SERVES 8-10 PREP 30 mins plus up to 2 days dry-brining COOK 3 hrs MORE EFFORT ❄ butter only
For the flavoured butter
200g unsalted butter, softened
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp rosemary leaves, chopped (reserve the sprigs for the turkey)
½ tsp smoked paprika
1 lemon, zested
For the turkey
5-6kg oven-ready turkey with the neck and giblets
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
1 lemon (reserved from making the flavoured butter), halved
1 head of garlic, halved
small bunch of rosemary sprigs (reserved from the butter, above)
2 tbsp sunflower oil
For the gravy
2 tbsp plain flour
large glass red or white wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
600ml chicken or turkey stock
1 Mash all the butter ingredients together in a bowl with a little salt and plenty of pepper, tip into a lidded container and cover until needed. Will keep for up to three days chilled or frozen for a month.
2 Up to 48 hrs and at least 12 hrs before cooking, loosen the skin of the turkey, over the breast, by pushing your hand beneath it. Season the turkey all over, including under the skin, with 1-2 tbsp flaky sea salt. (The further ahead you do this, the more succulent it will be.) Chop the turkey neck. Put the turkey in a large roasting tin or on an oven tray, breast-side up, and chill, uncovered, until ready to cook.
On the day of roasting, remove the turkey from the fridge at least 1 hr before cooking. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Remove the turkey from the tin and tip the onions, carrots, turkey neck and giblets into the tin. If
