Doritos Turkerito

Sick of Christmas dinner being the same old boring thing ever year?

Done in 4 hours

Serves 8-12

Dish by Hugh Woodward

Ingredients

1 x1x 6kg turkey, giblets removed

1 xbulb garlic

for the butter:

200gbutter, softened

20g eachoregano, rosemary, thyme, basil

1 x lemon

1 x lime

for the honey:

200mlrunny honey

2 red chillissliced lengthways

2 sprigs each of the hard herbs

for the Doritos crust:

75gtoasted fresh breadcrumbs

200g Doritos Chilli Heatwave

Well then, this is the recipe for you. It's an absolute barnstorming crunchy delight of a thing, something so immensely impressive you'll (probably) never look at turkeys, or Christmas, or Doritos the same way ever again.

Method

For best results and the juiciest bird, season the turkey all over with fine salt and leave in the fridge uncovered overnight and up to 3 days before you plan to cook. Remove the turkey from the fridge at least an hour before you want to cook, allowing it to come up to room temperature. Pre-heat the oven to 180c/160c fan/gas 4.

Reserve half of the oregano, rosemary and thyme then pick and finely chop the rest, along with all of the basil. Place into a bowl with the softened butter and a generous pinch of salt & pepper. Finely grate the zest of the lemon and orange into the butter then mix well.

Pat the turkey as dry as possible with some kitchen roll. Using your fingers (or a wooden spoon), carefully loosen & part the skin from the meat on the top of the turkey - do this gently as you don’t want to rip the skin. Fill the cavity you’ve created with the softened butter and use your hands to push it all the way over each breast, as evenly as you can. Halve the garlic bulb and zested lemon and orange then pop inside the cavity, along with the remaining herb sprigs. Use some butcher's string to tie the legs together.

Place the bird in a large roasting tray, drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper (more heavily if you haven’t pre-salted your bird). Cover with tin foil and place into the centre of the oven to roast. Turkeys need 35 mins per kg so this will take approx. 3 hours. If you are using a meat thermometer keep checking the temperature- when the thickest part of the breast reads 65 degrees, it’s ready.

While the turkey is roasting, make your glaze. Put the honey, chillies and herbs in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat then leave to simmer for 10-12 minutes until your honey has thickened and reduced. Set aside to infuse while your turkey cooks.

To make the pangrattato, add the Doritos Chilli Heatwave to the blender and pulse until they become very small crumb-like pieces. (you can do this in a bag and bashing well with a rolling pin if you prefer) then tip into the bowl of breadcrumbs. Mix everything together well.

With 45 minutes to go on the turkey remove the foil, baste and return to the oven for a further 15 to get some nice colour all over. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Drain any roasting juices into a bowl or a jug (you can keep this to make outstanding gravy).

Warm up your hot honey if it has firmed up too much then use a pastry brush to brush liberally all over the bird, then return to the oven.

After 15 minutes, remove once more, rest briefly then glaze generously again. Carefully scatter the pangrattato all over the bird, patching up any areas that aren’t covered using more sticky glaze. Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes. When the time is up, remove from the oven and loosely cover with a very large piece of foil. Leave to rest for an hour before transferring to a serving plate/board and carving up - Make sure your Turkerito is cooked properly before serving & ENJOY!

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Hugh Woodward

Hugh's culinary life began aged 14 when he cooked spaghetti hoop burritos to impress girls. Since then his colourful career has taken him to performing in Skegness, making cheese in Peckham, running a wine bar on Columbia Road and reluctantly working in a (briefly) Michelin Starred restaurant. He likes fish, things cooked on charcoal, cheap dinners and London's rich cultural tapestry of food shops. When he's not cooking or eating he can be found mudlarking by the river Thames, buying bits in flea markets and hanging out with his cat Keith.