Friday, December 4, 2009

Recipe List - New Thanksgiving Turkey Idea


The original idea was on Recipezaar or something like that. I can't recall where. It doesn't matter, as the overall concept is not "recipe", but rather "process" related:

East enough. To start, Buy a turkey. Then, thaw it - one day or more.

Boil one large teapot of boiling water. Once boiled, pour boiling water over
the turkey. Frankly, it's pretty damned amazing. You can see the skin before your eyes shrinking and tightening around the carcass. What the boiling water does is tighten the outer skin on the turkey meat, trapping the meat fluid inside the skin as it broils.

I'm not a big stuffing guy. Heck, despite tradition, most people don't like or actually eat bread stuffing. So I stuffed the turkey with orange and apple slices, apricots, raisins, and plums. The sole purpose of the fruit stuffing is to add flavor to the meat, and not to serve as a separate dish (the fruit is too soft and mushy for that). Final touches - I tooth-picked six pieces of raw center-cut bacon on top of the turkey, and poured a 16 oz can of chicken broth on top of the bird while in the broiler.

After the requisite 6-7 hours, I removed the bird from the broiler, removed the bacon from the turkey (but saved for leftover dishes and sandwiches), and left the fruit stuffing to remain inside the carcass. The fruit is eventually discarded with the carcass.

Result - best turkey I've ever made. Very soft and moist, regardless of white meat or dark. This experiment was a complete success. Can't wait to do it again, when at some time turkey is on sale.

Then, straight to the table on a platter. Bottom line - best turkey I've ever made. I will NEVER again another turkey without using the "boiled water" technique. It is flawless. And delicious.

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