Recipe: A Show-Stopping Roast Turkey With Onion and Sage by Meatsmith’s Head Chef

If you can change a lightbulb, you can make a turkey ballotine. The French technique makes carving the meat centrepiece a breeze – no fiddly bones or janky cuts involved.

At Meatsmith, the top Melbourne butcher co-owned by Andrew McConnell and Troy Wheeler, chef Aaron Starling stuffs the deboned bird with a combo of sage, confit garlic and onion, then rolls and wraps it in butcher’s twine before it hits the oven.

The result is an evenly cooked, cylindrical show stopper that slices into neat, stuffing-flecked rounds with minimal effort. “This whole turkey ballotine makes carving at the festive table easy,” Starling says.

The only butchery skills required are knowing who to call: simply ask your butcher to debone the bird when you buy it. The rest is mainly rolling, trussing and roasting, leaving you free to focus on the sides and entertaining.

Turkey Ballotine With Onion and Sage by Meatsmith’s Aaron Starling

Serves 4–5
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours

Ingredients

4.4kg boneless turkey (ask your butcher to prepare this)
Olive oil (Meatsmith loves Quartz Hill)
Sea salt flakes (Meatsmith uses Murray River salt flakes)

Ballotine stuffing
4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
300g panko breadcrumbs
100g sage, chopped
50g confit garlic
1 egg
50g parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Ask your local butcher to prepare the turkey in advance. They will need to remove the frame while still leaving the breast attached, deboning the wings and deboning the legs. Make sure to keep all the skin intact.

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

To prepare the stuffing, heat a large frypan over a medium to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the diced onion, and cook for 4–5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and translucent. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Place all the ingredients into a medium-sized mixing bowl, including the cooked onions. Mix well until everything is combined, then season with salt and pepper.

Lay the boneless turkey out flat, skin side down. Place the stuffing in the centre, covering the breast. Start by folding the left side over the top of the seasoning, then bring the neck skin over the top. Then tuck the rear meat in as you roll the roast over to the right side to form a nice cylinder, tucking all the skin in so it is nicely encased.

Using butcher’s twine, truss the ballotine tightly to hold everything in place. Place the ballotine into a roasting dish and rub with olive oil and salt.

Roast for two hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 62°C.

Remove the ballotine from its roasting dish and rest for a minimum of 15 minutes, then slice into even 1 cm-thick pieces. Place the slices of turkey on a warmed platter.

Starling serves this dish with roasted pigs in blankets and honeyed carrots.