The helpful tip will ensure your turkey doesn’t end up dry and unpleasant (Image: Getty Images)
For those facing the challenge of hosting dinner, one worry often looms large: presenting a succulent, perfectly moist turkey to hungry guests.
The dread of serving a dried-out turkey haunts many a festive , but fear not – there are tricks to ensure your festive centrepiece remains perfectly juicy.
Surprisingly, the remedy may be found in a staple breakfast companion – .
Not just for pigs in blankets at Christmas time, bacon also serves as an ingenious solution against turkey dryness.
While draping your turkey in a muslin cloth is a well-known tactic, bacon offers a similarly effective solution, reports .
It turns out bacon can have many different purposes in a Christmas dinner (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Suzanne Mulholland, known for her book “The Batch Lady: Cooking on a Budget,” has shared her wisdom on how to avoid a dry turkey – which is never ideal on Christmas Day.
She said: “Butter under your skin. Put your fingers under the skin of the turkey, and put some butter on them.
“Cover your whole turkey in streaky bacon. That bacon you can eat it, it’s like the bacon around your chipolata what it does is it acts like a second skin, and the fat from the bacon helps keep the top of your turkey beautifully moist with the butter.”
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A dry turkey can put a real dampener on your Christmas celebrations (Image: Getty)
For those who prefer more traditional methods, the muslin cloth technique is still a solid choice, as highlighted by none other than Great British Bake-Off’s own Prue Leith.
She explained: “[Get] a J cloth or a piece of muslin, dip it in boiling water, don’t use a red J cloth because then the dye comes out of them, but the blue ones don’t.
“I usually dip them in boiling water first, wring them out, dip them into melted butter and drape it over the turkey.
“You’re actually cooking the turkey under a melting butter muslin thing, and the cloth prevents the turkey from browning too quickly.”
She recommends removing the cloth during the final 20 minutes to allow the turkey to brown, ensuring it remains “really nice and moist”.
Both methods essentially achieve the same end, but with bacon, you get the added bonus of an edible garnish.
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, but don’t fret – as even an overcooked turkey can still be redeemed.
“If it does dry out, turn it into a fantastic tikka masala, it’s the best thing,” advised Nisha Katona, acclaimed author and founder of Mowgli Street Food.