[Anneke]

As I mentioned on the sticky turkey thread, I am unfamiliar with smoked turkey but I'm receiving one from a friend on Sunday and have to prepare it for our little group.

Obviously, stuffing is out of the question and will have to be prepared separately as this thing takes an hour to 'warm up'.

But what about sauce? I bought a few lbs of turkey carcasses, but I don't know if the ol' standard would go with a smoked meat. How do you match the pungency of the meat? Any thoughts or recipes for sauce? (oh, and wine suggestions too please!)

[W.DeBord]

I've never seen smoked turkey served warm before.

I love it (had it on my own Wedding buffet), but I've always eaten it cold on a nice mini roll...my favorite sauce with it is a djion/mayo combo about 50/50. It also is great on petite fruit muffins, like a cranberry muffin (still like a mustard/mayo on that too).

[snakelady1]

what about a nice fruit chutney sweet and spicy or carmelize red onions and add balsamic vinegar and honey to them.....just an idea
Sandy

[Anneke]

That's sounds great Wendy, and probably how I would prefer it too. I think my friend woud be disappointed if I served it cold however. We'll do that with the leftovers for sure!

[mofo1]

Anneke,
I've found that orange complements the flavor of smoked turkey nicely. Nothing particular in mind, but you might considerthe above chutney with orange and serve it warm. My 2 cents.

[cape chef]

Hi Anneke,

Actually the flavor of the smoke offers you many possibitilties,

A couple things to keep in mind is you would benifit from a sauce (or comdiment) that has acidity, This will help to balance and bridge the smoke,Also as suggested before me a Fruit based relish or chutney would be great, may I suggest that you make a turkey stock with your carcasses,reduce and strain. Then thinly slice some shallots and sweat them in sweet butter,add a bouget garni and fresh milled white pepper, deglaze this with a medium bodied chard and reduce by half, add a touch of kosher salt and a tablespoon of red currant preserve and half of your stock,Bring to a boil and check your seasonings and reduce to a simmer. In a seperate pan lightly carmilize the zest of an orange in a simple syrup until soft and the syrup is soft crack, Let the zest rest in the syrup off the heat. Now to finish your sauce take a bunch of fresh red currants (available Now) gentle wash and pat them dry and add them to your sauce with the "Strained"orange zest and some chopped rosemary.

For your turkey take fresh sage leaves and rosemary sprigs and kind of place them topsi turvi around the meat and wrap with cheese cloth. Place in a roasting pan with the remaining stock,cover with foil and gently warm in a fairly low oven.

Then just unwrap,slice and serve

Anneke, as for the wine I would chose something with alittle residule suger, Like a German kabinett or even a spatlese. They have nice acid,lite sweet palette, floural bouget, even a little flintyness. maybe give this a try and good luck and happy holidays
cc

[fodigger]

I think that Cape Chef had a great idea for you to use. Here is one that I use occasionally that is a little different. I use the stock from the carcasses to make a demi-glaze to which i add roasted garlic, chopped rosemary and jalapeno peppers. I like the sweetness you get from the roasted garlic and the demi-glaze and the spiciness of the rosemary and peppers. That being said though I'm w/ De Bord serve it cold I think to smoke flavor is much more subdued that way. The heat seems to allow the smole flavor to over power the turkey.

[Peachcreek]

Hows about Red-eye gravy?

[Olive Branch]

My husband smokes turkeys for the whole neighborhood every year and Red-eye gravy is my favorite with this! Some like to subdue the smokiness with citrus, some like to go with the flow!

Love ~ Debbie

P.S. Try a young Zin with this...

[panini]

Hey Ya'll,
You guys are talkin about smoked turkey like it's something from another planet. Heck, we serve smoked turkey right along side the fried turkey.
Cape chef is on the right track, but if your not talkin fancy and just plain holiday turkey than throw some cranberries and sugar in a pot, little bit of JD, orange zest, salt,couple rosemary leaves and reduce. cool to congealed sp? Throw some pecan or walnuts in the cusinart add the cranberries and pulse until it lightens in color. room temp for warm turk and cold for spreading on the turkey and bisquits.
Red eye gravy? are we talkin the same thing here.
Jake

[Peachcreek]

What I was thinking was to use the drippings from the reheated bird, with some of that strong turkey stock she made, reducing it, adding a little strong coffee, and finish it with a little Cajun-type spice, maybe a little cold butter at the end to thicken it if there aren't enough drippings, turning the glaze into smokey-roasty-lightly spicy type thing. The coffee replaces the taste of a browned roux, so you get a nice clear sauce. It was just something that popped into my head.

[panini]

That does not sound bad at all. It's just that being a 20 yr transplant here I can recall my first red eye gravy experience on a FM road heading to the pan handle. Man! what was the creator of this gravy on?? FM farm to market road.
The only place for 1or2 day old coffee in down the drain,
My 2 cents

[Peachcreek]

I remember using that sauce now. About 7-8 years ago, when I was a cook in Glitter Gulch, I served a smoked pheasant leg appetizer. The legs came in pre-smoked and frozen. To make them tender enough to serve, I would boil them for @ half an hour in a large saute pan. Them remove the legs and reduce the stock, add a dash of coffee, Cajun spice and a drop or two of Tabasco, then finish with butter. The appetizer was very popular.

[panini]

See, thats a lot more interesting than bacon fat and coffee.

[Anneke]

Tonight was turkey night and what a turkey it was!!! I may never have plain ol' roasted turkey again! I find I usually get sick of smoked meats after the 2nd or 3rd bite, but this turkey was sooo good....

Sauce wise I was a bit pressed for time and so I did not get all the ingredients that I was hoping for. I roasted my carcasses last night and made a concentrated stock. As per CC's suggestion I sautéed shallots in butter with a bouquet garni, deglazed with a reduced chardonnay, added some orange zest (no time to caramelize it, cc) and red current jelly. Though I reduced it quite a bit, the sauce was too wet and I had to thicken with cornsarch (ick!) due to lack of time. The result was excellent, and better than I had expected. Unfortunately, because we ate buffet style on disposable plates and there was soo much food (lamb with its own sauce, mushroom, butternut squash pavé, basil mash, swiss chard, carrot salad etc) the sauce got lost in the mish-mash. What is it about North Americans that we feel we must load up our buffet plates that way? (I stand among the guilty... )

I gave my cranberry sauce a twist: instead of the usual, I used fresh squeezed orange juice (no water) and a bit of grated fresh ginger. It was perfect for the smoked turkey. Can't wait for the sandwiches with the leftovers!

Thanks you all for your wonderful suggestions!