Roated Turkey Modern, Served 1+8+11 Ways (Part I)

Proud to present my roasted turkey modern, served 1+8 ways, plus 11 creative dishes using the leftover (skin, meat, bones, and even the brine). Click the image, then click "slideshow" button at upper left for bigger screen views.


Why it's modern?
1. The flavors.
2. The presentation.

Flavors:
The tradition of turkey with cranberry sauce is respected, with updated flavors-- I paired additional condiments reflecting the cornucopia of global flavors we get to enjoy in North America. My brine, based with Trader Joe's unsweetened and unfiltered 100% Gala apple juice, already gave the turkey a delicious flavor. Any of the eight condiments complimented well and added another layer of flavor. Hence, served 1+8 ways.

8 Condiments (5 homemade, 3 store-bought):
Home made:
<1> Cranberry sauce with ginger & apple
<2> Orange, ginger & sage sauce
<3> Mustard & orange sauce
<4> Sesame & Sichuan pepper mix
<5> Maple & cayenne pepper-glazed pecan
Bought from Trader Joe:
<6> Cashew with spicy chili & Kaffir lime
<7> Wasabi almond
Bought from Longo's in Canada:
<8> Alder smoked sea salt

Presentation:
Dinnerware, plating, and arrangement of black berry branches depict clean-lined simple elegance. (I picked up the branches during hiking in upstate NY.)

How I developed the recipe?
I have been invited to turkey-centric Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners since moving to the U.S. eleven years ago. Turkey meat always tasted tough and bland until I tried roasting a whole turkey myself. Brining made a lot of sense from my research of recipes. So I tried a maple syrup and lemon juice based brine. The bird turned out tender, moist and flavorful! I vowed to always brine turkey in the future. Brining enables the flavors to go deeply and evenly inside the meat, and adds moisture. In the second year, I tried apple cider based brine, another delicious success. Now the third year, a third kind brine.

From the two successes, I felt like sticking with a slightly sweet brine with good acidity balance. What else would have such balance? My recent chicken breast marinade creation came into mind-- Trader Joe's unsweetened and unfiltered gala apple juice with dried sage, chipotle pepper and kosher salt. It worked beautifully for chicken, should try it with turkey! I kept it 100% juice without dilution of water, just like the version tried with chicken. But I skipped chiptole pepper, and added black pepper, bay leaves and garlic. And why get stuck with only cranberry sauce for the ten pounds of meat?! Let me experiment with other dressings, sauces and nuts.

Hence this beautifully browned, sophisticatedly delicious turkey feast.

Thanksgiving is approaching. There are many things to be grateful for me and for us, one of them being cuisines of many cultures I get to enjoy in America and their inspiration to my cooking.

Recipes:

Apple Juice Brined and Glazed Turkey:
Needs to prepare 2 days ahead, 1st day brining in the fridge, 2nd day drying in the fridge, 3rd day roasting in oven.

Brine: (for 10-12 Ibs turkey*)
3 quarts Trader Joe’s unsweetened & unfiltered gala apple juice
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 ½ tbs black pepper corns, coarsely crushed:
6 pcs bay leaves
8 pcs garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp sage, dried
8 pcs sage, fresh

* Suggest using fresh turkey. Taste wise frozen and fresh may be the same. But fresh one saves the hassle of thawing it. We always get Shady Brook Farms' fresh turkey from Stew Leonard's in upstate NY.

Note: This brine can be saved to brine other meat and seafood in the future. See ideas here.

Glaze:
Boil ½ cup leftover brine in saucepan until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 15 minutes. Whisk in ½ tbs butter. Cool completely.

Day 1: Brining
1. Mix apple juice, kosher salt, pepper, bay leaves and dried sage in a large pot, bring to boil on medium high. Reduce to low, boil for 5 minutes. Cool completely, add garlic and fresh sage leaves.
2. Place turkey in a brining bag, pour in the cooled brine carefully. Close the bag. Refrigerate overnight.

Day 2: Draining & Drying
3. Drain turkey. Place turkey on a flat rack in a roasting pan. Refrigerate uncovered overnight. This allows excessive brine to drip and will make the skin crisp during roasting later. (The meat will still be juicy, tender and flavorful.)

Day 3: Roasting
4. Set rack at lowest position in oven; preheat to 325°F. Pour 3 cups of water into roasting pan, place turkey on rack, breast side down. Tie legs together with a kitchen twine. Tie wings closely to breast too. Place turkey pan into oven, loosely cover with foil and roast for one hour.
5. Take turkey out, brush with some glaze. Roast again for another 30min, loosely cover with foil.
6. Take turkey out, flip, so that the breast side is up and back side is town. Brush with some glaze. Roast for another 1.5hr or so (according to Shady Brook Farms' instruction on the packaging, the thickest breast part should reach 170F, thigh 180F. We did 165F for the breast, and it turned out fine.), glaze every 30min.

Note:
Browning: This brine and glaze makes browning easily. Check, adjust glazing frequency and cover with foil throughout if needed.

Stuffing: Suggest make stuffing separately. Stuffed turkey is difficult to flip and takes longer to roast.

Recipes for condiments:
Home made:
<1> Cranberry sauce with ginger & apple
Flavor: Sour, sweet and aromatic
3 oz apple, chopped
¼ tbs butter
2 tbs water
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs ginger, minced
6 oz fresh cranberry

Sautee apple with butter for 5-7 minutes, slightly browned but still juicy. Set aside.
Mix water, sugar, and ginger, bring to boil. Add cranberry. Simmer for 4 minutes.
Add sautéed apple, simmer for another minute.

Note: The pre-sautee of the apple, and very little use of water and short simmering time for the cranberry makes both fruits hold their shapes well. Thus creates a non-mushy sauce with texture.

<2> Orange, ginger & sage sauce
Flavor: Aromatic, sweet, tart with mild spicy kick
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
½ tbs fresh sage leaves, minced
1/8 tsp kosher salt

Mix all ingredients, bring to boil on medium heat. Then simmer on low for 5 minutes.

<3> Mustard & orange sauce
Flavor: sharp with slightly sweet undertone
1tbs Dijon mustard
1tbs orange juice
A few small whole mustard seeds (optional)
Mix Dijon mustard and orange juice, simmer for 5minutes. Sprinkle mustard seeds on top to add texture and garnish.

<4> Sesame & Sichuan pepper mix
Flavor: fragrant, spicy with tingly numbing sensation
Mix black sesame seeds (roasted, slightly crushed) and Sichuan pepper in proportion of 3:1. Adjust to your own tolerance of the numbness of the pepper.

<5> Maple & cayenne pepper-glazed pecan
Flavor: nutty, crunchy, sweet and spicy
1/3 cup Pecan
½ tbs maple syrup
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients, let it sit for 2 hours. Roast in preheated 350F oven for about 25minutes, let it cool. Pecans usually roast within 15minutes, takes longer here because of the 2-hr marinating in the syrup.

Bought from Trader Joe's:
<6> Cashew with spicy Chili & kaffir lime
<7> Wasabi almond
Flavor: Both are nutty and crunchy, but with different spicy kicks

Bought from Longo's in Canada:
<8> Alder smoked sea salt
Flavor: earthy smokiness (use judiciously)