Large Christmas Turkey

Put sausagemeat in a bowl. Season with two teaspoonfuls of salt and six or seven turns of black pepper. Thoroughly mix in the yolks of the two eggs with a fork.

Cut off the crusts and the stale surfaces of the bread. Strip most of the stalks off the parsley. Use a blender to take portions of the bread and parsley to make portions of green parsley flavoured breadcrumbs. Grate the lemons into the breadcrumbs along with the suet, a couple of teaspoonfuls of salt and some black pepper and mix thoroughly. Very carefully add some cold water until the stuffing is moist but not wet.

Salt and pepper the turkey all over. Put the lemon and parsley suffing into the main cavity of the carcass followed by the sausagemeat into both cavities. Lay the bacon across the breast, leg and wings of the turkey. Put the turkey into an ovenproof dish and cover completely with foil.

Compute total cooking time as dressed (minus giblets) Turkey weight plus stuffing weight in lbs times 18 minutes per pound. Cook for first 30 minutes at 425°F/210°C/Reg7, then drop to 325°F/170°C/Reg3. One hour to go, take off foil and move bacon to alongside turkey. 40 minutes to go, if not brown enough increase oven to 400°F/200°C/Reg6. Take the turkey and bacon out of the oven, recover with foil and rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

Use a big spoon and spoon off any excess fat from the cooking dish, stir in a couple of tablespoonfuls of flour, pour in a couple of wineglasses of red wine, and simmer over a medium heat. Slowly add chicken stock until you have a good gravy, and then season well with salt and fresh black pepper.