It doesn’t get more Australian than this; cooking your Christmas turkey and ham on a barbecue. Appliances Online’s (Australia’s largest online retailer) barbecue Product Expert, Russell Crosdale, gives his tips and tricks to cooking the perfect Christmas turkey and ham and reveals why more Australians should use BBQ to cook their festive meals

Why BBQ is better?

Russell Crosdale, Appliances Online’s barbecue product explains that cooking a ham or turkey on a BBQ, produces a better taste.

“It’s as simple as taste. There is an unmistakable flavour infused into your food from a BBQ that you can’t capture inside an oven. Whether you are using a wood fire, charcoal or even a gas BBQ, the taste sensations associated with outdoor cooking are unique and will add multiple flavour profiles to your Christmas lunch or dinner.”

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How to cook a Christmas ham or turkey on a BBQ?

“Using an indirect cooking method on the BBQ means the meat will cook at an even temperature and not burn or dry. There are two way to indirectly cook a ham or turkey”.

For a gas BBQ you have two options:

Place the Turkey in the center of the BBQ with the two most outer burners set to medium (on a 4 burner BBQ) and close the lid

Place the Turkey at one end and turn the burner furthest away to medium and close the lid. For this method you will need  to rotate the Turkey so it doesn’t burn on one side (this method will also take a little longer)

Cooking the turkey - 20 minutes per 400g for unstuffed, 25 minutes per 400g for stuffed.

Cooking the ham - Allow 20 minutes per 400g

A charcoal and wood BBQ is the same principle, however the coals/wood replace the gas burners.

Christmas Turkey Recipe

“As turkey is such a large cut, and benefits from a slower heat to cook and the brine allows the meat to stay moist by retaining the salt water solution. After cooking, save the drippings to make an amazing gravy”

For every 3.8L of water add ½ cup of salt and ½ cup of sugar.

Boil the the water, salt and sugar, and cool - for extra depth in your flavour profile, add your own herbs and spices to the mixture.

Fully submerge the turkey for 24 hours (shorter is fine, try to avoid much longer).

Remove from brine solution and wash the turkey and pat dry - this removes the surface salt

Cook until a nice golden colour and then cover in a light foil tent to prevent burning

During the last 45 minutes remove the foil to crisp up the skin

Check the internal temperature of the turkey in the thigh - it should read 74c or greater

Allow the Turkey to stand for 20-30 minutes to rest and let the moisture reabsorb

Christmas Ham Recipe

Remove the rind from the ham (leg ham works best)

Score the skin in a diamond pattern. (This allows the flavours of the ham and any glaze you put on to penetrate into the layers of the meat) - for extra flavour and looks, insert whole cloves in the pattern of the diamond

Place the ham cut side down in a foil pan and tent with foil to keep the moisture in the meat

Baste every 20 - 30 minutes with your glaze or the juices from inside the foil pan - this will keep the surface nice and moist and infuse your ham with extra levels of flavour

Let rest for 15 minutes to redistribute the moisture

(Information courtesy of Appliances Online)