The secret to enjoying a heritage turkey is to prepare it in a way that enhances the natural flavor of the bird and encourages moist cooking to insure tenderness. This recipe combines the technique of brining with roasting under a parchment “tent” to insure a moist cooking environment with optimal flavor preservation. Enjoy! (The following recipes should accommodate a turkey of approximately 15 pounds.)

Brine Recipe for Heritage (or Free-Range) Turkeys

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup kosher salt
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• ½ cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup pureed persimmon pulp (optional)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 sprigs of Thyme
• 1 sprig of Sage
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 15 Black Pepper Corns
• 1/2 tsp crushed juniper berries

Place all ingredients in a large, deep stock pot and simmer for 15 minutes. Chill and then place chilled turkey in brine in refrigerator for 24 hours prior to cooking. Both turkey and brine should be chilled before combining to insure no food-borne pathogens are encouraged.

Mepkin Abbey Oyster Mushroom Stuffing

Ingredients:

• 8 cups bread cubes (saved from breads you really love!)
• 1/2 c. shallots, small dice
• 1/2 c. cubed fresh jerusalem artichoke (may use celery as a substitute)
• 1 c. fresh Mepkin Abbey Mushrooms
• 1/4 c. fresh chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 c. fresh cream salted butter from Happy Cow Creamery (or any high quality butter from your supermarket)
• 2 1/2 c. chicken stock (preferably homemade)
• (Additional stock for roasting pan will be needed)
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp white pepper

Saute shallots and jerusalem artichoke in 4 Tbsp butter until softened. Add oyster mushrooms and continue to saute over medium heat until fragrant and mushrooms begin to release juices. Add fresh herbs (parsley and rosemary). Combine the sauteed mixture with the bread crumbs in a large ceramic bowl.

Melt remaining butter and combine with homemade chicken stock. Add to bread crumb mixture with salt and white pepper to season. Mixture should be very moist. Chill before stuffing the bird.

Try the Inside-out stuffing technique! Rub inside and outside of turkey with butter, then season with kosher salt and white pepper. Fill inside cavity of chilled bird with half the bread stuffing. Place remaining half of stuffing on the outside of the breast of the turkey by pressing about a 1 inch thick layer over the entire outside of the turkey breast.

Preparing the Parchment Tent
Using extra-wide parchment paper, cut a length equal to the circumference of your roasting pan plus a couple of inches. Wrap the parchment around the outside edge of the roasting pan, overlapping the ends, creating a “sleeve, or cylinder” around the pan and the turkey. Using cooking twine, wrap and tie a snug “belt” around the pan and bottom edge of the parchment paper to secure the parchment to the pan. Create a tent around the turkey by folding the parchment paper, envelope style, at the top. Fold over a couple of tight folds to securely close the top. This tent will keep all moisture inside the roasting pan, eliminate the need for basting, and allow the turkey to brown inside it’s tent. You can monitor the temperature, and doneness of the turkey, by piercing through the parchment paper, into the breast, with a meat thermometer.

Roasting the Turkey
- Place stuffed turkey into a roasting pan with grate in bottom to keep bird off the floor of the pan, if possible. Place 2 cups chicken stock in the bottom of the pan.

- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place turkey in oven, then reduce temperature to 325 degrees, and roast for approximately 15-20 minutes per pound, to an internal temperature of 180 degrees.

Serving the Turkey
Remove parchment and allow to rest for 20 minutes prior to carving. Enjoy!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

By Josh Ozersky Monday, Nov. 22, 2010

The Thanksgiving recipe is here.



Happy Thanksgiving from Our Local Foods (and our families) to you and your families!! ]]> http://ourlocalfoods.com/news/marias-thanksgiving-recipe-in-time-magazine/feed 0 http://ourlocalfoods.com/healthy-eating/reserve-your-thanksgiving-turkey-now http://ourlocalfoods.com/healthy-eating/reserve-your-thanksgiving-turkey-now#comments Thu, 07 Oct 2010 11:31:00 +0000 admin http://ourlocalfoods.com/?p=518 This year, Our Local Foods is pleased to offer locally raised, free-range Turkeys for your holiday meals. Quantities are limited, so reserve yours now by email. The turkeys are still ranging, so please specify your size preference as either 12-15 lbs or 15-18 lbs.
We will be in touch in early November with delivery details.

According to Sandra K. Miller, in an article posted on www.localharvest.org, the heritage turkey’s cooking style is as different as it’s lifestyle.  The differences include brining the bird before roasting, adding a liquid to the bottom of the roasting pan, and keeping the bird covered during the entire cooking time without basting.  It is suggested that a slathering on and under the skin with a butter/maple syrup blend will improve the succulence of the part of the bird that often becomes dry during roasting.  Additionally, I sprinkled the surface of the breast with a chopped fresh herb blend to impart some of the delicate flavors of the season from the garden at this time of year (in the south, our herbs are rejuvenated by cool temps and moisture in the fall).

Heritage Turkey (in parchment paper)

The ideal cover for the bird to roast evenly and fully is oiled parchment.  The circulating air of my convection oven seemed to only slightly notice the parchment around the pan, imparting a sleeve of crispy goodness by the sound of the bell.  My first realization when preparing the turkey for roasting was that I would need four hands to place the parchment paper around the roasting pan.  Without detailed instructions, but a fair amount of experience working with parchment paper, I summoned my daughter to the task and we came up with a plan.  We wrapped the long edge of the parchment paper around the perimeter of the roasting pan, overlapping the beginning and ending edges.  Pulling the paper snug around the lip of the roasting pan, we tied a twine “belt” around the paper to tightly secure it.  The cylinder of paper that rose up around the bird in the pan was folded over and in (sort of like folding an origami pocketbook).  As it was folded over, it held itself intact and became a perfect envelope around the bird.

My oven has a convection feature, and so we set the oven temperature at 410 degrees.  Weighing in at 20.63 pounds, we sheepishly placed the timer at 3 hours, shrugged our shoulders and hoped for the best.  When we committed ourselves to this cooking method, we took a “pinkie swear” not to baste and not to open the oven door.
At the end of the torturous three hours of uncertainty and fear of the worst, we pulled the roasting pan from the oven and opened the end of the “pocketbook”.  What we found was that the centerpiece of the celebration was quite extraordinary; it was cloaked in bronze, and the hinge of the bird’s thigh joint was relaxed with juices running clear.

All indications were in line for a completely abnormal result – a perfectly roasted turkey, tender and more full of flavor than we have ever experienced!

Now… well I’m a firm believer in the heritage turkey and the contemporary cooking temperature!

Best Wishes!
Maria