Actually, it was a turkey, but close enough. Do you remember the chicken I practiced on a couple of weeks ago? Well, it was dinner party time with friends and I was determined after reading about Jenny's boned, stuffed, rolled turkey Christmas tradition (Bird on the Border blog on my sidebar) I was going to try it.
I armed myself with a hopefully sharpened dull knife, a 12 pound turkey and a Youtube video going in the background, which I kept replaying over and over and over as I was coached through.
It wasn't pretty, dull knives being what they are, but I did it. It took about an hour. Now for the insides:
stuffing
bacon
crunched pistachios
Camembert cheese
cranberry jelly.
Next came the part where Jenny's hubby said you should have an extra pair of hands to help and your divorce lawyer on speed dial. Trying to roll this overstuffed slippery bird wasn't as hard as I thought, but getting it secured shut was. PH wasn't here to help. So we were spared the divorce, but now that our daughter lives two blocks away and didn't work on Fridays she came to help. We rolled and tied and sewed this puppy shut.
She (the bird) was exhausted so she napped for the rest of the day in the fridge. And I was worried this wouldn't feed eight people. But I have trouble with math.
The recommended cooking time was about 350degrees for 1.75 hours. I went with two hours just to be sure, and basted a couple of times with what very little juice there was.
It didn't look as pretty when cut as Jenny's did but holy cow, what a hit!! This was just about the most delicious thing I had
ever tasted and that's saying a lot because I also made four kinds of ice cream for dessert and I'm an ice creamer.
Thank you Jenny and hubby for posting about this and inspiring me and tutoring me along for about 300 emails.
Oh, and if you think you can get your butcher to bone this for you, think again. Mine couldn't say no fast enough. I didn't even get the word 'turkey' out of my mouth entirely before he bellowed, "NO!"
You just have to sharpen your knife and go for it. The end product is worth every single effort.
well done I'm sure that it was as delicious as it looks...
ReplyDeleteA+ to my student. It looks amazing like you have done it every christmas for years! I am so glad you enjoyed it. It did feed everyone I hope? Can you come and do mine next Christmas and we can swim in the pool and drink champagne....LOL well done
ReplyDeleteThis is a reallllly interesting post, coming from someone that is not normally interested in cooking tales. Partially due to the photos, and the telling, as I truly did not know where this was leading. When I saw the end result, I kept staring at it, and rereading the tale leading up to that. Why is it so hard for cooks to tell the truth about degree of difficulty, and give warnings about troublespots?!?!? Signed-"scorned by half-truth recipes and food bloggers".
ReplyDeleteI have tried this with a chicken breast......once......you are a hero tackling that big enormous hulking turkey creature!! Well done you there, the lady covered in turkey bones.....well done! Lol. Looks delicious. Now of course they will want that again next year.
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