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Roast Turkey (After picking and singeing)
After picking and singeing the turkey, plump it by plunging quickly three times into boiling water and then three times into cold, holding it by the legs; place to drain and dress as in general directions; prepare stuffing by taking pieces of dry bread and crust (not too brown) cut off a loaf of bread fully three or four days old (but not moldy); place crust and pieces in a pan and pour on a very little boiling water, cover tightly with a cloth, let stand until soft, add a large lump of butter, pepper, salt, one or two fresh eggs, and the bread from which the crust was cut, so as not to have it too moist. Mix well with the hands and season to suit taste; rub inside of turkey with pepper and salt, stuff it as already directed on page 272, and sew up each slit with a strong thread; tie the legs down firmly, and press the wings closely to the sides, securing them with a cord tied around the body (or use skewers if at hand), steam (page 273) from one to three hours (or until easily pierced with a fork), according to the size, then place turkey in pan with water from dripping-pan in which the turkey was steamed; lard the turkey, or place on the breast the pieces of fat taken from it before it was stuffed, sprinkle with salt and pepper, dredge well with flour; if not sufficient water in the pan, keep adding boiling water and baste often, as the excellence of the turkey depends much on this. Cook until a nice brown and perfectly tender; remove to a hot platter and serve with cranberry sauce and giblet gravy. To make the gravy, after the turkey is dished place the dripping-pan on the top of range or stove, skim off most of the fat, and add water if necessary; chop the heart, gizzard and liver (previously boiled for two hours in two quarts of water), and add to the gravy with the water in which they were boiled, season with salt and pepper, add a smooth thickening of flour and water, stir constantly until thoroughly mixed with the gravy, and boil until the flour is well cooked. Some, in making stuffing, try out the fat of the turkey at a low temperature, and use instead of butter; others use the fat of sweet-pickled pork chopped fine (not tried out), and a small quantity of butter, or none at all. -Mrs. Judge J. L. Porter.
This is a two-stage bird: steamed first, then roasted to color. The method is unfamiliar now but it is forgiving with the big, older, tougher birds these cooks bought, and the steaming liquid becomes the basting liquid and the gravy base.
- The hinge: bastingThe recipe says the excellence of the turkey depends on frequent basting, and with a lean, steamed bird that is true — there is little rendered fat to self-baste. Keep an inch of liquid in the pan and baste every 15 minutes during the browning stage.
- Plumping and singeingBoth steps assume a bird you plucked yourself: singeing burns off pinfeather down, and the hot-then-cold dips tighten the skin. A supermarket turkey needs neither. Start at "place to drain and dress."
- Steaming timesOne to three hours by size, then roasting — the total is close to modern practice for a 12-16 lb bird, but judge by temperature, not the clock. The thigh should read 175F and the center of the stuffing 165F; stuffing inside a bird lags well behind the meat, so check it separately.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given because the range had none. For the browning stage after steaming, 400-425F for the last 30-45 minutes will brown and crisp the floured, larded skin without drying the breast.
- Dredge well with flourFlour over the fat and seasoning gives a crust that browns fast and holds basting liquid. It also thickens the pan drippings, so go lighter on the flour-and-water thickening at the end than you might expect.
- LardingLarding means threading strips of fat through the meat with a needle. Draping the reserved fat over the breast, which the recipe offers as the alternative, is the easier option, though it protects the surface rather than moistening the meat throughout; bacon or a butter-soaked cloth serves the same purpose.
- The gibletsTwo hours in two quarts of water is aimed at the gizzard, which is pure muscle. The liver only needs 15-20 minutes and turns grainy and bitter if boiled that long — simmer it separately and chop it in at the end.
- Bread for the stuffingThree- or four-day-old bread meant a dense, close-crumbed loaf. Modern sandwich bread collapses into paste; use a firm white or country loaf, dried in a low oven if it is fresh, and add the boiling water sparingly as directed.
- YieldThe recipe gives no bird size and no measured stuffing quantity; scaled to a 12-16 lb bird it would serve roughly 10-14, with the cranberry sauce and giblet gravy the recipe assumes on the table.
Buckeye Cookery (1877, out of Marysville, Ohio) was compiled from contributions by named Midwestern housewives, which is why this turkey arrives credited to Mrs. Judge J. L. Porter — the husband's title standing in for the woman's own name, as was the convention. The steam-then-roast method reflects the birds of the period: farm turkeys were older, leaner and considerably tougher than today's broad-breasted commercial birds, and a long moist stage tenderized what dry heat alone would have turned to leather. The closing note that some cooks render the turkey's own fat, others use chopped sweet-pickled pork, and still others skip butter entirely is characteristic of the book, which routinely records several households' practices side by side rather than settling on one. Cranberry sauce and giblet gravy were already fixed as the American accompaniments by the 1870s.