Southwestern Turkey In Brine Funky Bird Recipes

Steps:

• In a large non reactive container (we usually use a white trash bag--heavy duty or doubled sacked), combine lemon juice, orange juice, kosher salt, light brown sugar, yellow onions, oranges, jalapenos, cilantro, garlic, chili powder, ground cumin and oregano with 1 gallon water.
• Stir, squeeze, or shake up to dissolve brine the sugar & salt.
• Put the turkey under cold running water and rinse.
• Add the turkey to the brine, cover and refrigerate, turning occasionally, for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.
• Essence:.
• Mix ingredients well and store in an airtight container or jar. Yields about 2/3 cup.
• Preheat oven to 375°FF.
• Remove the turkey from the brine and put it breast side up in a large heavy roasting pan and pat dry with paper towels.
• Rub the turkey with vegetable oil.
• Sprinkle all sides with 1- 3 tablespoons of Essence.
• Roast until deep golden brown and an instant thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the thigh reads 165°F., about 1 hour and 45 minutes for breast, and a whole turkey takes about 20 minutes per pound.
• Transfer to a platter and let stand for about 15 minutes before carving.

Steps:

• The day before roasting, prepare the rub: Remove the neck and giblets from the turkey; refrigerate until you make the gravy. Pat the turkey very dry with paper towels. Whisk 2 tablespoons salt, the brown sugar, chile powder, 2 teaspoons paprika, the cumin, coriander and onion powder in a small bowl. Spread about one-quarter of the rub inside the cavity of the turkey and spread the rest all over the skin. Set the turkey on a rack in a large roasting pan and refrigerate, uncovered, overnight.
• The next day, let the turkey let sit at room temperature, 30 minutes. Position an oven rack in the lowest position (remove the other racks); preheat to 350 degrees F.
• Pour or wipe out any juices that have collected in the bottom of the roasting pan. Stuff the turkey cavity with the onion, carrot, celery and thyme sprigs. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine and tuck the wings under the body.
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat; whisk in the chopped thyme and the remaining 1 teaspoon paprika. Let cool slightly, then brush all over the turkey. Transfer to the oven and roast 1 hour. Meanwhile, make the Classic Gravy, adding the heavy cream and chipotle and sauce with the stock in step 2.
• After the turkey has roasted 1 hour, baste it with the drippings. Continue roasting, basting every 30 minutes, until the skin is dark golden brown and a thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 165 degrees F, about 2 more hours.
• Transfer the turkey to a cutting board and let rest 30 minutes before carving; reserve the drippings for the gravy. Stir the vinegar into the finished gravy.
• Prepare the stock: Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the turkey neck and giblets; cook, turning, until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, carrot, celery, thyme and bay leaves; stir to coat. Add the wine and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until reduced by half, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the broth, reduce the heat to low and simmer about 1 hour. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup; reserve the saucepan. You should have 7 cups stock-if you're short, add more broth.
• Melt the remaining 8 tablespoons butter in the reserved saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth and bubbling, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the 7 cups stock; bring to a simmer and cook, whisking occasionally, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Set aside until the turkey is done.
• Pour the turkey pan drippings into a fat separator and let stand until the fat rises to the top. Discard the fat (or drizzle on your stuffing). Whisk the defatted drippings into the gravy; season with salt and pepper. Reheat before serving.

Steps:

• Two to three days before you plan to cook, spatchcock the turkey: Put the turkey on a stable cutting board, breast-side down, and use heavy-duty kitchen shears to snip along both sides of the backbone to release it. You can start from the tail or neck end, whichever you prefer; just keep the blades of the scissors as close to the spine as possible. It helps to work incrementally, snipping a little on one side, then a little on the other, rather than completing one side entirely and then doing the second side without the advantage of the opposing pressure.
• After removing the backbone, remove wingtips, neck and giblets, setting them all aside for stock and gravy.
• Turn turkey over so breast faces up. Splay out its legs and press hard on breastbone until you hear the cartilage pop and the bird lies completely flat.
• Place a 2-gallon resealable bag in a large bowl, stock pot or sink. Pour buttermilk and salt in bag and stir to dissolve salt. Place turkey in bag and seal carefully, expelling out air. Double-bag the turkey as needed to prevent leakage, then squish the inner bag to distribute buttermilk all around the turkey. Place it on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate for 48 hours. Turn the bag every 12 hours so that every part of the turkey gets marinated.
• Three hours before you plan to start cooking, remove the turkey from the plastic bag and scrape off as much buttermilk as you can without being obsessive, discarding buttermilk. Set the turkey on a rimmed baking sheet and bring it to room temperature.
• Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and heat to 400 degrees. Transfer turkey, breast-side up, to another rimmed baking sheet lined with a wire rack or parchment paper. Tuck thighs inward.
• Place baking sheet on the prepared oven rack and roast the turkey, occasionally rotating the pan 180 degrees, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the breast registers 150 degrees and the thickest part of the thigh without touching bone registers 165 degrees, about 80 to 100 minutes, depending on size. (You may want to tent the breast or other hot spots with aluminum foil, if darkening too quickly.)
• Transfer turkey to a cutting board or platter and allow to rest at least 20 minutes before carving.

Steps:

• Combine first 12 ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Let cool.
• Rinse turkey, pat dry and brine over night, completely submerged in the brine.
• Rinse turkey and pat dry.
• Using a syringe, inject your favorite marinade. I use a store-bought Cajun sauce, made for injectors, but you could certainly make your own.
• Coat with oil, and season liberally with Cajun seasoning.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge overnight.
• Remove and bring to room temperature while you're getting the smoker ready, following the manufacture's directions. Bring smoker up to 240 degrees. I like pecan or hickory. You could use almost any hard wood, but I do not recommend mesquite. It's too oily, and will be bitter after that long of a cooking period.
• Smoke bird for 6-8 hours, keeping the temperature between 220--240 degrees, until internal temperature of the bird reaches 180 degrees.
• Mop, rotate, and turn bird every 40-50 minutes. Add pieces of wood to keep temp up and smoke going.
• For the mop: Combine cider vinegar, water, celery salt, salt, pepper, and butter in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove and set aside.
• Remove, wrap in foil and let rest for 30 min before carving.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a Dutch oven, saute onions and jalapenos in butter until tender. Stir in turkey, soup, sour cream and spinach. In a greased 13x9-in. baking dish, layer half the turkey mixture, cheese and tortilla chips. Repeat layers., Bake, uncovered, until bubbly, 25-30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with green onions.

Steps:

• For paste:
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Separate heads of garlic into individual cloves (do not peel). Pierce each clove once with toothpick. Scatter garlic on baking sheet; roast until tender and beginning to brown, about 25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Peel garlic, cutting hard tip off each clove. Pack enough garlic into 1/2-cup measuring cup to fill (about 40 cloves); reserve any remaining garlic. Blend 1/2 cup garlic in processor to form course puree.
• Meanwhile, place chilies in small saucepan. Add enough water just to cover. Simmer over medium-low heat until chilies are soft and most of water evaporates, about 15 minutes. Add chili mixture, oil, cumin, and honey to garlic in processor. Puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover paste and garlic; chill.)
• For turkey:
• Pat turkey dry. Season with salt and pepper. Slide hand under skin of turkey breast to loosen skin. Spread 1/2 cup garlic-paste over breast under skin. If stuffing turkey, spoon stuffing into main cavity. Rub 2 tablespoons paste all over outside of turkey. Reserve remaining paste for gravy. Tie legs together loosely to hold shape of turkey. Place on rack set in roasting pan. (Can be done 1 day ahead if turkey is not stuffed. Chill turkey and paste separately.)
• Position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat to 325°F. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Add neck and giblets, turkey neck pieces and onion; sauté brown, about 15 minutes. Place contents of skillet around turkey in pan. Add celery, tomato, allspice and any reserved garlic to pan; pour in 2 cups broth. Roast turkey 1 hour 30 minutes. Tent turkey and entire pan loosely with heavy-duty foil. Continue to roast turkey until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 180°F. or until juices run clear when thickest part of thigh is pierced with skewer, basting often with pan juices and 3 cups broth, about 1 hour 40 minutes longer for unstuffed turkey (about 2 hours 25 minutes longer for stuffed turkey). Place turkey on platter. Tent with foil; let stand at least 30 minutes. Reserve mixture in pan for gravy.
• For gravy:
• Using tongs, remove turkey parts from pan; discard. Pour mixture in pan into sieve set over large bowl. Press on solids in sieve to release liquid. Spoon fat from pan juices; add enough broth to juices to measure 6 cups.
• Stir 1/2 cup reserved garlic-chili paste in heavy saucepan over medium-high heat until liquefied. Add flour and stir 1 minute (mixture will be very thick). Gradually add 6 cups broth mixture, whisking until smooth. Simmer until reduced to 4 1/2 cups, about 20 minutes. Season with cayenne, salt and pepper.
• Serve turkey with gravy.