Chicken is good, but Turkey is better (especially for a Thanksgiving meal)
November 24th, 2008Last week we published a couple of gourmet recipes using chicken as a main ingredient, Chicken Breast stuffed with Herb and Cheese, and Chicken Scaloppine with Lemon and Caper Sauce, but since this is Thanksgiving week, we switch to turkey, the traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Today we share with you a traditional recipe for your Traditional Thanksgiving Turkey that we found browsing the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library in Parma, Italy. The cookbook we found is “America e la sua grande cucina” (America’s Great Cuisine), by Philip Stephen Schulz, published in Italy by Rizzoli in 1990.
Cookbook author Philip Stephen Schulz explores in this cookbook the traditional cuisine of all US States and, when it comes to the culinary traditions of Connecticut, he proposes the traditional local recipe for Roast Thanksgiving Turkey with Cornbread Stuffing.
Ready? Let’s go to the kitchen!
ROAST THANKSGIVING TURKEY WITH CORNBREAD STUFFING
A recipe by Philip Stephen Schulz
(serves 8-10)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 (22 lb) fresh turkey
- 2 large crushed garlic cloves
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
INGREDIENTS FOR STUFFING
- 3 bacon strips, chopped
- 1/2 cup dried white wine
- 4 cups water
- 1 onion
- 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
- 3 parsley sprigs, plus additional sprigs for garnish
- 1/4 tablespoon salt
- 4 black peppercorns
- 1 1/2 tablespoon flour
- 1/4 cup cream
PREPARATION
Preheat oven at 330°F. Remove giblets from turkey and if desired set aside for the gravy. Clean turkey inside and outside with a wet kitchen towel and rub with 1 crushed garlic clove, salt and pepper. Fill cavity of turkey with stuffing. Tie it. Wrap up the breast with bacon.
Place turkey in a roasting pan, cover with a netting previously soaked in wine. Pour some wine onto it. Cook in oven for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, put the giblets (not the liver) in a large saucepan, add water, onion, celery, the remaining part of garlic clove, parsley, salt and peppercorn. Boil, then turn the heat down and simmer, without lid, until the broth reduces to 2 cups. Sieve.
Dip the turkey in broth and keep cooking by adding broth every 30 minutes, until drumsticks are easy to move up and, if you prick the meat sauce comes out, cook for about 5 1/2 - 6 hours totally. During the last 30 minutes of cooking time, remove the netting by sprinkling it with wine.
Heat oven to 375°F in order to obtain a crisper skin. Remove the turkey from oven and let it cool down for 15 minutes. In the meantime, sieve the sauce of the turkey, skimming off the fat if necessary.
In a saucepan melt butter over medium-low heat. Add flour continuously mixing. Cook for 2 minutes by keeping mix. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish turkey with the remaining part of parsley. Serve with the sauce and the stuffing.
CORNBREAD STUFFING
(Cornbread has to be prepared 1 or 2 days before Thanksgiving)
Ingredients for a 22 lb turkey
- 8.75 oz sweet Italian sausage
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 large onion
- 2 celery stalk, minced
- 1 little red or green pepper, removed from seeds and minced
- 1/2 cup parsley, minced
- 2 cups open oysters, not drained
- 1 corn bread squarely (7.9 inch)
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage minced or ¼ tablespoon sage powdered
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
CORNBREAD STUFFING PREPARATION
In a large saucepan brown the sausage over medium heat for 10 about minutes, by mixing until sausage washes and is of a golden-brown colour. Put in a stock pot.
From the same saucepan remove the sausage fat. Add 1/4 cup melted butter, onion, celery and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes by keep mixing. Remove from heat and add parsley. Pour forth the oysters keeping the liquid, then add to vegetables.
In a mixing bowl crumble the corn bread with the sausage. Add vegetables and oysters, sage, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Add slowly the oysters liquid and the remaining part of butter, keep mixing until the dough results humid, not wet. Let it cool down, then stuff the roast turkey.
Thank you to the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library team for providing us with this traditional Thanksgiving recipe. This week we will publish more Thanksgiving recipes also from the gourmet Chef of the Italian Food Lovers Chef Network; stay tuned with us this week for more gourmet Thanksgiving recipes every day!
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