It’s coming: another Christmas day. Turkey contains the Umami element Glutamate, but not as richly as chicken. This is how to supercharge the Umami in your roast turkey!⠀⠀
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Umami Brine: Brining is to soak the turkey in salted water to add flavour and tenderness.⠀

First, collect vegetable waste such as carrot peelings, tomato skins and broccoli stems over a few days. Keep them in your fridge.⠀⠀

Bring 2 litres of water to the boil and throw in the vegetable waste, a few stalks of celery, some crumbled dried mushrooms (porcini and shiitake are fantastic), a chopped leek or shallot, and a few bay leaves. ⠀

Add half a cup of caster sugar and simmer for 20 minutes, then strain and leave to cool. ⠀⠀
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Top up with water to make 3 litres, then add 150g coarse salt to make 5% brine.⠀⠀

Place the turkey in a bucket or huge ziplock bag, and add the brine. Immerse the turkey completely and leave it to soak overnight. 

Pat the turkey dry, and coat it with our Umami Rub recipe (this recipe is available on our website and social media), before roasting it in the oven.⠀⠀

How do you Umami up your Christmas dinner