Method

1. If you are using a frozen turkey, make sure it is completely defrosted before roasting. Remember to handle your turkey as little as possible, and wash your hands thoroughly as well as any surfaces that come into contact with raw poultry and most importantly, don't wash your turkey.
2. Remove the giblets from the cavity of the turkey
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350F / Gas mark 5
4. While the oven is heating, melt the butter in a pan, careful not to burn it
5. Place the turkey on the roasting tray
6. Baste the turkey with the melted butter
7. Cover the whole turkey loosely with tin foil and place in the hot oven
8. Baste the turkey every hour with the juices coming out of it
9. About half an hour before the end of the cooking time, remove the foil to allow the turkey skin to brown and become crisp. If the skin is already brown, keep the foil on the turkey to keep it moist
10. Using a fan assisted preheated oven at 180°C your unstuffed 6 kg turkey will be cooked in 4 hours. To check cooking times for different weight turkeys and stuffed turkeys use our Turkey cooking time calculator
11. The best way to check that your turkey is properly cooked is to use a meat thermometer. The turkey is fully cooked when the temperature reaches 75ºC. If you don’t have a meat thermometer, check that there’s no pink meat, the juices run clear and that the meat is piping hot.