Turducken
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7 kilo turkey deboned except keep the legs and wings intact with bones
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2 kilo duck, completely deboned (pre deboning weight)
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1 kilo chicken or smaller, completely deboned (pre deboning weight)
Brining solution adapted from here
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4 litres/16 cups water
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1 cup salt
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1 cup sugar
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1 cup apple cider vinegar
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Whatever herbs you have (I used rosemary and lemon thyme)
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handful of black peppercorns
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2 cups ice cubes
Cranberry & pistachio stuffing
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2 tablespoons butter
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1 onion, chopped
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100g/3.5ozs bacon chopped
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1 garlic clove, chopped
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100g/3.5 ozs dried cranberries
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50g/1.7ozs pistachios
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100g/3.5 ozs fresh white breadcrumbs
My favourite stuffing
Adapted from chef Hamish Watts of Botanic Gardens Restaurant
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2 large onions finely chopped
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3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped (I used lemon thyme)
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3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
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50g butter
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½ cup apricot stuffing
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50ml brandy
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400ml cream
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300g/10 ozs. bread (crust off) cut into 2cm cubes
Debone the turkey
Step 1 - There's no way to delicately do this and if I were you, I certainly wouldn't start on deboning a turkey-a quail is the best way because, and I know this sounds gruesome, but you can snap the bones easily. I've deboned lots of quail, spatchcock and chicken but I found deboning a turkey an arduous task but doable. And because I was home alone I wasn't able to take step by step pictures of me doing it but hopefully enough to give you an idea. The turkey needs to be deboned of the rib cage and backbone but the legs and wings need to be kept intact. And if you're doing the duck or chicken too I would suggest doing the chicken first to get to know the anatomy of them, they're all the same really with the size the only difference.
Step 2 - Start by removing the back bone. You will need a sharp boning knife (a long, flexible knife) and a pair of boning scissors or kitchen scissors. Place the turkey breast side down and cut off the bishop's nose, the fleshy bit at the bottom. Feel along the backbone -if it helps look inside the turkey. You will be cutting along each side of the backbone with the scissors. Halfway down it will get harder but keep doing it. You will end up removing the backbone and neck together.
Step 3 - Then using the boning knife, cut close to the rib cage bones separating the meat from the bones with the knife. This is really a matter of slicing away close to the bone, there's almost a membrane that separates it. Remove the rib cage on both sides. Also remove the thighs at the bottom. This requires snapping a joint in a rather brutal fashion and turkey joints are harder to snap than smaller creatures. But cut away the thigh again by slicing away the meat from the bone. Remove the wishbone at the top too.
Step 4 - The hardest part is next. Trying to get the breastbone out without piercing the breast skin which is quite close by. You just have to do this slowly, feeling your way with your finger and cutting away at the white bone very carefully. Have a stiff drink or reward oneself with some online shopping at this point.
Brining turkey:
Step 5 - Next brine the turkey. Bring 1 litre or 4 cups of water to the boil and add salt and sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the apple cider vinegar, herbs and ice. Your brine is now ready to use. Submerge the turkey in this overnight and cover with a lid or cling wrap for up to 2 days.
Cranberry & pistachio stuffing
Step 6 - Then make both of the stuffings (I did these the night before). Heat a saucepan on medium heat and add butter and cook onion until translucent and smelling sweet and then add bacon and garlic and cook until bacon is fragrant and cooked through. Have the ingredients ready in a bowl and mix to combine. This is a drier stuffing than the apricot one.
Apricot stuffing
Step 7 - This truly is my favourite stuffing, first eaten at a Sunday Roast lunch at the Botanical Gardens restaurant this past June. Place onions, thyme, garlic and butter into a pot and sweat off until onions are translucent and soft-don't hurry this bit, the onions must be soft and lose all acridness. Add 1/2 cup dried apricots finely sliced and sweat off for a few minutes. Deglaze the pan with 50 ml brandy and reduce for a minute then add the cream and bring to the boil. Add sourdough then turn heat down to low and place a lid on the pot, stirring occasionally for about 45 minutes or until the bread has absorbed all the liquid. Season with salt and pepper.
Trussing up the turkey
Step 8 - Time to stuff and truss up the turkey and roast it. Preheat oven to 150C/300F. Place the turkey open and fill with the cranberry and pistachio stuffing. Depending on the size of the turkey the amount of stuffing that the recipes above make should suffice with possibly a bit left over. Then place the duck over this open as shown and fill with the apricot stuffing. Then repeat for the chicken. Using metal or wooden skewers, seal up the chicken first and then pull together the duck to bring together the skin and seal it up too. Then do the same for the turkey. Tie the legs together with string.
Step 9 - Place in a very large baking tray that will fit it. Mine just fit the turducken quite snugly. Bake a 7 kilo turducken for 5.5 hours-the general rule is 3/4 of an hour per kilo of turducken. The best way to tell is by inserting an internal thermometer into the centre of the turkey or the thigh and if it reaches at least 76.7C/170F then your turkey is done. Baste it with its juice every hour or so. My turkey started to brown quite nicely after 2 hours so I placed a sheet of greased foil on top (grease it generously so that it doesn't stick to the skin) for the remaining 3.5 hours. Once it is finished, rest it for at least 30 minutes, ideally an hour.
Step 10 - Meanwhile, while it is resting, bake the crumble and the carrots. Also make the gravy while they are baking. Skim the fat off the top of the pan juices from the turkey-I ended up with about 3 cups of pan juices and stock. Mix 4 -5 tablespoons of cornflour with 1/2 cup of cold water and heat the pan juices until almost boiling. Take off the heat and leave for a few minutes and then stir in cornflour mixture making sure to stir it as the cornflour settles in the bottom of the cup. Never boil a gravy with cornflour as it separates and becomes thin. When the turkey has rested, slice it into thinnish slices and serve it with gravy and sides.
Cipaille (Québécois game pie)
Don't you just love a recipe whose first ingredient starts off "2 pounds moose"? I was utterly delighted that Terri went to the trouble of making her family recipe for Cipaille for us. Of course getting moose was going to be hard but she, Queen Viv and Michael went to the store and instead of getting moose they found a venison crossbred with elk. Serendipity really. Oops, I almost wrote elf there which would have provided a funny image wouldn't it?
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2 pounds moose
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2 pounds deer
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1/2 pound partridge or rabbit
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2 pounds lean pork
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4 medium onions, coarsely chopped
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1/4 pound salt pork, thinly sliced
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2 cups Potatoes, peeled and cubed
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1 teaspoon Salt
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1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
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1/4 teaspoon Allspice
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1 tsp Summer Savory
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2 cups chicken stock (approximate)
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Pastry for double crust pie
Buyer's tip and note from Terri: We used Venison, Pork, Beef Cheek, Guinea Fowl and Rabbit in the Cipaille we made. It's much better if you use as much game meats as possible. The meats were purchased at AC Butchery. Summer savory is a dried herb that forms the basis of Canadian (and Bulgarian) cuisine. It can be found at Indian supermarkets, the one at the Southern end of King Street, Newtown stocks it.
Step 1 - Debone and cut all meats into into 1 inch cubes and place in a large bowl. Combine with onions; cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or overnight. Arrange salt pork evenly in the bottom of a 3 quart casserole, preferably cast iron with a cover. Layer with 1/3 of the meat mixture and 1/3 of the potatoes; season with 1/3 of salt, pepper and spices.
Step 2 - Roll out half of the pastry slightly thicker than for a normal pie and arrange on the potato layer, cutting a small hole in the center. Repeat with 2 more layers of meat and potatoes seasoned with salt, pepper and spices. Cover with remaining pastry, cutting a small hole in the center.
Step 3 - Slowly add enough chicken stock through the hole until liquid appears. Cover dish and bake in a preheated 200C/400 deg F oven for 45 minutes or until liquid simmers. Reduce temperature to 121C/250 deg F and continue to bake, covered, for 5 to 6 hours more or until top crust is a rich golden brown.
Cranberry & Pear Crumble
An original recipe by Not Quite Nigella
For filling
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3 pears approximately 500g/1 pound (I used Corella pears)
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2 cups cranberries rehydrated in hot water for a couple of hours
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2 tablespoons cornflour
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butter for greasing
For the topping
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3/4 cup flour
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1/3 cup white sugar
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1/2 cup brown sugar
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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1 cup rolled oats
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1/4 cup chopped pecans
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120g/4 ozs cold butter, chopped into pieces
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F. I never bother peeling pears or apples (along with icing sugar I consider it dull and mostly unnecessary) but if you want to, peel them. Core the pears (I use a melon baller to scoop out the centre seeds) and chop into small chunks about 1.5 cms big. Grease a crumble dish or some ramekins and add the pears and cranberries to it along with 3-4 tablespoons of the rehydrating juice which should be nice and sweet.
Step 2 - In a food processor whizz all of the topping ingredients together until you get a pebbly sand texture-there may be a bit more than what you need depending on how shallow your bowl is. Place the crumble topping over the fruit and bake for about 40 minutes until golden. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Maple glazed carrots
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1 kilo carrots, peeled and cut into batons
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3 tablespoons maple syrup
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1 tablespoon oil
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sprinkle of salt
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Steam carrots in a saucepan for 5 minutes and then drain and toss with maple syrup and oil. Place on a baking tray and bake for about 30 minutes or until the carrots has slightly caramelised parts.