Whole Turkey
Serves 8-20
Be it thanksgiving or any other occasion that requires impressing the guests - the whole turkey dinner is the solution...
Ingredients:
The Bird |
|
~7Kg |
whole turkey |
some |
garlic |
some |
black pepper |
some |
salt |
some |
paprika |
some |
olive oil |
some |
white wine |
some |
boiling water |
Stuffing |
|
some |
white stale bread, or cooked rice, white or brown |
lots |
chopped onions |
some |
oil for frying |
some |
chopped celery |
some |
instant chicken soup |
some |
garlic |
some |
sage (optional for goishe taam) |
to taste |
salt and pepper |
some |
raisins and/or dry cranberries |
some |
pine nuts |
some |
sugar |
Preparation:
- A few days before the festive event, go to the supermarket and order a whole turkey. It turns out that the supermarkets buy the turkeys whole and butcher them into parts locally. Therefore, they are more than happy to put aside a beast for you. Tip - ask for a female, that is what they usually sell anyway, but you want to make sure you get a female. Why, I'm not sure, but that is what Ema says so it must be important.
- On the day of the event, but plenty of time before the dinner (8 hours at least), go get the bird. Make sure the skin is whole and not torn. Not that it matters much, they don't have another waiting for you... Ask them to clean the feathers well, otherwise you will be left with the nasty job to do yourself. In my case Ema came to help and saved me by cleaning the beast, but you may not be so lucky... Pay for the bird. I payed 20NIS per Kg (Ema told me I got ripped off and that she pays 12 NIS per Kg and gets a clean bird, she also told me where she gets it - but I forgot :-( maybe Wilson's or something like that). It will be ~5 KG for a small bird to ~7+ Kg for a big bird. The one I got was 7.5 Kg - a monster...
- to be continued... I never finished writing the recipe, but the turkey was great - very tasty, impressive and soft... now I need to make another one for a pot-luck dinner for all ConteXtream employees and spouses in our apartment on Sunday 30Dec07.
- This time Ema bought the bird for me in "Yad-Yitshak". She cleaned and spiced it and froze it (it will not keep till Sunday from Thursday). On Friday I came to pick it up and she gave me the recipe again...
- Clean bird.
- Rub with crushed fresh garlic - inside and out.
- Massage with salt, pepper and paprika. Ema used some real Hungarian paprika and also sprinkled some dry ginger on it.
- Smear (or Shmir) some olive oil on the bird.
- Put bird in a big disposable aluminum pan. Use two for strength - you will need it. Cover with heavy duty aluminum foil, not the flimsy stuff you are used to using - use industrial strength, heavy duty foil! Hint - you can get it (yes, you guessed it) at Yad-Yitshak... So, cover with the foil, seal and put in fridge if day ahead or freezer if more than two days. Toss a coin if it is exactly two days ahead...
- The night before the event, make the stuffing. You will not have time to do it on the day of the event.
- You first need to decide what kind of stuffing you want to make: Bread, savory rice or sweet rice. On Pesach it will be matzo stuffing. I will make bread stuffing.
- Take stale white bread without the crust, broken into pieces. If you don't have stale then dry in oven.
- Fry onions in oil and add to bread.
- Add chopped celery, crushed garlic and chicken soup from a cube. You can add sage if you have some. Goim like sage, Ashkenazim don't like it...
- Add salt and pepper to taste. "...when you metabel you have to taste it..."
- If you decided on rice stuffing (maybe your guests are sfaradim...) then brown or white savory or sweet (Ema says "... in my opinion - with turkey use savory not sweet..." - proceed as follows:
- Cook rice with some instant chicken soup. Doesn't need to be completely cooked...
- Fry onions and add to rice. Always use onions, no matter what type of stuffing...
- Add raisins, currents, cranberries, pine nuts, salt and pepper. "...I can't give you kamuiot..."
- For sweet - add sugar. For savory add garlic.
- "... there is never enough stuffing from the cavity only, so make in a pan too." Your oven will probably not be big enough for the turkey and the extra stuffing pan. And, you probably do not happen to have another oven near by downstairs - then cook the extra stuffing pan in the oven the night before. You will be able to warm it in the micro.
- Six hours before the event - stuff the bird. Put the bird breast down in the double pan.
- Add white wine to the pan. rub the inside of the heavy duty foil with oil and seal. The Americans say to roast the bird dry and they roast it breast up - looks nicer - but that is how you get the type of dry turkey that it takes a whole year before you are willing to eat another one...
- Roast sealed in oven for 5 hours. Check after 3.5 hours if there is enough liquid in the pan - if not then add some boiling water. After 4.5 hours check if brown enough, if not then leave open for last half hour.
- When done, remove from oven and let rest. Flip over if you want breast side up (the Americans never figured you could do that...). Present to guests whole for impression and then carve and serve with cranberry sauce and apple sauce. No, not from a can - you need to make fresh apple sauce... OK then forget the apple sauce just serve with cranberry sauce....