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Turkey, Pulled
Take the remains of a cooked turkey. Cut off the legs, and score the meat on them, and the gizzard at regular distances. Season highly, as for devilled turkey, and set them aside. Remove the skin from the body, and pull the white meat from the bones in long flakes with a fork. Put the bones and trimmings of the turkey into a stewpan with a pinch of powdered mace, a finely-minced shallot, the rind and strained juice of half a lemon, a pint of stock, and a little pepper and salt. Let them simmer gently till the gravy is strong and pleasantly flavoured; strain and skim it, thicken with white roux or with a little flour and butter, and add a quarter of a pint of milk or cream. Let the gravy boil a few minutes, then put in the meat, and let it simmer again until the latter is quite hot, but do not let the gravy boil after the meat is added. While the meat is simmering take the legs and gizzard already seasoned, dip them in clarified butter, and broil over a clear fire till they are lightly browned without being burnt. Put the pulled turkey with the sauce into the centre of a hot dish, lay the legs and gizzard upon it, and serve very hot. The legs of the turkey should be turned every minute whilst they are being broiled. Probable cost, 6d., exclusive of the cold turkey, if milk is used. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A Victorian way of turning the second day of a roast turkey into a proper dish: creamed flakes of breast under devilled, broiled legs. Two techniques in one pan, and the timing hinges on not boiling the sauce once the meat goes in.
- Do not boil after the meat goes inAlready-cooked turkey breast tightens and turns stringy the moment it reaches a rolling boil in a cream sauce. Bring the sauce to a bare shiver, add the flakes, and hold five minutes at most until heated through.
- Pull, do not sliceThe whole point of "pulled" is long flakes torn along the grain with a fork, which hold sauce far better than neat slices. Take the skin off first or it shreds into rubbery threads.
- The gizzardRarely present in a modern bird unless you asked for the giblets and cooked them with the roast. Omit it without loss, or substitute the thighs alongside the drumsticks.
- "Season highly, as for devilled"A Victorian devil mixture of this kind is typically mustard, cayenne and black pepper with salt, rubbed hard into scored meat; this page does not spell out the ingredients. Reckon on about a tablespoon of English mustard, a good half teaspoon of cayenne and plenty of pepper for two legs.
- MeasuresA pint of stock is 20 fl oz Imperial, so about 2 1/2 US cups; a quarter pint of milk or cream is 5 fl oz, roughly 2/3 cup. White roux here is equal butter and flour cooked without colour, about 1 oz of each for this quantity.
- Broiling the legs"Broil over a clear fire" means a grill or barbecue with no flame or smoke. Under a modern overhead broiler, about 4 inches from the element, 8-12 minutes total, turned every minute as directed so the mustard crust browns rather than blackens.
- Clarified butterUsed because whole butter's milk solids burn under direct heat. Ghee works, or any neutral oil with a high smoke point if you are not chasing the flavour.
- YieldThree or four as written, which assumes the legs and breast of a whole bird. The sauce quantity is generous; reduce it further if you want the flakes coated rather than swimming.
"Pulled" as a cookery term is older than its modern barbecue sense and simply meant meat torn into flakes or shreds with a fork rather than carved, a distinction that mattered when the dish was assembled at table or on a sideboard chafing dish. The pairing of pale creamed flakes with dark, fiercely spiced broiled legs appears on British breakfast and supper tables through the nineteenth century, often listed as "pulled and devilled fowl" or "grilled and pulled turkey"; the devil, generally traced to the late Georgian taste for cayenne and mustard on cold meat, gave the pungency that plain reheated poultry lacks. Cassell's may well include it because a large roast bird left a great deal behind and thrifty households seem to have made use of carcass and drumsticks: the bones become the stock, the trimmings flavour the sauce, and the costing of sixpence "exclusive of the cold turkey" shows exactly how the economy was reckoned.