Turkey

One ambitious Thanksgiving eve we gathered family, friends, and neighbors over to the house and deep-fried all their turkeys for the next day. That was fun and exhausting. Of course, keeping with R. B.’s former motto “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” we finished the turkey fry with a big batch of catfish. At least we got our money’s worth out of the peanut oil. For other ambitious Thanksgivings, R. B. has stayed up all night (by himself) nursing Tom Turkey’s fire with a formula of wet hickory chips and Tennessee whiskey. Those were the memorable years when R. B. dozed through Thanksgiving dinner and got along particularly well with everyone. Now that R. B. is in cheater recovery, a wet-smoked turkey in an oven bag leaves him with the single challenge of keeping things light and deferential at the dinner table. The cheater turkey is always moist, tender, and smoky and shows off a golden brown sheen.

We call R. B.’s house the Cave. His pals love his Shangri-la of music, motorcycles, guitars, cold beer, and firewood, where caveman chitchat comfortably drifts into menswear sales, paint colors, and advances in toaster oven technology. Turkey drums fit the Cave scene with ease. All rubbed and sauced, Caveman Drums enable cavemen to maintain cavelike machismo while tiptoeing around the perimeter of their feelings. Bottled wing sauces are a cheater cinch, but, c’mon, be a man. Brush on a cheater interstate sauce (pages 38 to 43). You better have some stored in the fridge.

The best part of Thanksgiving weekend might be a postholiday turkey sandwich when the guests are gone and you’re hanging out at home. When you don’t get that sandwich (because somebody wrapped up all the turkey to go home with somebody’s cousin), it can haunt you. No need to wait another year and another holiday. No need to cook a whole turkey, either. Like Hobo Crock Whole Smoked Chicken (page 90), a whole turkey breast does really well wrapped in foil and cooked in a slow cooker. You can even pull off a handsome skin with melted butter mixed with bottled smoke. If you buy a frozen breast, remember to give it a few days in the fridge to thaw completely before cooking.

...in the style of Nereto. An old Longobard town in the north of Abruzzo’s province of Teramo, Nereto grows walnuts and breeds turkeys. And when the turkeys grow fat on the walnuts, their just-dressed flesh, roasted with aromatics, indeed tastes of the sweet, smoky nuts. A classic dish for Christmas there, I fix it for our Tuscan version of Thanksgiving. And because our local turkeys, as is likely the case with yours, do not feed on walnuts, I gift the bird with a luscious paste of them smoothed under the skin of its breast. I like the Neretese-inspired turkey infinitely better than the more famous tacchino alla Canzanese, turkey in the manner of Canzano, which typically asks that the bird be relieved of his bones and poached with a calf’s foot and knuckle, then cooled and presented in its jellied broth.

Daniel del Vecchio has been working with me for nearly twenty years. For a long time, he was known as my right-hand man—and for good reason. That’s why I now entrust him with opening and maintaining my restaurants around the world. More important, he’s like family. We’ve celebrated many holidays and milestones together, including, of course, Thanksgiving, when his turkey has often been the star of the show.

I like to make my sandwiches more French than American, which is to say, I use less meat. Here, there’s just enough turkey proportional to the other ingredients. Be sure to use high-quality roasted turkey here to best enjoy the bright, fresh mayonnaise. Of course, the best turkey option will come from your Thanksgiving leftovers (page 146).

All the flavors of our favorite holiday in the perfect package. Ground turkey, stuffing, dried cranberries, plus a pinch of homey cinnamon come together for a fall favorite with none of the fuss. While roast turkey can often be dry, these balls stay nice and moist. Serve these as minis for an hors d’oeuvre or for a cozy Sunday-night meal paired with Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Honey-Roasted Pecans (page 90) and Candied Yams (page 82).

Adding panache to everyday ground turkey is a bit of a challenge. Here, pistachios, orange zest, and a creamy chèvre sauce step up to the plate and bring the balls home on the first run. Serve the sausage balls with the sauce for dipping as hors d’oeuvres with cocktails. Or, cook up spaghettini, set the sausage balls on top, and nap with the sauce. The chèvre sauce can also be used to blanket sautéed chicken breasts, or to drizzle, cooled, over fresh pear slices for dessert, accompanied with a crisp, not-too-dry Gewürztraminer or Riesling.

There are a couple of secrets to producing a juicy charcoal barbecue turkey. The first is to use a great bird. We use locally produced Plainville Farms fresh turkey, which is raised without the routine use of antibiotics (see Resources, page 175). The other secret is to get the spice rub up under the skin and then cook the bird over indirect heat.

Because we’re a barbecue joint, we’ve always got pulled pork on hand, so it was just natural for us to turn it into a delicious appetizer. Don’t let our habits limit you. Make these quesadillas with some cooked turkey or chicken thigh meat or any chopped or shredded leftover meat you have lurkin’ in the fridge.

For some people, it just isn’t Thanksgiving without giblet gravy for the turkey and potatoes. Mom has included directions for a giblet-free version for those of us who have seen a giblet and never want to eat one!

Every Thanksgiving, I hear cooks groaning about having been up all night basting the big turkey, and I just smile. I’ve found a foolproof, easy way to make a great turkey and get your sleep too! It also makes the most tender, moist turkey I’ve ever tasted. The first time I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my family, Garth couldn’t believe this method would actually work, so he politely asked me to cook a “stunt” turkey so he could taste it for himself before the big day. Most of my friends have been just as hesitant, but once they have tried it my way, they never go back to the old way. To make sure the oven temperature doesn’t drop too quickly, I put a sign on it threatening bodily harm to anyone who even thinks about opening the oven door during this process!

You can make sausage links or you can make patties, which are a lazy man’s links. If you opt for links, you will need a sausage stuffer. You may also have to special order the casings from your butcher. It is a good idea to double the recipe, too, because it is easier to work with a larger amount. These are good breakfast sausages, but they also shine with kraut, lentils, or duck. Enjoy with a nice glass of Hungarian wine, or with a nice Hungarian man, i.e., artist Peter Hoffer.

This tasty chili, which has just a hint of heat, is perfect for family get-togethers. Add a tossed green salad, sprinkled with shredded carrots, and whole-grain rolls.

Chili powder, chocolate, and cumin are often combined in Tex-Mex cooking, and this turkey chili stays true to those roots. The recipe makes a large yield, so you can serve some chili right away, then freeze the rest to enjoy later.

Cooking four small meatloaves instead of one large loaf reduces the cooking time; serve them hot from the oven, at room temperature, or even chilled, on their own or sliced and tucked into crusty French bread.

WHILE MOST PEOPLE KNOW TURKEY ONLY as sliced cold cuts or a whole roasted bird for Thanksgiving dinner, turkey tenderloins are a versatile, tender cut. The citrus-herb marinade is crucial to both the flavor and the texture of the dish because it helps tenderize the meat and boosts the flavor. Serve this dish with Sausage-Oyster Stuffing, Wild Mushroom Stuffing, or Apple-Pecan Stuffing with Dried Cherries (pages 167–71), and you can enjoy the flavors of Thanksgiving all year long.

THIS MEATLOAF IS DRESSED-UP COMFORT FOOD. Made with ground turkey, chicken sausage, and cheese curds, it’s a healthy dish that might just replace your mom’s recipe as the best meatloaf around. You can use any cheese, but we like using curds because they don’t melt completely, adding texture in every bite, while the cheese curds on the outside of the meatloaf get deliciously caramelized. The leftovers make terrific meatloaf sandwiches.

SLOPPY JOES, THE OLD CHILDHOOD FAVORITE, get a makeover in this weeknight dish. With turkey instead of beef and the addition of corn, cilantro, and jalapeño, this is no ordinary joe. Spoon this flavorful mixture into hamburger buns or warm tortillas for a kid-friendly main course, or try it over rice or in a lettuce cup.

FLAVOR BOOSTERS Lean ground turkey is just the start when preparing lower-calorie burgers; these are made supermoist and juicy with the somewhat unexpected addition of reduced-fat sour cream, mango chutney, Dijon, and chili powder; torn pieces of whole-wheat bread help bind the meat as it cooks.