COOKING dinner on Christmas Day doesn't have to be stressful - all it takes is a little planning!

Ed Bolla and the BBC Good Food Magazine show you how.

Crispy bacon-basted turkey (Serves 6-8)

Ingredients: 5kg-6kg oven-ready turkey, 2 thyme sprigs, 1 onion,

1 lemon, 2 bay leaves, 1 garlic bulb. For the salt mix: 85g flaky sea salt, 2tbsp fresh thyme leaves, 1tsp black pepper.

For the crispy bacon butter: 6 rashers smoked streaky bacon or pancetta, 140g butter, softened, 1tbsp maple syrup.

To make: If you have time the day before, salt the turkey. Sit the turkey in a roasting tin and season all over, inside and out, using about two-thirds of the salt.

Leave the turkey in the tin, breast-side up, cover with cling film and put in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

If you don't have time, simply prepare the salt and season the turkey generously before roasting.

To make the bacon butter, cook the bacon in a dry frying pan for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is crisp.

Take off the heat and leave to cool slightly.

Scrape the bacon and the fat into a food processor with the butter and maple syrup.

Blitz to combine.

Roll up the butter in cling film to form a log and place in the fridge.

Remove the turkey from the fridge an hour or so before you want to cook it.

Remove the bacon butter from the fridge to soften up.

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan. Calculate your cooking time based on 40 minutes per kg for the first four kg of the turkey, plus 45 minutes for every kg after that.

Gently push your fingers under the skin of the turkey, starting from the neck, until you can push your whole hand in and down the length of the breast.

Take care not to tear the skin. Use your hands to spread the bacon butter under the skin so that it covers the entire breast area, and there is butter in the crevice between the thigh and the main body.

Pop a sprig of thyme under the skin of each breast, then smooth the skin over.

Place the onion, lemon, bay leaves and garlic in the cavity.

Cover the tin loosely with foil and roast for the calculated cooking time. 30 minutes before the end of cooking, increase the oven temperature to 200C/180C fan, remove the foil, baste the turkey and return to the oven.

When the turkey is beautifully brown and cooked through, remove from the oven and leave to rest on a warm platter covered in foil for up to one hour.

Pour the fat away from the roasting tin, leaving just the juices.

Serve the remaining salt mix as a seasoning.