wasn't very keen on a big vat of salt water. Went online and found a site about the science of brining and decided on his advice to 'dry brine'. On the 23rd (earlier if a bigger turkey) I mixed thyme with maldon sea salt ( don't use fine salt). I separated skin from breast of turkey, rubbed salt into breast, rubbed salt into legs (over skin) and inside the turkey (total 7 tsp salt). Put it into the fridge in an open roasting bag ( allowed air to circulate but kept it from contaminating other food).
The past two years, despite basting and following Delia and then Nigella,my turkey was dry. This year it was brilliantly moist and I will be dry brining from now on. Only downside is that because brining keeps the moisture in the turkey, there was little (very little) stock for the gravy, but that is easily dealt with. The meat was also slightly more tough, but again, better than dry. Who says old birds can't learn new tricks.
Happy New Year.

Yesterday I cooked a stuffed turkey crown so that our Malaysian lodger could experience a 'traditional' Christmas dinner. For our muslim guests I cooked a halal chicken. And I made a roast beef dinner to take to a homeless man I've been working with who loves birds so much he can't bear to eat them! It's the fewest number of Christmas guests I've had for years, but definitely the most awkward varied.

My Oh does Jamie Oliver's turkey which has some sort of chestnut and apricot stuffing under the breast. Took longer Than Jamie said though. I did my cashew and brazilnut roast for the veggies and 15 of us sat down to eat finally at 3 pm. 12 here Boxing Day to finish off the leftovers. Down to 4 today so looking forward to a bit of peace and tidying up!

I was very lucky/lazy this year as we were invited to lunch on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Best Christmas ever I'll have to repay the favour on New Years Eve though.

I have to say my turkey was fab this year. I took a tip from Jamie Oliver & rested it for an hour and a half wrapped in foil and two bath towels whilst I cooked everything else. It stayed hot and was beautifully moist.
However, I'm not talking to Delia as I used her Christmas cake recipe for the first time for both of my cakes and they are horrible. Such a waste of ingredients and effort, I've got visitors coming this afternoon & no cake!

Can't you nip out to the shops, baubles? There are bound to be some left...

Cunard's turkey was excellent but I was disappointed in the xmas pudding.

Think I may send DH Ana. It feels wrong though, not to be serving homemade Christmas cake for the first time in umpty tumpty years.

I've done Delias cake in the past and it's been fab. Soak fruit overnight in brandy. Must be a reason why yours hasn't turned out well? Perhaps some of the dried fruit a bit off? Or it's got a bit burnt?

I must stand up for the sainted Delia, too. I make her Creole cake every year and it's just fabulous, dahling, if I say so myself as shouldn't .

I admit it's a bit on the moist side this year, as I got a bit giddy and sloshed in even more alcohol than the gallon or so she advocates.

I suspect it's undercooked as I'd read that the original 1975 recipe was based on less efficient gas ovens and that in today's ovens the cake would burn if left for the time given. There are several Mumsnet threads on the subject so I adjusted timings. Having read that many people had had disappointing results I really should have stuck with tried and tested recipes but my thinking was that it was so full of delicious things that it was bound to turn out ok. Hey ho, lesson learned.

I thought this thread was about Nigella?!!

Honestly? Do not take any notice of her - her recipes don't generally work out - the quantities are all wrong, the oven temperatures too. I made her Rudolph Pie (for an amusing change). Had I taken any notice of her quantities I would have had to fill my entire freezer with the leftovers! As it was I halved the quantities in order to feed six and ended up with enough for twenty!
A friend of mine who is a retired chef (Savoy London) says that only Delia's recipes can be relied upon because she has them rigorously tested by the WI. He says ignore the professional chefs' cookbooks - they are untested in the context of a domestic kitchen.

Today Woman's hour quiz/ discussion, made some humerous comments on how she described making Avacado on toast! (Simply Nigella)

They were disappointed that she didn't describe how to make the toast!

x