It’s only going to be four of us on Christmas Day this year, with a correspondingly smaller turkey.  This is my chance to try out Nigella Lawson’s turkey brining recipe. At almost five and a half kilos, it’s still a lot of bird, but I have visions of endless turkey sandwiches eaten TV-side during the holidays. Cliché though it may be, I think I look more forward to leftovers than the big feast itself.

I felt like a mad scientist as I added all of the ingredients to my biggest stock pot – there was some consternation that it wasn’t going to be big enough and we had a large plastic tub on standby, but the turkey just fit. Now it’s hanging out in our root cellar until Christmas Day, when we’ll dry it off and roast it with a glaze of butter and maple syrup.