11/27/07 | Post-Turkey Day Leftovers
[ Currently Eating: Clam Chowder ]
Ugh, I’m a little under the weather. So we’ll have to go with simple pics with captions again for this week.
Obviously, making good use of Turkey Leftovers from Thanksgiving is definitely Cheap Eats. I say if you cooked the turkey, you’re entitled to the bones and some of the meat. Even if you didn’t make it - beg, borrow and steal that carcass. And heck with it: take the mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and cranberry as well. I surreptitiously begin “setting aside” a leftover goodie bag while most guests are still working on clearing their plates. And you can distract (or scare) other would-be turkey bone thieves with wild-eyed stories of the “turkey that got away”.
By the way this year, I did the turkey using the Alton Brown brine-method w/ foil turkey shield, Polder probe and once again it came out underdone. Grr… Needless to say, after following his method EXACTLY 3 years in a row with the same results - I’m looking for a new method next year.
But let’s talk, er, happy turkey thoughts. Happy turkey leftover thoughts that is: I like to make at least 2 things with the leftovers. First is an Open Face Turkey sandwich, as in below:
I just warm up the leftovers and pile it on top of toast. To me, this is even better than turkey on the Day itself. Second up: The day after I also make a stock with the turkey bones and carcass (stockpot: water, 1/2 onion, 1 garlic clove, 2 carrot, 1 celery, dried thyme, simmer slow, skim, strain, refrigerate). Then on Saturday for lunch, we add some noodles, carrots, leftover shredded turkey, dash of Worcestshire, and sometimes potatoes to the heated stock. And it’s Turkey Soup time:
Man, looks like it came out of a can. But tastes a lot better. See you next week…
November 27th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
This year we made Thanksgiving Croquettes with the leftovers. Chopped up the turkey, mixed it with the mashed potatoes and stuffing, added some liquid, formed them into patties, dipped them in flour, egg, and panko, fried them, and then served them with cranberry sauce. It was surprisingly good.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:39 am
The simplest, most satisfying way I’ve found to prepare a turkey is to stuff several sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme under the skin then toss a halved onion and head of garlic in the cavity and place the turkey on a bed of carrots and celery for gravy purposes…ta da!
Without messing with any brines or too many poultry juices, you will get the most flavorful meat you have ever had on turkey and perhaps fewest leftovers to find what to do with
November 28th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Interesting that your turkey keeps coming out under cooked. I do Alton’s method too (second year) and mine comes out okay. I do wait until my bird is 165-170 though. Alton’s recommended done time is a little too low for me. I also add wine to my brine. Yummy!
November 29th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
The last few years I end up at others’ homes for Thanksgiving and have not mastered the art of sneaking leftovers. I like your style!! I have had post-Thanksgiving day blues lately because I haven’t been able to pile up a sandwich fixin’. I toyed with the idea of cooking a small turkey for ourselves anyway and if I’m not hosting next year, I will probably make my own turkey, stuffing, gravy and cranberry relish. I usually just use the recipe out of an old Bon Appetit, so I don’t have any tips with the Alton Brown method.
November 30th, 2007 at 8:17 am
We brine our turkeys too and it is absolutely THE BEST; so juicy and flavorful. Like a previous poster said, cook until the temperature is close to 170 deg. and then let rest.
Our leftover cheap eats have been-
-hunter’s pie (basically the entire dinner in layers with mashed potatoes and a little grated cheese on top)
-turkey minestrone
-turkey quesadillas
-turkey salad sandwiches (turkey, mayo, onion, celery, a bit of red pepper served on the leftove heated dinner rolls. mmmm)
-turkey pot pies (used up the extra pie crusts in the refrig.)
-turkey tortilla soup (garlic, lime, cilantro, chiles— yum)
Tonight I’m making turkey enchiladas and a last batch of traditional turkey soup with the final remains. We had alot of leftover turkey…but I’m not complaining! Very good cheap eats!
December 6th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Re: Brining. We, too, brined, and we, too, almost had the same problem. We decided that the cooking time needs to be increased (meaning we ate at 10:00 pm, but whatever), because the brining process makes that turkey really, really cold. Even though it’s been thawed, sitting in ice for hours definitely lowers its internal temp. a LOT.
Like your blog!
December 6th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
marvo - dang that sounds really good. I’ll have to try turkey korokke next year.
skibs - I did put rosemary, onion, apple and cinnamon sticks in the cavity. But I didn’t try putting it on a bed of carrots and celery. So the breast meat does not dry out by the time the dark meat is cooked fully?
andie - very interesting, we also found that his temperature of 160 was too low, we went up to around 168 or so - and it was still undone. I have a feeling there were some other reasons for failure this year - firstly it was a very big bird - 16.9 pounds vs. 14.5 last year. second, my dad suggested “sewing” up the cavity to keep the aromatics in: I think that may have not let enough hot dry air into the cavity leaving it undercooked.
nana - i have been thinking of doing a turkey several times a year, just for practice - and for fixins’!
cj mcd - your leftover lineup sounds fabulous! I was wondering (and also andie) what size bird you’ve used with success. And if I do it again, I’m definitely going to 170 and dry meat be damned.
deb - I never thought about the brining but you’re right, it’s pretty icy. That could also be a reason why it was underdone.
December 7th, 2007 at 8:39 am
Turkey Leftovers= Tirkey Gobblers in our family.
Take two pieces of toast. There’s two ways to do this depending on whatever you feel like. A) Take cranberry sauce and cream cheese and mix it together and spread it on both pieces of toast or B) Spread cranberry sauce on one piece and cream cheese on the other. I am preferential to version A. Then you warm up some turkey in the microwave and slap it on the toast and youve got a nice warm sandwich that uses leftovers. Optional: Placing a slice of orange in the sandwich…
December 12th, 2007 at 11:54 am
The best (and easy) way I’ve found to make very tender, moist turkey is as follows:
make cuts in the skin and rub about 5-6 tablespoons of butter in between the skin and meat
prepare 3-4 cups of chicken broth - add dried spices you like
put turkey in large pan
pour broth over turkey
sprinkle turkey with dried spices, salt, pepper, garlic, whatever you like, esp. if you didn’t add anything to the broth
cover turkey with foil
remove foil for last hour or less to brown turkey
There are variations of this recipe all over the internet if you are looking for more specific directions.
GREAT SITE!