Hot off the heels of filming season six of Ultimate Braai Master, show judge Peter Goffe-Wood says cooking a turkey on the braai for Christmas can be the best marriage between local heritage and a traditional Christmas.
“The epitome of the South African Christmas experience can easily be described as family and friends around the fire, screaming kids in the pool, glaring sunshine, ice-cold bubbles and not a care in the world.
Swapping out boerewors and lamb chops for a succulent whole turkey on the fire is a wonderful way to to sprinkle traditional Christmas elements onto a "lekker" local celebration.”
Make a turkey on a weber braai for Christmas. Picture supplied
Turkey on the Weber
Ingredients
- 1 free-range turkey 2 litres brine
- 2 onions
- 4 cloves garlic
- 150g streaky bacon (or pancetta)
- 50g butter
- 100g chicken livers
- 500g pork sausage meat
- 1⁄4 loaf white bread
- 3 eggs
- 10g fresh sage
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
Method
- Cut off the turkey’s legs and thighs, remove the skin and bones.
- Cut the meat into chunks and feed through a mincer.
- Cut out the spine using poultry shears, leaving the breast on the bone.
- Remove the wings (freeze the wings and backbone to use for stock in future). Put the breast into brine and leave in the fridge overnight.
- Finely chop the onions and garlic and dice the bacon/ pancetta.
- Gently fry them in butter in a saucepan.
- When the onions are translucent, remove and allow to cool.
- Roughly chop the chicken livers and combine them with the sausage meat and minced turkey.
- Blitz the bread, crusts removed, into fresh bread crumbs in a food processor, then add these and the eggs to the meat.
- Add the cooled onion mixture and chopped sage to the meat mixture and season to taste. Shape the mixture into a roll, cover with tin foil and leave in the fridge overnight.
On the day
- Remove the turkey breast from the brine and pat dry with kitchen paper, brush with a little olive oil and season.
- Put the breast skin-side up, together with the roll of stuffing, on a Weber over indirect coals.
- Close the lid, leaving the top and bottom vents open, and cook for approximately 90 minutes (use a meat thermometer – it’s done when the internal temperature is about 80°C).
- When the breast and stuffing are cooked, they need to rest for about 30 minutes.
- To keep them warm, wrap the breast in foil and put both in an empty cooler box and close the lid.
- Once the bird is well-rested, bring to the table and carve.
Ultimate Braai Master Season 6 launches on e.tv on 4th February 2019 and airs every Sunday at 4pm.