Easy Roast Thanksgiving Christmas Turkey Crown

This easy maple glazed roast turkey is something special. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving or Christmas I am sharing my favourite roast turkey recipe with you today! And even if you celebrating, promise me you'll try this with a roast chicken. This roasted turkey is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!

What makes this Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey so incredible is the crispy skin and sweet glaze but we also inject the breast with some of that delicious marinade so that the flavours goes through to the turkey breast. Dry brining a turkey also makes the meat moist and full of flavour!

Tips For Roasting Turkey

1 We are using a turkey crown or buffe which is a whole turkey with the legs and wings removed (buffes still have the drumsticks). They are a bit more expensive than a whole turkey but they are popular because they are easy to carve and can fit in all ovens and more importantly, most roasting tins. You can of course use a whole turkey too!

2 We start by dry brining the turkey in the fridge. I like to dry brine turkey because it is so much larger than a chicken and therefore it's hard for me to find a container large enough to wet brine a turkey. Dry brining is simpler too, no need to mix up a brine, just pat dry the turkey and rub salt all over it. I use fine pink salt for brining.

3 The marinade is deliciously easy and does so much work in terms of flavour. Just make sure when you are using a brush from the bowl to the bird and back and forth to make sure that the turkey is cooked for at least 15 minutes after you brush it (to prevent cross contamination with raw poultry).

4 Injecting the meat is so fun and so easy. I bought a meat injector from Bunnings for $11. It came with two different sized syringes in different thicknesses and I used to thinner one. You can skip this step but I like having the flavour through some of the breast as turkey breasts are so large. If you are doing this with chicken there is no need to inject the meat because chicken breasts are much smaller (but of course you can if you want to!).

Other Roast Turkey Recipes You Might Like:

• Mummy Turkey (Baked in Cheesecloth!)

• Turkey "Porchetta" & Gravy (a personal favourite)

• Bacon Wrapped Turkey with Bacon Jam Cornbread Stuffing

• Turducken

Did you know that the name for the bird turkey comes from a mix-up? When Europeans first saw the bird in North America, they thought it looked like a bird called the Guinea Fowl from East Africa, which they were already calling a "turkey" because it was brought to Europe through the country Turkey. So they gave the American bird the same name "turkey" and it stuck! Most turkeys in America are thought to be descended from Mexican wild turkeys.

This turkey crown was one that I had in the freezer from Christmas last year. I had ordered a whole turkey to be delivered envisioning a beautiful whole bird set on the table.

When I received a turkey crown I promptly freaked out and wondered who on earth decapitated the limbs off the bird."Why does my turkey look like a bike seat?" I asked Mr NQN as we both peered into the bag. I was so stressed at having to switch ideas so late just a few days before Christmas that I threw it in the freezer and forgot about it for almost a year.

Until now. I was clearing up space in my freezer in preparation for Christmas when I saw this strange bike seat turkey and I decided that my favourite maple chicken glaze would work well and it was even better than I imagined with the turkey. The marinade is so good that I almost want to have another go at Christmas but I know redoing the same thing isn't very me.

This year I'm not quite sure what I'll make for Christmas. For some reason I have dessert ideas aplenty but I thought I'd ask you Dear Reader what sort of Christmas recipes you want. Do you want ham, turkey or seafood or another item altogether? Do you want more Australian Christmas recipes or do you want traditional cold weather Christmas ideas? Please let me know!

So please tell me Dear Reader, what Christmas recipes would you like to see from me?

INCREDIBLE Maple Roast Turkey

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 1.5 hours

This recipes is best started 1-3 days ahead of time

• 3kg/6.6lb turkey crown or buffe (turkey with legs and wings removed), can also use whole turkey
• 4 tablespoons or so fine salt for brining

For marinade

• 1 cup/250ml/8.8flozs maple syrup

• 4 tablespoons/60ml/2flozs olive oil

• 2 teaspoons ground sage

• 2 teaspoons fine salt

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme, ground

• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

• You will also need a meat injector (optional, not needed for chicken)

Step 1 - First start 3 days ahead by dry brining the turkey. Remove turkey crown from packaging and pat dry well with paper towels and make sure that it is drained well of all liquid inside by patting this with paper towels too. Rub salt all over the skin of the bird on the top, base and sides. Place on a metal rack breast side up and place this on a baking tray lined with 2 layers of paper towels. Place in the fridge for 1-3 days. Check on the turkey every day patting it dry with paper towels and changing the paper towels on the bottom if needed.

Step 2 - When ready to roast, preheat oven to 180C/350F fan forced. Whisk the maple syrup, olive oil, sage, salt, pepper, thyme and Dijon mustard together in a bowl. Place 2 tablespoons or so of marinade in a meat injector and inject into the breast part of the turkey in 2-3 spots across different areas of each breast. Brush the turkey all over with some of the marinade and roast breast side up for 1.5 hours. Glaze the turkey 2-3 times during this period. Rest the whole turkey for 20 minutes before carving.