I bought the turkey

We were dithering over whether to have goose, a large chicken or a turkey, and I solved the dilemma by buying a turkey. I will need to recheck the oven temperature, but I’m pretty confident about cooking it as we’ve done it so often before. However, I did just think I might consult the useful little National Mark Calendar of Cooking to see what Ambrose Heath and Mrs D.D.Cottington taylor suggested eighty years ago:

Roast Turkey and its Accompaniments

Nothing excels a first-quality English turkey and whilst the large ones may prove more economical – as the cost per pound is generally lower – birds weighing 12-16 pounds are mos popular. The time to allow for cooking should be 15 minutes to the pound and fifteen minutes over.
It is entirely a matter of personal taste whether the bird is stuffed or not. The majority of people prefer it with a farce od some kind. Either veal or chestnut is most usual.

• 1 turkey

Bread sauce:

• 1 large onion
• 3-4 cloves
• a few peppercorns
• 3 oz bread
• ¼ pint milk
• a little salt
• ½ oz butter

Chestnut stuffing:

•  2 lbs chestnuts, shelled, cooked in water or milk, rubbed through a sieve or mashed with a potato masher
• ¼ lb butter
• 6 oz breadcrumbs
• 1 lb sausages
• ½ tsp parsley
• pepper and salt
• stock

Veal stuffing:

• 4 oz breadcrumbs
• 2 oz finely chopped suet
• 1 beaten egg
• ½ tsp chopped carrot
• 1 tsp chopped parsley
• 1 tsp thyme and marjoram
• tarragon
• lemon zest
• salt and pepper

Other accompaniments: – baked or grilled chipolata sausages, small bacon rolls, celery sauce, chestnut sauce and cranberry sauce

1. chestnut stuffing is very easy to make… blend all the ingredients and stuff the breast of the bird with this mixture
2. veal stuffing is made by blending the ingredients, adding chopped ham if liked, or a little sausage meat
3. many people like to have a portion of the stuffing inside the bird, and the remainder made into forcemeat balls and baked in the tin
4. cranberry sauce – 1½lbs cranberries,½ oz butter, and a little sugar – cook the cranberries until tender, rub through a sieve, return to the pan and add sugar and butter

Strangely, there is no recipe for bread sauce – only the ingredients; we never had bread sauce at home, and I don’t actually like it, but, but here is a recipe I found:

Simmer the milk, butter, chopped onion, cloves, peppercorns in a pan for 20 mins. Strain and return the liquid to the pan; add the bread crumbed and simmer for 3-4 mins. Stir in the butter and season; it can be made up to 3 days in advance and reheated.