The turkey occupies a unique place within the animal kingdom: how many other beasts have the ability to cause more blind panic in death than in life? Starting with bleary-eyed morning vigils over the oven, then hours of frantic prodding, culminating in muttered vows to cook something easier next year, even a stuffed and basted bird can be a tough beast to tame. But Mark Sargeant can’t see what all the fuss is about. And, as he’s the chef who will whip up Christmas dinner for the Chelsea Pensioners at Gordon Ramsay’s Royal Hospital Road before doing Christmas Day lunch at Claridge’s, you take his word for it.

“On Christmas morning, everyone in the Claridge’s kitchen has a wager as to how many portions of turkey we’ll sell over lunch,” he grins. “We all stick a pound in, and it’s winner-takes-all. Last year it was 120, but a few people always come back for seconds of leg.”

The trick is, says Sargeant, to steam then roast the breast separately, while boning then stuffing the legs with sausage meat, allowing you to serve the white meat moist and finely sliced, the dark packed with flavour and perfectly cooked through. That method’s probably asking a bit much of the average home cook, but it’s important to note that more and more producers are moving away from the notion that you need to roast your turkey for hours on end (one bird we tasted was ready after an hour and fifteen minutes).

And it’s essential to leave it to relax before cooking, wrapped in foil, if you like, to keep the moisture in. “But the main thing is making sure you have a healthy, quality turkey to begin with,” Sargeant insists. Which, with supermarkets and suppliers now offering breeds from Blacks to Bronzes, frozen to free range, is why he’s here: to find the best birds going this Christmas.

TURKEY

Sainsbury’s Norfolk Black Turkey, from £8.49 per kg.

Straight away, you can see that the white meat is a little darker than some of the others. And it’s succulent and very tasty indeed. There’s a real depth of flavour to the leg meat, too, lovely and gamey.

Bernard Matthews Small Basted Turkey, 4.4kg, £20 (supermarkets nationwide).

Quite a small bird, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But it has a greasy, pre-basted coating that makes it hard to rub in butter or put sage under the skin. Still, the meat fibres are nice and tight, and there’s plenty of flavour and a good, crispy skin.

Kelly Bronze, from £11.37 per kg (www.kelly-turkeys.com; also stocked by Selfridges).

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