The holiday season is fast approaching. And while some people are dusting off their grandma’s favourite recipe from year’s gone by, if you’re looking to shake up tradition and really wow your guests with something new this season, then look no further.

Local chefs and caterers, Charles Henry and Antonio Belvedere, recently showcased how they choose to dress up their turkeys at a free community event hosted by Bermuda Gas.

For Mr Belvedere it’s all about wrapping the bird in bacon, while Mr Henry said he tries to spice up the holiday meal by offering a jerk seasoned turkey.

Mr Henry was inspired to add flavours from his native country Jamaica to the holiday staple years ago while watching an episode of the comedy sitcom ‘Mr Cooper’.

He said: “The wife on the show asked Mr Cooper to keep an eye on the turkey because she went to pick something up at the store for Thanksgiving.

“Mr Cooper called the boys over to play cards and ended up burning the turkey. When his wife asked about it he said it wasn’t burned and he told her ‘That’s how they do turkey in Jamaica’ because it was so dark it looked like jerk turkey.”

That got the wheels in Mr Henry’s head turning and he decided to give the new idea a shot.

The result — a tender and spicy turkey — blew even the long-time chef away.

“The spice can definitely be turned down depending on your taste to be more mild,” he said. “When I make it at home it’s spicy because I am a spice guy, but when I make it for people’s functions it’s usually very mild.

“Even a child could have it, with the exception of the fiery sauce. With this recipe I was looking for flavour and I got that.”

He starts by marinating the turkey over night with the Grace brand Jerk Seasoning, lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce and other herbs and seasonings.

The key to a good jerk is using fresh ingredients, like thyme and other herbs, green onions, nutmeg and some scotch bonnet pepper.

But beware, you’ll need to use rubber gloves when dealing with the peppers, especially for those with sensitive skin.

Next, Mr Henry covers the bird with aluminium foil and puts it on a charcoal grill for a few minutes “to get that smoky flavour in the meat”. He recommends using aromatic wood chips from either the Pimento or Cedar tree to smoke the meat. You can also soak the chips in black rum or red wine before hand for extra flavour. “That’s what will give off a nice smoke and it’s basically smoke and spice that are the secret to a good jerk,” he said.

He finishes the turkey off in the oven by slow roasting it at a low temperature for a couple of hours.

Mr Henry encourages people to step outside the box when it comes to what they put on their own Thanksgiving or Christmas table.

“As a chef for years that’s what it’s all about, trying new things. When you are travelling you don’t go to New York every time, you might try to visit Boston or Washington. The same should be true with foods.”

However if you are a novice cook and more comfortable with using traditional holiday flavours, why not try Mr Belvedere’s bacon-wrapped turkey?

The young chef, who recently opened his own catering service called Peppino’s, told The Royal Gazette: “The bacon gives the turkey flavour and keeps it moist. Also I figured anything with bacon involved tastes good. Most people like turkey so my thought was why not wrap it in bacon?”

Mr Belvedere doesn’t put traditional stuffing inside the turkey, but adds chopped onion and garlic.

Instead of basting the meat, he will also rub a sage and butter mixture under the skin of the bird for added moisture and flavour. It also helps to caramelise the skin, the chef said.

He started cooking his family’s turkey 11 years ago, but said perfecting this particular recipe was about trial and error.

“I saw a chef make something similar while I was watching the Food Network. I’ve been cooking since I was younger and wanted to experience more when I came to the whole culinary world and started looking up different tricks here and there and tried them out. I decided to try my version of the bacon thing three years ago and made it better every year after that.

“People have told me it just melts in your mouth and gives the turkey a lot more moisture and taste.”

He pairs the turkey with a home-made cranberry sauce and horseradish aioli. The cranberry sauce is made by cooking the cranberries down with water and sugar until it forms a sauce, but you can also add orange, lemon zest, walnuts, pine nuts, cinnamon or nutmeg for added flavour.

For the full recipes for Mr Belvedere’s bacon-wrapped turkey and Mr Henry’s jerk turkey, see sidebar.