Turkey with Chestnut Stuffing

Christmas Eve

Prepare Chestnut stuffing (also bread sauce and sage and onion stuffing).

450g Tinned Chestnuts

2 red onions, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
Turkey liver, chopped
6 smoked streaky bacon rashers
Lard
200g tin chestnut purée
2 garlic cloves
4 slices brown bread
Freshly grated nutmeg
Zest of a lemon
1 egg, beaten
Salt and black pepper
Chopped parsley
30 spent sloes from making sloe gin

Remove stones from sloes and chop finely.
Chop Onions and Shallots.
Chop Chestnuts.
Fry all gibblets in lard, briefly, remove from heat, chop liver finely.
Place neck, gizzard, heart into separate pan, for use in gravy stock.
Add Onions.
Finley chop bacon and add.
Add half a boiled onion, chopped (from bread sauce - mildly clove flavoured).
Add chopped chestnuts. (Note this is wrong, should be later)
Add finely chopped garlic.

In a large bowl mix sloes, bread and chestnut pureée.

Grate nutmeg and lemon zest into mixture.
Add Onions and beaten egg.
Chop parsley and add.

Should not have added chestnuts earlier, but now.

Leave until tomorrow.

Christmas Morning

Stuff neck and breast with chestnut stuffing.

Stuff under skin of back end with sage and onion stuffing.

Sew stuffing into place.

Add half an orange (two quarters) and two half lemons to cavity.

Weighed stuffed bird at 5kg.

Start cooking at 1.00pm aiming to eat at 3.30pm

For next time

Lemon zest was out of place in the chestnut stuffing but more particularly in the sage and onion stuffing.
Whole chestnuts should be added later.
Leaving the turkey cavity empty was a success: cooking the bird for less time and leaving it more juicy.

I would go further with the under-skin-stuffing, at both ends, next time, as this too worked.