Basic Braised Turkey Recipes

BRAISED TURKEY

Steps:

• In a large Dutch oven pot, heat olive oil of medium heat. Season the turkey breast and thigh on all sides with salt and pepper. Add the turkey pieces to the pot, and sear on both sides until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Remove the turkey from the pot and transfer to a plate.
• Lower heat and add the leek, carrot, and celery to the pot and sweat the vegetables. If the vegetables look dry add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Season with the sage, thyme, and salt, and pepper and continue to cook the vegetables for about 5 minutes, or until they start to get soft.
• Add the turkey back to the pot on top of the vegetables. Pour the stock into the pot. It should reach halfway up the sides of the turkey. Bring the liquid to a simmer, then lower the heat to medium low.
• Cook for 1 hour, then remove the turkey breast and place on a clean plate. Cover with foil to keep and keep in the oven at 200 degrees. After 30 minutes longer, remove the thigh and place on a plate; cover with foil to keep warm.
• Heat the stock and vegetables in the pot over medium high and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until liquid is reduced and a thick gravy forms (see Chef Tips).
• Slice the turkey and spoon the gravy over top.

BASIC BRAISED TURKEY

Steps:

• Put the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the turkey and brown the leg (and, if you're using them, wing) portions on the skin side well, 10 minutes or more; turn and cook for another 2 minutes on the skinless side. Remove to a plate and brown the breasts in the same skillet, again mostly on the skin side; remove and keep them separate.
• Heat the oven to 300, and cook the bacon or pancetta (if using) in the remaining fat in the skillet until nearly crisp; remove with a slotted spoon. Cook the onions, mushrooms, carrots, celery and herbs, in batches if necessary, until beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer with the bacon or pancetta to a large roasting pan, then nestle the dark meat in there, leaving room for the breasts. Add stock or water to come about one-third to halfway up the sides of the thighs.
• Roast uncovered for about 90 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure liquid levels remain sufficiently high and stirring vegetables if they threaten to brown too much. When thigh meat is tender, place the breasts in the pan, and cook until tender, 30 to 45 minutes more, or until done. (They should register 155 on an instant-read thermometer.)
• Slice breast and thigh meat and serve on a platter with the vegetables garnished, if you like, with parsley.

HERB ROASTED AND BRAISED TURKEY

Steps:

• For the turkey: Remove the turkey from the refrigerator 1 hour before roasting.
• Combine the butter, parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme and in a food processor and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Sprinkle the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper and fill the cavity with half the carrots, celery and onions. Rub the entire turkey with the herb butter and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
• Put 4 cups of the chicken stock in a medium saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
• Place the remaining vegetables on the bottom of a large roasting pan. Put the turkey on top of the vegetables, put in the oven and roast until lightly golden brown, about 45 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue roasting, basting with the warm chicken stock every 15 minutes, 2 to 2 hours 15 minutes hours longer. (An instant-read thermometer inserted in the thigh should register 160 degrees F.)
• Remove the turkey from the oven, transfer to baking sheet, tent loosely with foil and let rest 30 minutes before slicing. Remove the legs for braising. Strain the drippings into a bowl and discard the solids. Add enough stock to make 4 cups liquid.
• Bring the liquid to a simmer, transfer to a roasting pan, add the legs, cover with foil and braise until tender in a 350 F degree oven about 1 hour.
• For the gravy: Melt the butter in a medium pan over high heat. Add the roasted garlic and cook for a minute. Whisk in the flour and cook until lightly golden brown. Slowly whisk the drippings into the flour mixture, bring to a boil and whisk until the mixture begins to thicken and the flour taste has been cooked out, about 5 minutes. Add a splash of the white wine if desired and cook for 1 minute longer. Fold in fresh herbs if desired and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

BASIC TURKEY

Steps:

• Remove the neck and giblets from your turkey; pat dry, then let stand at room temperature, 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Season the turkey inside and out with salt and pepper. Fill the cavity with chopped onions, carrots, apples and herbs, then tie the legs together with twine. Place breast-side up in a roasting pan and brush with melted butter. Tent with foil and roast 2 hours for a 10-to-12-pound turkey; add an extra 15 minutes per pound for larger birds. Uncover, brush with more butter and increase the heat to 425 degrees F; roast until the thigh meat registers 165 degrees F, about 1 more hour. Let rest 30 minutes before carving.

BRAISED TURKEY LEGS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
• Rinse turkey legs and pat dry; season all over with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Heat a large Dutch oven over high heat and add olive oil. Add turkey legs, skin side down, working in batches, if necessary. Cook, turning, until turkey legs are browned on all sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer legs to a plate and discard all but 1 tablespoon of rendered fat from Dutch oven.
• Deglaze with white wine and cook, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pot and slightly reduced, 2 minutes. Lower heat to medium-high and add carrots, celery, and leeks to Dutch oven and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add thyme, sage, bay leaves, and stock; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and add turkey legs, skin side down; cover and transfer to oven. Cook for 40 minutes. Uncover, turn turkey legs, and continue cooking uncovered until legs are tender, 45 to 50 minutes more.
• Transfer turkey legs to a serving platter. Skim fat from top of braising liquid and discard; season braising liquid with salt and pepper, and spoon over turkey legs. Serve garnished with chopped parsley and thyme.

BRAISED TURKEY THIGHS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, combine onion, celery, carrots, ketchup, salt, paprika and pepper. Pat onto turkey thighs. Place 1 tablespoon flour in oven bag; shake to coat. Transfer turkey thighs to oven bag. , Place in a 13x9-in. baking dish. Combine broth, wine or additional broth, oregano and bay leaves. Put into bag; seal. Cut 2 slits into the top of the bag. Bake 1-1/2 hours or until a thermometer inserted in turkey reads 170°-175°., Remove turkey to a serving platter; keep warm. Pour pan juices into a small saucepan; skim fat and discard bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 1-3/4 cups., In a small bowl, combine remaining flour and water until smooth. Stir into saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove skin and bones from turkey; cut turkey into slices. Serve gravy with turkey.

BRAISED TURKEY

Steps:

• In a large skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add sausage, pancetta and as many thighs as will fit comfortably, skin side down; sprinkle thighs with salt and pepper. Brown all well, removing pancetta first (it will brown first), then sausage; set aside. Turn thighs when they are well browned and cook a minute or so on skinless side. Remove them, too, and repeat with remaining thighs if necessary. Add breast to pan and brown it well, skin side down, then flip and cook for just a minute or so and remove. Set pan aside.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Soak porcinis in hot water to cover. In pan used for turkey, cook carrots, celery, onions, sage and shiitakes in leftover fat. When all vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, add drained porcini, reserving liquid. Return pancetta and sausage to pan. Cook another minute and turn off heat.
• In a large roasting pan, put thighs in corners, browned side up; there should be room for breasts all in one layer. Fill space between thighs with vegetables; leave breasts out for now. Add mushroom soaking liquid, leaving any sand and grit behind. Add stock or water as needed to come about halfway up sides of thighs.
• Put in oven and roast, uncovered, for 2 hours, checking occasionally to make sure liquid level remains sufficiently high and stirring vegetables if they threaten to brown too much. When thigh meat is tender, lay breasts on vegetables and cook until they are done, about a half hour longer.
• To serve, put vegetables on a platter; slice breasts and lay them on top; shred thigh meat and pile that on the rest.

BRINED AND ROASTED WHOLE TURKEY

Steps:

• Overnight Brine: Combine Morton®Kosher Salt and sugar in cool water in a large, clean stockpot until completely dissolved. Place the whole turkey in the brine until completely submerged. Cover and refrigerate overnight, up to 14 hours. Remove the turkey from the brine, rinse inside and out under cool running water for several minutes to remove all traces of salt; pat dry with paper towel.
• 4-5 hour Brine: To brine your turkey in less time (4-5 hours), use 2 cups of Morton®Coarse Kosher Salt and two cups of sugar. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 5 hours.
• To Roast: Mix the softened butter with the pepper. Place turkey on rack in roasting pan. Rub the seasoned butter under the skin. Brush the skin with the melted butter. Pour the 1 cup liquid (wine, broth or water) over the pan bottom to prevent drippings from burning. Roast turkey at 450 degrees F for 25 minutes, baste and then rotate the roasting pan. Continue roasting until the skin turns golden brown, an additional 25 minutes; baste again. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F; continue to roast, basting and rotating the pan once about halfway through cooking, until the minimum internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Remove the turkey from the oven. Let stand 20 minutes before carving.