Nigella Lawson reveals bizarre secret to the perfect Christmas dinner
Nigella Lawson has shared her unusual secret to the perfect Christmas turkey.
The celebrity chef and author, 64, admitted that she prefers to leave her turkey “in a very cold place” for a couple of days before roasting it on Christmas Day – and she sometimes hides it outside.
In order to prevent the bird from being eaten by foxes, she disguises it with her son’s skateboard.
In a recipe shared in her festive newsletter, Lawson claimed that brining the turkey for a few days beforehand not only “tenderise[s] and add[s] subtle spiciness” to a Christmas roast, but it also “makes carving the turkey incredibly much easier”.
She recommended filling a large pan, bin or bucket with water and spices then placing the turkey in this brine and placing it somewhere cold.
“Before I had a garden, I put mine by an open window in the kitchen,” she wrote. “It does mean everyone freezes, but who am I going to put first — my turkey or my family?”
“Out in the garden if you’re lucky enough to have one would also be fine, though the pan must be securely covered,” she added. “If I’ve got a bucket or bin out in the open, I cover it twice with foil and then put my son’s skateboard on top to prevent foxy foraging.”
The TV star went on to describe the sight of “a raw turkey covered in brine” as a “beautiful” sight and admitted she can “never help lifting the lid [of the bin or bucket] for quick, blissfully reassuring peeks”.
Lawson has long been a devotee of a lengthy brining process for Christmas turkeys, with her special method even featuring as a joke in the 2008 Gavin & Stacey Christmas special, which sees Pam Shipman and husband Mick, played by Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb, bickering over “the water, the bucket, the soaking, all this other nonsense” advocated by the food expert.
The star regularly reveals her idiosyncratic food habits and earlier this year explained that she is also “very pro eating in bed”.
“I will eat absolutely anything in bed except something that needs a knife and fork,” she told The Times. “It has to be either fingers or a spoon.”
