Choosing a Christmas turkey for one can appear daunting as you don’t want to skimp – it’s Christmas!  On the other hand, you don’t want to have turkey overload.  I love turkey and wanted to have a big chunk of turkey breast on my plate; what I didn’t want is turkey every day for a week!

In short, I mulled the choices and options and worked out how much turkey you need for one person. I then sat and thought through the three choices, for what I personally felt was the most enjoyable portion size and quantity.  No skimping – that was important.  But I didn’t want to throw money to the wind!

The choices were:

• a turkey crown,
• a turkey breast joint, or
• ready cooked turkey.

These options of how much turkey to buy for Christmas Dinner went round in my head for several days before I finally decided.  I’d get an 800 grams turkey breast joint.

A turkey breast joint is a turkey breast, so half a turkey crown in effect.  I decided to get one from Asda, even though the turkey roast joint I chose was a frozen one – I wanted to ensure I made a decision and just bought it, rather than wandering round all the shops being indecisive.

Once in the store, I headed for the freezer section – and they had some in stock.  Bought. Nailed it.  Then it was off home to slide the turkey joint into the freezer.

800 grams of turkey breast would ensure I didn’t end Christmas dinner feeling I wanted more, that I’d skimped myself.  The £4.50 price tag meant I didn’t feel I was paying more than I needed to.  Of course the turkey crowns at £6 for a small one were tempting – but I exercised restraint.

You Cannot Eat Everything!

In short – there is simply too much great food around and you can’t eat everything.  You do have to make choices.  Choose what makes Christmas for YOU. Then make a list and stick to it!

800 grams of turkey is more than enough – the pack serves four for goodness sake!  I know I’ll have enough turkey on the day and for sandwiches or curry in the following week 🙂

WIN!

Will a Turkey Roast Joint Fit in a Toaster Oven/Mini Oven?

I’ve absolutely no intention of cooking my turkey roast joint in my toaster oven.  As I bought a frozen one it cooks in 2 hours from frozen.  A fresh turkey roast joint would take less time.  However, I plan to cook it in my slow cooker, so I can chuck it in and forget it.

However, for those people out there who would like to know, I’ve tried it out.  The turkey roast, in its foil cooking container, occupies about half of my toaster oven and it fits in both directions.  I’ve taken some photos to show how this particular turkey breast joint fits into the Lidl Silverline mini oven I bought earlier in the year.  When I bought it, I’d planned to cook Christmas dinner myself this year, but never intended to cook a whole/large turkey breast in it as I knew space would be optimum.

I will be using my toaster oven for other items on the day: roast potatoes, roast parsnips, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing and pigs without blankets (cocktail sausages!) so I’d rather leave the oven to cook those.

Can you Cook a Turkey Breast Joint in a Slow Cooker?

Yes, you can do this!  I’m not entirely sure how I’ll do it yet.  I could cook it from frozen, but I know I will defrost it first in the fridge.  I might cook it on Christmas Eve, then just reheat the turkey on Christmas Day.  I might cook it on the day.

Right now, I’m thinking that cooking the joint the day before in the slow cooker will enable me to have it cooled/boxed up and in the fridge, with the washing up done early.  I’ll do it this way simply to reduce kitchen clutter on the day.

I will place some potatoes and carrots at the bottom of the slow cooker, maybe a lemon (maybe not), then I’ll remove the turkey breast from the foil cooking dish and plonk it on the top.

IMPORTANT: If you do this, bear in mind that the cooking dish foil would then need to be immediately washed out with boiling water and binned. Do NOT keep it to one side thinking “that’ll be handy to put the turkey back into” – that container has contained RAW TURKEY.  Do NOT put cooked turkey close to where raw turkey has been.  Bin that container now, unless you’re very meticulous and very careful (I do tend to keep them, to be honest).

How Long Does a Turkey Breast Joint Take to Cook?

I don’t know how long the turkey breast will take in the slow cooker; I’ll cook it on high for an hour, then I’ll change that to low and I will expect it to take 5 hours.

Turkey won’t brown in the slow cooker.  If you want it to look brown then you can rub the skin with something brown before you put it in the slow cooker, such as gravy powder, or Worcestershire sauce, or a mix of both those and/or a spoon of marmalade.  The alternative is to pop the breast under a grill to brown it for 10 minutes before serving.

Turkey Leftovers

Once cooked, chilled and in a lidded container in the fridge, I plan to pick my way through the rest of the turkey breast in the following 2-3 days.  I might make a curry… or some turkey coronation sandwich filler.  Whatever I’ve not eaten after 3 days can be wrapped and put into the freezer, where it’ll keep for months…. but I’ll end up eating it straight from the fridge, a little bit at a time as I pass… because it calls my name!