The best turkey to buy for Christmas: a straight comparison

Every year, somewhere around the middle of November, the same conversation happens across the counter. Someone has eight people coming, a modest oven, one aunt who only eats brown meat and a nephew who will not touch anything with a bone in it. What should they order?

There is no single best turkey. There is a best turkey for your table, your oven and the number of sandwiches you want to be eating on the 27th. So rather than tell you the dearest bird is always the right one, here is how the choices actually differ, and when the smaller, less expensive option is genuinely the better buy.

Start with the number of people, not the bird

Almost every disappointing Christmas turkey started life as the wrong weight. Too big and it dries out before the legs are done. Too small and you are carving in silence, praying.

Our working guide, which is what we use when someone rings up and tells us how many are coming:

• Whole bird, on the bone: allow about 450g per person. That gives you a proper serving on the day and cold turkey afterwards.
• Crown, breast on the bone: allow about 350g per person. There is no leg or wing weight to account for, so the number looks smaller but feeds the same room.
• Boneless breast roll: allow about 200 to 225g per person. Nearly all of it is edible, so the weight goes a long way.

As a rough guide, a 5kg whole bird will comfortably do ten to eleven people with leftovers. A 3kg crown will do eight without any. If you are between two sizes, go up on a whole bird and stay put on a crown, because a crown that is too large simply takes longer to cook through and the outside suffers for it.

Bronze or white: what actually changes on the plate

This is the comparison people ask about most, and the answer is less mystical than it is sometimes made to sound.

Bronze birds are the older, slower-growing type. They carry less breast in proportion to leg, they take longer to reach weight, and they tend to lay down a little more fat under the skin. That does two things: it bastes the breast as it cooks, and it gives the meat a deeper, slightly gamier flavour. Bronze birds often show fine dark feather stubs in the skin, which is a sign of the breed rather than a fault, and the skin crisps beautifully.

White birds are paler-skinned, broader in the breast and milder in flavour. If your household prefers turkey that tastes clean and delicate, and you want the maximum amount of white meat for the weight you are paying for, a white bird is not a compromise. It is a different preference.

What matters far more than colour is how slowly the bird was grown and whether it lived outdoors. A fast-grown bird of either type will taste of very little. Time is what puts flavour in.

Free range against everything else

Here is the honest bit. A frozen supermarket bird will always cost less per kilo than a free-range turkey, and if the budget for Christmas dinner has to stretch a long way, that is a perfectly reasonable decision to make. Nobody at this counter will think less of you for it.

What you are paying for with free range is time and space. Birds that have been outside, moving about, growing at their own rate, build denser muscle and more fat cover. The meat holds together on the fork rather than shredding, it holds its juices better, and it tastes of something. Compare the two cold, the day after, and the difference is impossible to miss.

Watch the labels in the supermarket aisle, because they are not all saying the same thing. Free range means genuine outdoor access. Terms about being farm fresh or specially selected tell you nothing at all about how the bird lived. If a supermarket free-range bronze is sitting near our price per kilo, compare them properly and buy whichever suits you. If it is a long way below, ask yourself what has been taken out to get there.

Whole bird or crown: the part most guides get wrong

A comparison that always points at the biggest, priciest option is not a comparison. So, plainly:

Buy a whole bird if

• You have ten or more at the table, or you want leftovers with intent. Curry, pies, sandwiches, stock.
• You have people who prefer the darker leg meat, and there is usually at least one.
• Your oven can take it. Measure. A 6kg bird in a roasting tin needs more headroom than people expect.
• You want the carcass. A turkey stock made on Boxing Day is one of the quiet pleasures of the year.

Buy a crown if

• You are cooking for four to eight. A turkey crown is very often the better buy at this size, and we say so cheerfully.
• Oven space is tight and you have pigs in blankets, roast potatoes and a stuffing all competing for it. A crown cooks in noticeably less time and frees the oven up.
• Your household eats breast meat and quietly leaves the legs. Paying for meat that goes in the bin is a false economy, whatever the price per kilo says.
• You would rather carve something straightforward in front of people. A crown is far easier to carve neatly than a whole bird.

If you love the idea of a crown but still want brown meat, the sensible answer is to buy the crown and add a couple of turkey legs alongside. Roast them separately, or braise them slowly the day before, and you get the best of both without wrestling a huge bird.

Buy a boneless breast roll if

• You are cooking for two to six, or turkey is one of several things on the table.
• You want no waste and no carving anxiety. A turkey breast roll slices cleanly from end to end.
• You are cooking somewhere small: a flat, a caravan, a rented cottage over Christmas.

Comparing prices honestly

To compare us with a supermarket properly, do three things.

1. Work in price per kilo, not price per bird. Shelf tickets are designed to make that hard.
2. Account for bone. A whole bird carries frame, wings and legs, so the price per kilo of meat you actually eat is higher than the ticket suggests. A boneless roll looks dearer per kilo and often is not, once you have eaten it.
3. Count the meals. A good bird gives you Christmas dinner, cold cuts, a curry and a pan of stock. Divide by four and it reads differently.

Our prices and weights are on each product page and we do not hide the price per kilo, because we would rather you compared us properly than took our word for it.

Cooking notes worth having before you order

Take the bird out of the fridge a good hour or two before it goes in, so it is not fridge-cold in the middle. Season it well. Rub it generously with butter or with goose fat, which gives you crisper skin and keeps the breast from drying while the legs come up to temperature.

Cook to temperature rather than to the clock. Sixty-five to seventy degrees in the thickest part of the breast, then rest it properly. Twenty minutes minimum, forty is better, loosely tented. A rested turkey carves in clean slices and stays juicy on the plate. Resting is free, and it is the single biggest improvement most people could make to their Christmas dinner.

Order early. We take a set number of birds and when they are gone, they are gone. Tell us how many you are feeding and we will tell you honestly which one to buy, even when that is the smaller one.