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Turkey, Braised
An old turkey is never so good as a young one. When, however, a young one cannot be obtained, the old one will be more likely to give satisfaction if it is braised than if it is roasted. Pluck and singe the bird, cut off the neck and legs, empty it, and save the heart, liver, and gizzard. Cut the neck into three pieces, clean and scald the legs and the gizzard, and peel off the outer scaly skin from the legs and the thick inner skin from the gizzard. Cover the bird with thin slices of unsmoked fat bacon, and tie it round with twine to keep it in shape. Put three or four slices of bacon into a braising-pan, lay the turkey on these, and put in with it the giblets and trimmings, and a calf's foot cut in two, or two sheep's trotters, together with four onions, each stuck with three cloves, three carrots, a parsnip, two bay-leaves, a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a little salt and pepper, and half a clove of garlic, if liked. Some cooks add one or two glassfuls of wine and a glassful of brandy, but these are unnecessary. Lay two or three slices of bacon over the turkey, and almost cover it with good stock. Put the lid on the stewpan, and simmer its contents very gently from four to six hours, according to the size of the bird. If an ordinary stewpan is used instead of a proper braising-pan, which will hold embers in the lid, turn the turkey over when it is half done. Braised turkey may be served either hot or cold. If it is to be eaten hot, lay it upon the dish, surround it with the best of the vegetables stewed with it, or with a chipolata garnish prepared separately, and pour over it a small portion of the gravy freed from fat, and thickened with brown thickening. If it is to be served cold, let it remain in the gravy in which it was stewed, for half an hour after taking it from the fire. Strain the liquor, and boil till it is reduced to two-thirds its original quantity, so that it will form a jelly when cold. Strain this, and free it entirely from fat. If necessary, clear it with white of egg, according to the directions given for clarifying jelly. Brush two coats of this jelly over the turkey, then let the rest get cold and stiff; cut it into dice, stars, strips, or other devices, and use it for garnishing the dish. Time to braise the turkey, according to size. Probable cost, uncertain. Sufficient for a good-sized dish.
A rescue method for a tough old bird, and still the best treatment for any turkey that is too large, too lean or too elderly to roast well. The technique is a true braise: a bed of aromatics, a shallow bath of stock, and hours of gentle heat under a lid.
- The hinge: barely a simmerThe liquid should tremble, not bubble. Turkey breast held at a rolling simmer squeezes out its moisture and turns stringy within the hour, and no amount of jelly or gravy will bring it back. If the stovetop will not hold that low a heat, put the covered pot in the oven at 300F, which holds the temperature steady on all sides.
- Four to six hoursThat range assumes an old farmyard bird with worked muscle. A supermarket turkey of 10-14 lb will be tender in 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours; check the thigh joint for looseness rather than trusting the clock. The leg meat should pull easily while the breast is still juicy.
- The braising-panA proper braisière had a sunken, rimmed lid that held live embers so the bird cooked from above as well as below. A heavy oven and a snug-lidded roaster do the same job; the instruction to turn the bird halfway applies only if you are cooking on a burner with heat from beneath alone.
- Calf's foot or trottersThese are there for the gelatine: it sets the cold jelly and gives body to the hot gravy. Two pig's trotters from a butcher do the same, or you can add a couple of split veal knuckles. Powdered gelatine bloomed into the strained, reduced stock is the shortcut, though the flavour of the reduction suffers for it.
- Unsmoked fat baconThis means green streaky bacon or, better, plain fatback or unsmoked pancetta. Modern smoked bacon will dominate the whole pot and stain the jelly. Barding the breast is not optional here: it is what keeps the exposed meat from drying in a long braise.
- Brown thickeningA Victorian standby: flour cooked in fat or dried in the oven until nut-brown, then whisked into the gravy. A dark roux is the direct equivalent, or reduce the degreased braising liquid hard and finish with a little beurre manié.
- Chipolata garnishNot simply small sausages. In nineteenth-century usage a chipolata garnish is a mixture of glazed button onions, braised chestnuts, carrot, diced bacon and small sausages, tossed together in a little of the sauce.
- Glassful of wineA wineglass in this period is roughly 2 fl oz, so the optional wine and brandy come to somewhere between 4 and 6 fl oz depending on whether one or two glasses of wine are used. The recipe is right that they are not necessary, but they do give the cold jelly a rounder flavour.
- Serving coldChill the bird and the strained stock separately and quickly; do not leave either sitting at room temperature for hours while the jelly sets. The two brushed coats want to go on a cold bird with jelly that is syrupy and just short of setting.
- YieldA 12 lb bird would serve twelve to fourteen; the recipe says only 'sufficient for a good-sized dish'. The cold, jellied version lends itself to being sliced from a sideboard over more than one meal.
Braising was the classical French answer to a problem every pre-industrial poultry-keeper knew: a bird kept for breeding or for years of laying is flavourful but sinewy, and dry roasting only makes that worse. Cassell's puts the case bluntly in its first line and then gives the standard braisière method, with the lidded pan that took embers on top so the enclosed bird cooked from every direction. The elaborate cold finish — reduce, clarify with egg white, glaze in two coats, then chop the surplus jelly into dice and stars — belongs to the buffet cookery of the late Victorian table, where a glazed cold bird held its own on a sideboard through a long evening. The calf's foot is the tell: before commercial gelatine was cheap and reliable, an aspic in an English kitchen was commonly built on a foot or a knuckle simmered down for its collagen.