CookEat Recipe
Pan-Roasted Turkey with Potatoes
Turkey hindquarters studded lightly with garlic and rosemary, cooked with cured pork, butter and tomato, with potatoes in the same juices.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 2 small turkey hindquarters, legs with thighs attached, about 1.2 kg total, professionally prepared; 2 small garlic cloves, cut into thin pieces; 2 small rosemary sprigs; 40 g plain cured pork belly, finely chopped; 20 g butter; 200 ml plain tomato juice or sieved tomato pulp; About 300 ml hot water, used as needed; 600 g potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 cm chunks; Salt and black pepper.
Step 2
Keep the turkey chilled until cooking and do not rinse it. Make a few small incisions and insert the thin garlic pieces and small rosemary clusters. Put the finely chopped cured pork in a snug casserole with the butter, add the turkey and season sparingly with salt and pepper. Brown over moderate heat on all sides for about 15–20 minutes.
Step 3
Add the tomato juice and enough of the hot water to keep the pan moist without submerging the meat. Cover and cook gently for about 1¼–1¾ hours, turning occasionally and adding water as needed, until the hindquarters are tender and reach at least 74°C in their thickest meat away from bone.
Step 4
Lift the cooked turkey onto a clean ovenproof dish, cover and keep hot in a low oven with the food at least 60°C. Remove loose woody rosemary stems from the pan. Add the raw potato chunks to the turkey juices and cook covered for about 20–30 minutes, turning gently and adding a little hot water as needed until tender. Uncover briefly so the potatoes take some colour in the reduced juices.
Step 5
Return the turkey to the potatoes and heat thoroughly to 74°C, then carve and serve with the sauce. Remove any remaining woody rosemary before serving. For the tomato-paste option, replace the tomato juice with 1 tablespoon plain tomato paste dissolved in about 200 ml water. Finely chopped cured pork fatback may replace the cured pork belly gram for gram.
Step 6
For a simple spit-roasted hindquarter version, omit the garlic, rosemary, cured pork, butter, tomato and potatoes. Roast the same turkey hindquarters over indirect heat at 180–190°C with 2 tablespoons oil and a little salt and pepper, turning and basting with separate portions of oil for about 1¼–1¾ hours or until at least 74°C. For the optional fried-polenta side, cook 150 g cornmeal in 600 ml simmering lightly salted water, stirring, for about 40–50 minutes or according to its package. Spread about 1 cm thick in a shallow dish and refrigerate within two hours until firm, about 1–2 hours. Cut into pieces and shallow-fry in about 3 tablespoons oil until golden on both sides and hot to 74°C. This side adds preparation and chilling time; serve it with the hot turkey.
Step 7
For grilled turkey breast, use 600 g boneless breast flattened to about a finger thick, about 1½ cm. Season with 2 tablespoons oil, salt and pepper, cover and refrigerate for about 2–3 hours. Grill over moderate heat, turning, for roughly 6–10 minutes per side or until at least 74°C throughout. Do not reuse oil that touched raw meat as a finishing dressing. If adding the source giblets, use one professionally prepared turkey liver and gizzard: simmer the gizzard in water until tender, about 45–90 minutes, and at least 74°C, then cool promptly. Cut shallow slits in the prepared gizzard and liver, coat separately with another tablespoon oil, salt and pepper and refrigerate briefly. Grill the liver until 74°C throughout and reheat the cooked gizzard to 74°C, allowing each its own time. These organs and preparation time are optional additions to the breast dish.
Step 8
For a whole young turkey of about 2 kg, follow the guinea-fowl roast method: put 40 g butter mixed with a little salt in its cavity, lard the breast with 80 g thin cured-fatback strips, secure on the spit and wrap in temperature-rated food-contact grill foil spread with another 25 g butter and a little salt. Roast at about 180°C for 2–2½ hours, removing the wrapper after roughly two-thirds of the time and finishing with 2 tablespoons oil. Check 82°C in the thickest breast and thigh, rest, remove every tie and carve. This whole-bird version serves about six, uses its own ingredient list and contains no tomato-potato sauce.
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