Anyway, traditional Turducken is pretty spicy - lots of cajun goodness, corn dressing and what not. For my Turducken project I decided to try something a bit different - there may well be wailing and gnashing of teeth over in Maurice, La - but in the interests of food experimentation I chose to follow the same method used in Spain for "Pavo Trufado" - basically give the Turducken a bath in cognac, Amontillado and garlic - hence the "Drunken" bit.
Tip: talk your butcher into deboning the turkey, duck and chicken for you. Unless you feel up to the challenge! (I wimped out and took the easy way out... got the butcher to do it.)
Ingredients
- 1 deboned Turkey (16lb) with skin and wings intact
- 1 deboned Duck without skin (3-4 lb)
- 1 deboned Chicken without skin (3-4 lb)
- 2 large zip-lock plastic bags (for marinading)
- A cup of Cognac
- 1/2 bottle of Amontillado (or other dry Sherry)
- 4 large gloves of garlic
- 1 tbs whole pepper corns
- 1 whole nutmeg & grater
- Fresh parsley, sage and rosemary
- 1/4 lb of butter
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 different stuffings (already prepared)
- 1/4 lb pancetta
- handful of pine-nuts
- Large roasting bag
- Meat thermometer
- Metal skewers
- Turkey "sewing kit" (metal pins & cooking twine)
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots and celery
- 1 tbs flour
- Stuffings
- Roast potatoes and parsnips
- Green beans, pancetta, garlic and pine-nuts
- Steamed brussel sprouts
- Fresh cranberry sauce
Instructions
Marinade I let it marinade 24 hours before cooking.
1. Peel and coaresly chop the garlic. Place garlic between two zip-lock bags and add the peppercorns. Add 1/2 cup of cognac and about 1 cup of Amontillado to each bag.
2. Add duck and chicken to one bag, add turkey to the other. Then grate some nutmeg (about a pinch) into each bag.
3. Put bags into a bowl (in case of leakage!) and place in the fridge. Turn bags over a couple of times during the 24 hours.
Day of cooking!
There seem to be two general methods of cooking Turducken -- very low heat (190-220 F) for a long time (10-12 hours), or over a medium heat (350-400 F) for less time (4-6 hours). I opted for the second method, but use a roasting bag to keep things moist. I reckon final weight of the assembled Turducken must have been about 20-22 lb, but overall it only took about 5 hours to cook, and I had to put heat way down to 190F for 90 minutes because it was cooking too fast. I did use several metal skewers - to hold it together and to help with internal cooking.
Anway, with a meal-time of about 13:00, you want to start cooking by about 8:00, so start assembly (ie building) about 7:00 -- allow an hour to build the thing.
0. Put oven on at 375 F.
1. Take Turducken out of bags and drain the marinade. Place in a food prep tray while you prepare the pancetta and herb-butter mixture. Remove as many of the whole pepper corns as you can from the meat.
2. Finely dice the pancetta. Melt the butter, add crushed garlic and finely choped herbs. Mix well and set aside.
3. With the turkey lying skin-down, slice open the large turkey breasts, but don't cut all the way through. Place a good dollop of the herb-butter mixture and some of the pancetta into each of the breast meat and then fold the meat over.
4. Put your hand between skin and breast meat to loosen it, then place a knob of the herb-butter mixture and carefully "smear" to cover as much as the breast as possible. Smear herb-butter mixture on the outside of the breast-side of the skin as well for good measure.
5. Sprinkle the rest of the pancetta, pine-nuts and garlic (from the marinade) over the turkey and season with pepper.
6. Place about a 1/2 inch layer of sausage-oyster stuffing on the turkey.
7. Place the duck meat on the sausage-oyster stuffing.
8. Place about a 1/2 inch layer of orange-cranberry stuffing on the duck.
9. Place the chicken breast on the orange-cranberry stuffing.
10. Place about a 1/2 inch of crabapple-chestnut stuffing on the chicken.
11. Pause for breath and wonder how you're going to sew the monstrosity up...
12. Ever so gently bring each half of the turkey up and over the chicken. Hold with one hand and thread a couple of metal skewers to keep the skin in place.
(sorry no photos.. hands were otherwise occupied!)
13. Then use the turkey sewing kit (amazing, it worked!) to keep the skin together.
14. Place a tablespoon of flour into the roasting bag and shake it.
15. Gently manevour the Turducken into the bag -- keeping it in the food prep tray. Place the chopped carrots and celery on the Turducken, then seal the bag.
16. OK, nearly there now. Get your roasting tray and place over the Turducken. Grab a helper and together "flip" the Turducken over -- it should now be sitting in the roasting tray. Cut a couple of slits in the bag to let the steam escape.
17. Get your meat thermometer and place in the Turducken.
18. Put Turducken in the oven (at 375 F).
19. Check the meat thermometer every 15 minutes. Your target is to get it to 170-180F - then it will be ready. My experience was:
375 - 1 hour
350 - 45 mins
190 - 45 mins
350 - 1.5 hours
Remove, cover with foil and rest for an hour
In the last hour of cooking, you will see *a lot* of juices gathering in the bottom of the roasting bag. I cut a hole in and used a spoon and brush (would have been easier with a baster) to baste the top of the Turducken.
Note: if you have left over stuffing, start cooking it -- will take about 45 minutes. Also, get your sides going now: roast potatoes & parsnips, steamed-sprouts, cranberry sauce and green-beans.
20. While the Turducken rests, spoon as much of it's juices as possible into a pan, add a touch of stock and white-wine to make a gravy.
21. After an hour, it's carving time! Astound your diners as you carve straight through the breast bone of the "Turkey"! Note the "strata" of the Turducken and talk them through each layer of goodness! Carve into slices about a 1/3 inch thick - any thinner any it may disintegrate.
Serve with: roast potatoes and parsnips, fresh cranberry sauce, cranberry salsa, green-beans, sprouts and more stuffing on the side.
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