This year, we ended up with two “free turkeys” gifts from our local grocery store – one was ours, and one was given to us by a friend.
Needless to say, by this time in the year, the novelty of the Turkey-Gravy-Potatoes-Cranberry Sauce dinner has worn off.
Below are two recipes to add some variety to your turkey repertoire.
The first is for the most delicious Turkey Pastrami I’ve ever tasted. It is so flavorful – delicately spicy and sweet, similar to corned beef – and juicy, if you resist the urge to cut into it until it’s cooled to room temperature.
You could eat it warmed or more traditionally, in a deli sandwich on rye with mustard and dill pickle spears. The first time I made this was a few years ago, post Thanksgiving, and I brought it to my father-in-law’s house, where it received many appreciative ‘ooo’s and ah’s’. The best part is that it’s EASY to make!
Let me also say that every single recipe we have tried from Raichlen’s book has come out restaurant-quality fantastic, and if there is a grill-master on your Christmas list, this book would make a perfect gift. I would recommend the hardcover edition as the pages in our soft-cover version quickly came unglued — although, to be fair, we did “crack” the spine and the book has accompanied us to a number of barbecues.
As grilling season is over here in PA, we made our pastrami in a 325 degree oven.
Turkey Pastrami
Recipe from How to Grill by Steven Raichlen, adapted by me for the oven
Rub (double this recipe to better cover a larger turkey):
In a blender or food processor, pulse until coriander and peppercorns are broken into bits:
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
3 tablespoons black peppercorns
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1/4 cup coarse salt
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sweet paprika (like Hungarian)
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground mace
Cut the breast-half off of a small to medium sized turkey using poultry shears, leaving the breastbone in, but trimming off the ribs. (The remaining parts can be used for stock.) Rinse the breast and pat dry.
Sprinkle and pat the rub on the turkey, over the skin. Cover as much surface area as possible. Place the ‘rubbed’ turkey in a covered container, or in a casserole dish and cover with plastic wrap, meat side up and chill in the refrigerator for 24 hours. (If it goes a little over 24 hours to adapt to your cooking schedule, it’s okay.)
When you’re ready to bake the turkey, redistribute the rub. It will be much more moist after sitting in the fridge, and will spread more evenly to make a flavorful crust on the meat. Notice the juice in the bottom of the pan. This is because the salt has partially cured the meat.
Place on a roasting rack with a drip-pan and roast until a meat thermometer registers 170 degrees.
My tip for juiciness: Leave the temperature probe stuck in the meat (or else juices will run out in the hole it creates) and let the turkey sit until it is cooled to room temperature. Juices have fat in them. Hot fat will run out of the meat. Cooled fat (think of congealed gravy after it’s cooled) stays in the meat, keeping it from drying out.
HOT FAT! I just had to say that again…
Um, anyways… so as not to waste the rest of a perfectly good turkey, put the remaining turkey parts in a large stock pot. Add water until it covers the meat. Add 1 onion, 2 stalks of chopped celery, 1 carrot, and 2 bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer until the bones are soft and the meat is falling off the bones. Strain the mixture through a colander (to get remove the meat and cooking vegetables) and then through a cheese cloth to strain out the smaller particles. Cool the broth to room temperature, and then place it in the fridge over night. Skim the fat off the top. You can freeze broth for later use. A tip is to freeze the broth in large muffin tins, which yield about a cup of broth for each section. In the mean time, pick over the turkey and reserve the meat for turkey-mayo salad or soup.
Here are some yummy looking soup recipes:
Turkey Soup with Herbed Dumplings
Southwestern Turkey Soup(I’d use the turkey stock instead of vegetable stock)
Turkey and Wild Rice Soup (Don’t skip the Sherry! It adds a distinctive woodsy flavor…)