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Choosing and Trussing (Choose cock turkeys by their)
Choose cock turkeys by their short spurs and black legs, in which case they are young; if the spurs are long, and the legs pale and rough, they are old. If the bird has been long killed, the eyes will appear sunk and the feet very dry; but, if fresh, the contrary will be the case. Middling-sized fleshy turkeys are by many persons considered superior to those of an immense immense growth, as they are, generally speaking, much more tender. They should never be dressed the same day they are killed; but, in cold weather, should hang at least 8 days; if the weather is mild, TURKEY, ROAST, TO CARVE.
Cut 4 or 5 days will be found sufficient. Carefully pluck the bird, singe it with white paper and wipe it thoroughly with a cloth; draw it, preserve the liver and gizzard and be particular not to break the gall-bag, as no washing will remove the bitter taste it imparts where it once touches. Wash it inside well, and wipe it thoroughly dry with a cloth; the outside merely requires nicely wiping, as we have just stated. off the neck close to the back, but leave enough of the crop-skin to turn over; break the leg-bone close below the knee draw out the strings from the thighs, and flatten the breastbone to make it look plump. Have ready a forcemeat; fill the breast with this, and, if a trussing-needle is used, sew the neck over to the back; if a needle is not at hand, a skewer will answer the purpose.
Run a skewer through the pinion and thigh into the body to the pinion and thigh on the other side, and press the legs as much as possible between the breast and the sidebones, and put the liver under one pinion and the gizzard under the other. Pass a string across the back of the bird, catch it over the points of the skewer, tie it in the centre of the back, and be particular that the turkey is very firmly trussed. This may be more easily accomplished with a needle and twine than with skewers. 418 TURKEY POULTS, ROAST.
Fasten a sheet of buttered paper on to the breast of the bird, put it down to a bright fire, at some little distance at first. (afterwards draw it nearer), and keep it well basted the whole of the time it is cooking. About 1 hour before serving, remove the paper, dredge the turkey lightly with flour, and put a piece of butter into the basting-ladle; as the butter melts, baste the bird with it. When of a nice brown and well frothed, serve with a tureen ROAST TURKEY. of good brown gravy and one of bread sauce. Fried sausages are a favourite addition to roast turkey; they make a garnish, besides adding very much mu to the flavour. When these are not at hand, a few forcemeat balls should be placed round the dish as a garnish. Turkey may also be stuffed with sausage-meat, and a chestnut forcemeat with the chestnut sauce is, by many persons, very much esteemed as an accompaniment to this favourite dish.
TIME.-Small turkey, 1½ hour; moderatesized one, about 10 lbs., 2 hours; large turkey, 2 hours, or longer.
SEASONABLE from December to February.
This entry runs three jobs together: buying a bird, trussing it, and roasting it at an open fire. The buying advice is still readable, the trussing is still sound, and the cooking needs translating from a spit to an oven.
- Skip the hanging entirelyThe instruction to hang an undrawn turkey (4 or 5 days in mild weather, at least 8 days in cold) assumes an unheated larder in midwinter and a bird killed that morning. A supermarket turkey has already been chilled, drawn and aged; hold it at 40F or below and cook it within the date on the label.
- From spit to oven"Put it down to a bright fire, at some little distance at first" is radiant roasting on a spit, turned and basted constantly. In an oven, 350F throughout is the equivalent, breast shielded with buttered paper or foil for most of the time and uncovered for the last hour, exactly as written.
- The times are too shortBeeton's 2 hours for a 10 lb bird reflects the fierce radiant heat of an open fire with constant basting and turning. Cook to temperature instead: 165F in the thickest part of the thigh, and 165F in the centre of any stuffing. A stuffed 10 lb turkey at 350F will usually want around 3 to 3½ hours.
- Stuffing the crop, not the cavityThe forcemeat goes into the neck end, under the crop-skin that was left long for the purpose, which is the safer of the two options because it is a shallow pocket that heats through. If you also fill the body cavity, pack it loosely and check its temperature separately.
- The gall bagThe warning is worth keeping if you ever draw a bird yourself. The gall bladder sits against the liver; if it ruptures, the bitterness cannot be washed out and the liver is fit only for the bin. Most birds now arrive drawn, with giblets bagged.
- Singeing with white paperLighting a twist of unprinted paper to burn off residual down was standard before gas. A gas flame or a kitchen torch does the same job in seconds; the point is to remove hair-like feather stubs, not to colour the skin.
- "Well frothed"Dredging with flour and then basting with melting butter produces the crisp, well-browned surface the period called froth; the recipe asks for the bird to be 'of a nice brown and well frothed'. It works, but flour burns fast, so watch it closely over the final hour the recipe allows for it.
- Accompaniments and yieldBrown gravy and bread sauce are the fixed pair; sausages, forcemeat balls and chestnut forcemeat with chestnut sauce are the listed variations. The recipe gives no yield figure.
- "Seasonable from December to February"This reflects the old marketing calendar, when turkeys were fattened through autumn and driven to market for Christmas. Frozen and fresh birds are now available year round, and nothing in the method depends on the season.
Mrs Beeton's poultry entries are as much market instruction as cookery: spurs, leg colour, sunken eyes and dry feet were the checks a Victorian housekeeper made at the poulterer's stall, where birds hung whole and in feather and no label told you anything. Turkeys reached Britain from the Americas in the sixteenth century, generally traced to Spanish trade routes, and the name is usually explained as a confusion with the guinea fowl that arrived through Turkish-controlled markets. By Beeton's day the turkey was firmly the Christmas bird of the well-off English table, walked in flocks from Norfolk and Suffolk to the London markets in autumn, which is why the entry marks it seasonable from December to February. The instruction to hang the bird for days before dressing it belongs to a kitchen with a cold north-facing larder and no ice: hanging tenderised the meat and deepened its flavour, and the risk was managed by weather rather than by measurement.