Every Possible Thing to do With Turkey

[rightnow]

There's only two people in my household and one doesn't much like turkey. It isn't me, so I'm going to bake one anyway. But I think my imagination must be limited. I get that I can bake the meat;

and that I can boil down the carcass for stew;

and that I can use leftover meat in sandwiches or tortillas. Which I can't eat because I can't come up with a good bread/tort that isn't gluten, bad oils (flax is PUFA when heated), or 8 bazillion calories and not so good anyway.

But what ELSE can you do with pre-cooked turkey meat that is relatively easy and lowcarb? For a variety of foods? Any other ideas?

PJ

[doctorK]

Turkey chili?

[Mousesmom]

Turkey a la king (cream sauce)

[kallyn]

Dana Carpender has a turkey tetrazzini recipe to use up Thanksgiving turkey: http://books.google.com/books?id=7u0HEOPLvqAC&pg=PA254&lpg=PA254&dq=low+carb+turkey+tetrazzini&source=bl&ots=LnpmIJ-8aI&sig=dWQaaE70cDP_1O2JBcQpVR8ZryM&hl=en&ei=zSi1StPtFY-b8Qb-uLmTDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=low%20carb%20turkey%20tetrazzini&f=false

[camaromom]

Buy Romaine Lettuce, the big leaves and make a wrap with those. The other night we had BLT sandwiches, I used the leaves and wrapped the tomato and bacon inside with some mayo :yum: I would imagine the same could be done with the turkey.

[bike2work]

I used to make a green chile/tomatillo sauce with a little onion and garlic. Cube some turkey, toss it with sauce, put it in a gratin or casserole, top with grated Monterey Jack and bake uncovered.

It's turkey enchiladas without the tortillas, basically.

[Nancy LC]

My all time favorite thing to do with turkey is make some sweet, hot mustard that sears your sinuses and just slather it on the turkey. I could eat that forever.

[Melesana]

I like it by itself, as delightfully sloppy finger food. Slice some into two-bite size pieces, and dip it into... whatever you like. I usually use mayo that I season, or salad dressing. Same way you'd do with raw veggies or cubed cheese.

Meg

[LukeA]

I personally don't much like leftover turkey in very many things. Back in the olden days I would only eat it in a sandwich filled with mayo and cranberry sauce. :lol: I do like to eat it cold though with mayo and sugar free cranberry sauce still though of course not in sandwich form.
Its also pretty good thrown into a tossed salad.

Otherwise imo the best use is various soups. The different varieties you can make with it are about endless. I always like to keep different homemade soups in individual servings in the freezer for an easy lunch.

[rightnow]

Maybe I should learn more about soups. They sorta all seem the same to me "except the details" -- but I guess that's a no-brainer. The last time I made turkey soup I just took the stock I'd made and the meat bits, dumped it in the crockpot with chopped carrots, onions, celery, peas, some kind of beans I forget, and some spices. It was ok. Kinda bland... I didn't do a very good job on it apparently. Aside from your basic recipe like that one -- and turkey chili, mentioned earlier -- is there any soup/stew recipe you especially like for leftover turkey?

[Citruskiss]

I would be inclined to make curry! Sautee up whatever vegetables you like in some coconut oil, throw in chunks of turkey. In a separate sauce pot, heat up some full-fat coconut milk (it thickens up better than the light variety does) and add a tablespoon or two of Thai Green curry paste, or other favourite curry paste. Stir around with a whisk etc. until nicely thickened.

Pour sauce atop the turkey/vegetable mix, combine and heat through. Absolutely *delicious*. I'd make so much of this that I'd have some to freeze, and some to keep in the fridge. I always love these 'meal in a bowl' sorts of things.

[Nancy LC]

Thanks for mentioning curry! One of the tastiest things I ever did with turkey was make a curry turkey salad. Wow! I remember how delicious that was. I think the dressing was Mayo, mustard (maybe), curry powder, maybe a touch of sweetener, maybe a little vinegar or lemon juice. Then I put chopped turkey, celery, onion and I always like something sweet and crunchy, like a little apple. But the curry powder in the dressing is really fabulous. This is one of those dishes that gets better after it's set up overnight... if you can let it alone that long.

Thai curries are great, meat usually ends up tasting like the curry more than the meat. :)

But indian curry would be good too.

I'd google either turkey/chicken curry salad rather than depend upon my memory.

[Citruskiss]

I will have to go looking for a nice chicken/turkey curry salad - sounds really good. I've had salads like that before - usually in a fancy restaurant or deli. Never made one myself though.

Meanwhile, just for fun - you can make a pretty darned good dip out of just mayo and curry powder. Dump in as much yellow curry powder as you need to turn the dip a deep golden yellow. It's delicious as a 'dip' for chicken skewers or shrimp. :yum: Try it sometime - just mix up curry powder and mayo.

[Nancy LC]

It's really easy! No reason you could do it.

In fact, if you used the "Perfect Cold Chicken" method from my blog it'd be a really nice way to make it.

I might just need to make a curry chicken salad soon!

[Citruskiss]

I have been up a couple of hours now, no breakfast yet - and this entire thread is making me hungry.

At this point, I'll take turkey anything.

[Nancy LC]

Maybe I should learn more about soups. They sorta all seem the same to me "except the details" -- but I guess that's a no-brainer. The last time I made turkey soup I just took the stock I'd made and the meat bits, dumped it in the crockpot with chopped carrots, onions, celery, peas, some kind of beans I forget, and some spices. It was ok. Kinda bland... I didn't do a very good job on it apparently. Aside from your basic recipe like that one -- and turkey chili, mentioned earlier -- is there any soup/stew recipe you especially like for leftover turkey?
I've been thinking about this.

Soup often comes out rather bland unless you work at it. Most soups get some vigor from adding some kind of acid like lemon or vinegar or sherry maybe wine. Be careful, especially with vinegar, it can be overpowering. Lemon usually works really well. I have a Cuban black beans recipe where a smoked ham shank and sherry make an amazing flavor combination.

Spices of course. Great spices for generic meat/veggie soup are pepper, salt, chili flakes, oregano, bay, basil, cumin. Experiment. It takes quite a lot of spice if you're making a big batch. I have some bags of Penzey's spices and their Turkish blend (tastes Mexican to me) and Greek blend to really well in soup.

Another flavor is umami of course. If your stock isn't concentrated enough you might need to reduce it, which means boiling some of the water out. Or you can use something like fish sauce or soy sauce. Careful, they're potent. Or just add some bouillon like substance.

Other flavors that I think work are smokey flavors, like from bacon or ham or you could cheat and add some condensed smoke (carefully). And another flavor would be something sweet (in some soups). The unexpected sweetness of an apple, kumquats, cranberries.

When you think about Thai coconut chicken soup. It has sweetness from coconut milk, tang from lime juice, savory from fish sauce and chicken stock, herbal flavors from lime leaves and lemon grass and galangal root (ginger can be used instead). The veggies and meat add some flavor sure, but most of the flavor comes from other stuff.

Anyway, those are some of my ideas for zooping up soup. :)

[rightnow]

I bought fish sauce solely based on your comment about using it in scrambled eggs Nancy. So after searching prices and options online (I buy nearly everything online. I have nothing but a super walmart available to me and it's definitely a white-boy store LOL) I bought this 2-pack of bottles of fish sauce. I put them in my refrigerator, looked at them for a moment, blinked, and then said to myself, "PJ, you HATE fish of all kinds. Why did you buy Fish Sauce??" but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I haven't yet had opportunity to try it.

Coconut milk is kind of a pain. Heavy for shipping, expensive locally (and not cheap even via internet), has 'other stuff' in it sometimes to help with thickening et al. I have coconut cream and coconut 'butter' as well as the oil (just pure coconut - tropicaltraditions.com is where I get my coconut and palm stuff). I wonder if there is some way I can use the coconut cream or butter with some water or something to make a coconut chicken curry.

I have green curry in the fridge door I haven't eaten in eons but the individual packages are still in date. I have a tin of yellow curry on the spice rack. (Actually I have no kitchen right now--it's 100% empty except the fridge, as painting of walls and cabinets starts tomorrow--but you get the idea.)

I am currently starving. In my fridge I have LC wrap (gluten, sigh) and deli meat/cheese (because of the kitchen thing mentioned above). Now I am sitting here reallllly wishing I had a cold chicken curry salad LOL. I have only had that once, at my fave Thai restaurant in the city where I mostly grew up (Ventura CA) and I *loved* it. I'm definitely going to have to make this! Thanks for the ideas! And the soup ideas too.

[Nancy LC]

The thing about fish sauce is it doesn't taste like fish. No more than soy sauce tastes like soy.

I'm not suggesting soup recipes here, just ideas for making soup more flavorful.

I think walmart has coconut milk. Do you have any asian markets in your area? They always have it cheaper than anywhere else.

[Citruskiss]

I'm not that great at making homemade soups - but I did come up with one that works very well - don't have the entire recipe here, but it was a chicken soup. The weird thing? What gave it really good flavour happened to be a ton of dijon mustard, some curry powder and a tiny bit of lemon juice!

I agree with Nancy that sometimes soups turn out kind of boring and bland - so you do want to try and zing them up a wee bit.

My local Wal-Mart Super Center has coconut milk in small town CO here. It's on the very bottom shelf where all the other "Asian" food is. Sometimes it almost looks like they don't have it - because the cans are shoved back or something. They don't have the good one that I like though (Native Forest). I am not sure if blending up the coconut cream stuff with water would be as good. I bought something like that and didn't have much luck turning it into actual 'coconut milk'. It was a dried type of thing - is this what you have PJ? In a box or something? Says 'coconut cream' ? In powdered form?

Let me know if you want me to dig up my invented chicken soup with curry/lemon/dijon (once you have your kitchen back that is). I think I have it saved in my PLAN.

[rightnow]

Mustard, curry and lemon. OK you win creativity for sure, I would never have thought of combining those!!

I used to eat soft-fried corn taco shells with chicken flavored stovestop stuffing, cheddar cheese, and green taco sauce. My friends thought that was weird (though it was SO yummy). But I think mustard, curry and lemon is way more novel!

I don't have any problem finding coconut milk. My complaint is that it is expensive, plus it has various additives, and I'm trying to reduce how much living out of cans I do; some truly pure coconut seems better (by some obscure and probably totally stupid arbitrary measure).

I don't think that I can make coconut milk out of the coconut cream or butter -- it would not 'stick together' for emulsion, I think it naturally separates -- but it's possible that adding some of it and a little water (not much) and maybe some ghee to a simmer pan, could have an interestingly edible result anyway. Speaking of ghee I'm still trying to find some truly worth eating and not unaffordable. (No way am I making it myself!)

[rightnow]

Today, I was looking over the living room mega-junk from the kitchen, in boxes and tubs and so on. It occurred to me that I need to get rid of some stuff in the kitchen too. C and I agree when it's time to put stuff back, that we will go through everything, and I will parse the hell out of it and get rid of as much stuff as possible.

And I need to USE more of what I have or I might as well get rid of it.

I came home from super walmart with more dishes from the set I want. That was when we didn't even have a place to put them anymore so we stuck them under the dining table for now LOL. Some square plates, rectangle plates, couple more of the tiny bowl, several tiny plates. There is more I need to add to the collection but I have enough basics now that I can go ahead and get rid of my existing dish set, which is thicker and takes up a lot of space (and has more pieces than I have so far from the other).

To show how big a change this is, I am going from a dish set that is totally white in 'rounded square' shape (called 'simply white' at walmart several years ago), to a dish set that is totally white in square/rectangle shape. Heh. Yes that's me, a real gypsy when it comes to dishes... I'm a minimalist freak about some things.

I started thinking about how much crap I could rid of if I only had something good to replace it. What I mean is, I often have many different variations of something because they serve different needs, but if I had one *good* thing -- like say, a quality implement in silicon -- then I could toss the 2-4+ versions of stuff I have now. Plus then I'd have something I could hang on a wire rack instead of having to have in counter holders or drawers. This goes for pans, for large utensils, etc. So instead of having a drawer full of variations on rubber spatulas, why not just have two nice silicon ones hanging? Rather than having a drawer AND a countertop holder stuffed with 'turners' and spoon variants -- half melted in places or old metal ones -- how about 1 of each major type in silicon hanging somewhere, and look at all that drawer space I just freed up!

I ended up going to amazon.com and spending way too much money (as if that's a surprise).

I got some novelty stuff that makes me feel happy inside for some reason.

* A 24-square slot silicone baking pan (makes stuff rather like a petit four in shape/size) that I actually want for making 1 Tbsp cocoa coconut bites, but that I just think would be adorable for making almost anything.

* A vertical ice cube tray. I'm not kidding. Reviews are one extreme or the other, so we'll see how it works. I have a horrible problem in my freezer with lack of space and noplace 'flat' for trays and this you put it together, put the lid on and toss it in. It holds up to two of its own trays full of ice inside the cup in the middle as well so I think it may turn out to be a great space deal, assuming I can use it well (users had varying experiences). I spent a lot on a bar blender at one point so I could crush ice darn it, but I never HAVE ice when I start thinking how nice it'd be. If this works, I'll have ice finally.

* A really kickass garlic press. I worship fresh garlic but don't have it so much because it's such a pain in the butt and messy to get to minced point. I've had many presses and they all sucked. The reviews on this one give me hope.

* A decent variable egg slicer and boiling timer. I know this wins me the official idiot award but I cannot seem to boil eggs without ending up with green on them or something, and yes I know all the rules about cooking them, it's just that none of my efforts work well except occasionally with no trackable reason to why. I want to be increasing my egg consumption especially 'in' things like cut up in CHICKEN CURRY SALAD is my current bright idea (thanks Sara and Lisa!!) so that's cool.

My favorite, though the cheapest:
1 - a Bento "egg shaper" of star and heart. It shapes hard boiled eggs.
2 - some little metal cutters for veggies, also a Bento accessory.
These were stuff I want to feed Ry of course, the japanese freak. She may be a white girl but her soul is loyal to the Emperor.



OK, as for food today. I didn't eat. I'd like to claim I forgot but actually I was hungry around 8am and regularly since. Fortunately I'm pretty disassociated from my body's state of hunger, so sitting around hungry for 18 hours is really not a problem for me, except that if I don't eat a LOT tomorrow morning, by tomorrow night I'll be eating carbs. It's now 1:38am the next day so I guess it's a sure bet that I am not eating yesterday. I was cranky. I didn't FEEL like eating a wrap again. I don't WANT to eat gluten and deli stuff. But I also didn't feel like mounting a search & rescue campaign to find enough cooking and eating stuff to make a burger patty or something, let alone how to clean up afterward (soap, rags, etc. are gone from the kitchen as well, it is really *empty*). Tomorrow I will find a pan, tongs and spatula, and make bacon & eggs.

[rightnow]

I had two new ideas today.


1. Along with my "supplement frenzy" to try and 'nutrify' my cells en masse in large dose for a few months, I should be doing foot patch and extra water and other forms of "detox" during that time.

2. Bear with me here: could the interesting tendency of super obese people to be dissociated from their hunger to some degree, be related to the concept that "the cells are starving" when obesity is present (stuffing into fat rather than feeding the body with that energy etc.)? And maybe after some time the body just disconnects from the whole topic of hunger in order to 'deal'. Mind you I'm talking about stuff at a cellular level here -- things can hurt on the subconscious level.

[daisywench]

We fried a turkey at a cookout on Sunday, and I had a ton of turkey leftover. I just threw together a turkey curry salad with celery, mayo, curry, salt pepper and a bit of mustard.
It's FABULOUS. Thank you so much for the suggestion. I wasn't looking forward to another day of just eating plain turkey.

It's melding in my fridge now, can't wait for lunch!

[Nancy LC]

You can make your own coconut milk. I've seen instructions on the Internet. But it'd be a heck of a lot of work, IMHO.

[capmikee]

As long as there's gravy, I'm happy to eat leftover turkey as-is, cold or hot.

The trouble, of course, is running out of gravy. So what I do is supplement with chicken stock or leftover stock from another turkey. I'm not much of a soup eater, so I use all my stock for sauces and gravies. I use a huge amount of stock too, because I thicken the gravy by reducing it instead of adding starch.

Mayonnaise is another great topping for leftover turkey. I've been experimenting with making mayonnaise from chicken fat. It's great but it's a lot of work. I bet turkey fat mayonnaise would be even better.

[Nancy LC]

heh! but there's so little fat on turkey you'd have to cook 25 of them to get enough!

[capmikee]

I'm a kitchen gadget fanatic too! Our kitchen has gone through a number of purges and renovations, and we've picked up some useful stuff along the way. My favorites:

Wooden stomper. That's my garlic press, my sauerkraut stomper, and sometimes my nut crusher and meat tenderizer. We now have an actual metal meat tenderizer, which is pretty much interchangeable with the stomper.

Oster blender. Almost but not quite as powerful as a Vitamix or a Blendtec. I've discovered that it fits any regular-mouth Mason jar, and a pint-size jar is perfect for grinding spices and coffee.

Mortar and pestle. After years without one, I finally have it. Except now I want the giant one they showed in "Julie & Julia."

Stick blender. I think I have an inferior model, but the whisk attachment is useful for making mayonnaise. I couldn't use it, though, until I found the right size and shape container (a tall conical metal measuring flask).

Whisks. Sometimes you just have to whip something into shape by hand. Usually it's a reduction sauce.

Silicone spatulas. Mainly for licking, so nothing goes to waste!

Thermometers. I don't use them often, but when I do, they're a lifesaver. I have an instant-read meat thermometer and a deep fry thermometer.

Grill brush. A recent acquisition.

On my wish list is a gravy separator.

[Nancy LC]

Alton Brown always derides "uni-taskers", things that can be only used for one purpose. I do have one uni-tasker I do love, that'd be my very expensive garlic press. It pulverizes garlic so easily!

[rightnow]

Well I'm thinking though, if it can press raw garlic, surely it can press boiled cauli. I wonder if that would 'rice' it or if it would just make much. I really love the cauli-fried 'rice' but it's such a pain in the ass to make I never do!

[aquapixie]

How about a low carb bar be que sauce and make a lettuce wrap. Another wrap with taco spices. Make a turkey salad with mayo, dill, nuts, celery, ect. have it on a bed of lettuce or in a lettuce wrap. Maybe make a sauce with Tabasco and butter and dip it in that, sort of like hot wings.

[Chell921]

I have a dry-cured turkey recipe that makes even the most stauch "turkey disliker" (aka... ME!) love this turkey. And as good as it is in the first serving, it's even better as left-overs!

I even make this with a smaller roasting chicken for when it is just hubby and me and not 15 Thanksgiving Day guests!


Dry-Cured Rosemary Turkey

The dry-cure for this turkey was born during a party-advice phone call Helena Darling had with her bachelor brother in Hollywood. It reflects her idea of Thanksgiving dinner--"an earthy feast that acknowledges our farm-to-table roots," she says. Notes: Use a turkey that hasn't been infused with broth or butter. Prep and Cook Time: about 3 1/2 hours, plus 3 days to cure.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons sea salt or kosher salt
3 tablespoons dried marjoram
3 tablespoons dried thyme
3 tablespoons dried juniper berries
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
2 teaspoons anise seeds
1 turkey (14 to 15 lb.)

12 fresh rosemary sprigs (3 in. each)
12 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pan Gravy

Preparation
1. Three days before serving, in a blender or spice grinder, finely grind salt, marjoram, thyme, juniper berries, peppercorns, and anise seeds.

2. Remove and discard leg truss from turkey. Pull off and discard any lumps of fat. Remove giblets and neck; save neck for gravy. Rinse turkey inside and out; pat dry. Cut off wing tips to the first joint and reserve for gravy. Rub half the herb mixture all over turkey; sprinkle remaining in body cavity. Cover and chill for 3 days.

3. Preheat oven to 325° (convection not recommended). Put rosemary sprigs and garlic inside turkey body cavity. Gently push your hand between skin and turkey breast to separate skin from breast. Spread about half the butter over breast under skin. Melt remaining butter and brush lightly over top of turkey. Coat a V-shaped rack with cooking-oil spray and set in a 12- by 17-inch roasting pan. Place turkey, breast down, on the rack. Roast turkey for 1 3/4 hours.

4. Meanwhile, cook turkey wing tips and neck for pan gravy. Remove turkey from oven and turn breast side up. Return to oven. Roast until a meat thermometer inserted straight down through thickest part of breast to the bone registers 160°, 45 to 60 minutes longer.

5. Tip turkey to drain juices from cavity into pan and transfer to a platter. Let stand in a warm place, uncovered, for 15 to 30 minutes. Finish gravy, then carve turkey.

Note: In nutritional analysis, sodium is N/A.
Yield
Makes about 14 servings (with leftovers)
Nutritional Information
CALORIES 420(41% from fat); FAT 19g (sat 5.7g); PROTEIN 57g; CHOLESTEROL 167mg; SODIUM 0.0mg; FIBER 0.2g; CARBOHYDRATE 1.7g

From: Helena Darling, Ashland, OR , Sunset, NOVEMBER 2005