12 recipes of Christmas: How to make the Duke of Clarence’s roast turkey with all the trimmings

Christmas is a time for getting together with friends and family, which comes with the joy of indulging in a hearty meal or having a few drinks. For some, these celebrations can trigger heartburn or indigestion, but thanks to Gaviscon, you can enjoy this delicious time without hesitation. In celebration, we’ve partnered with Gaviscon to bring to you the 12 recipes of Christmas by some of our favourite Aussie chefs and bartenders. See all 12 recipes here.

Time Out meets Dave Penistone in the cosy surrounds of the Duke of Clarence pub on an unseasonably cold and wet November morning. “This is Duke of Clarence weather,” the chef says, settling into a couch next to a fireplace, rimmed by bookshelves that are crammed with ancient editions of Charles Dickens and Samuel Johnson. “The more it rains, the busier we get.”

Penistone is the executive chef for the Barrelhouse Group (the Barber Shop, Hickson House) and has been on board since the Duke opened in late 2017, hidden at the end of a laneway off Clarence Street. Stumbling upon it feels a bit, dare we say, Diagon Alley; from the potted red geraniums above the door to the red velvet armchairs to the 19th century-style portrait paintings, it seems to have dropped in from an era of horse-drawn carriages, top hats and bustles. “I describe it to friends as a little bit of home in the middle of Sydney. Well, it’s a lot of home in the middle of Sydney: hand-pulled beers, a good roast, everything like that. It brings a lot of nostalgia to people.”

About that roast: the DoC has them on the menu year round – beef, lamb, pork or chicken – but for Christmas in July and December weekends, Penistone pulls out the seasonal turkey. And what a rib-sticking feast it is. Slices of juicy breast fight for real estate on the plate with a golden pig in a blanket (a pork sausage wrapped in bacon), skinny Dutch carrots, luscious beef-fat potatoes, peas, broccoli, housemade cranberry sauce and what are for this chef the two essentials: beef gravy and a plump Yorkshire pudding. 

“There are Yorkshire puddings constantly being made here,” he says. On a Sunday, they’ll make up to 200 of them. As for the gravy, which they make from scratch by boiling beef bones, they offer customers unlimited refills. They find they kind of have to.  

We’ve all suffered through dry turkey before and achieving a crisp-skinned, moist turkey is something of a dark art. Penistone’s secret is to baste the bird every ten minutes during cooking and to remove it from the oven once it gets to 62-64° according to a meat thermometer. His recipe also involves housemade cranberry sauce, although we’ve omitted that for simplicity in the recipe below.  

Born and bred in Nottingham, Penistone is looking forward to hosting a large family Christmas in Sydney – it’s the first time in a couple of years he’s been able to do so. “I’ll be cooking a lot of meat. And a lot of gravy. We’ll have a fun day.” Even if it rains on December 25, we have no doubt they will. 

_{David Penistone | Photograph: Katje Ford}

Turkey roast with all the trimmings

Yorkshire puddings

1 cup plain flour
1 cup milk
1 cup eggs (about four large)
Pinch of salt
Olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 190°. 
2. Whisk ingredients into a batter. 
3. Add half a centimetre of oil in the bottom of the muffin tray. Put tray in the oven until oil is smoky then the pour in the batter. 
4. Cook for about 25 minutes and put aside. Flash cook for 30 seconds in the oven before serving.

Gravy

3 beef ribs
Half cup of red wine
2 tbsp gravy powder

1. Simmer the beef ribs in water for two hours until meat has fallen away. Remove bones from broth.
2. Add wine, two cups of broth and gravy powder in a medium saucepan. Whisk to combine. 
3. Simmer over medium heat until thickened. Strain into a serving jug.

Stuffing

500g pork mince (50g per person)
2 Granny Smith apples, diced
Sage, chopped 
Handful of breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper

Combine ingredients thoroughly in a mixing bowl. 

Turkey

1 whole-breast turkey
250g butter
Cranberry sauce
A dozen Dutch carrots, washed, trimmed and seasoned

1. Remove the butter from the fridge an hour before cooking and preheat oven to about 185° (170° for a fan oven).
2. Insert the stuffing into the turkey, season the turkey skin with salt and pepper and douse with olive oil. 
3. Add turkey to a metal tray together with the butter and carrots and put in the oven.
4. Baste the turkey with the butter every ten minutes to ensure the skin crisps up. 
5. Remove from oven when the turkey has reached 62-64° (if you don't have a thermometer, cook for roughly 45 minutes per kilo) and rest before slicing and serving.

Pigs in blankets

6 Cumberland pork sausages (one per person)
6 lengths of streaky bacon

1. Roll out lengths of streaky bacon and wrap it around the length of each sausage. 
2. Cook in the oven until golden brown. 

Beef fat potatoes

5-6 large Désirée potatoes
100g beef fat

1. Slice the potatoes into 2.5cm chunks.
2. Melt the fat in a pot on low heat until it’s liquified.
3. Put the potatoes into a tray and pour the fat over, season and bake for 25 minutes until crisp and golden. 
   

Assemble the turkey, pig, Yorkshire pudding and vegetables on a plate with some cranberry sauce and gravy and add blanched peas and broccolini if desired. Serves six.  

Heartburn an issue? Pick up Gaviscon from your local grocery store or pharmacy. Make it a Christmas to remember and win a $2,000 Visa Gift Card from Gaviscon to spend on summer entertaining – head to www.gaviscon.com.au/win to enter.