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Boiled Turkey
If a boiled turkey is not well managed it will be quite tasteless. Choose a hen turkey. If not well trussed and tied, the legs and wings of a boiled fowl will be found pointing to all the directions of the compass. Cut the legs at the first joint and draw them into the body, fasten the small ends of the wings under the back and tie them securely with strong twine; sprinkle over plenty of salt, white pepper and lemon juice, and put into boiling water; boil it very slowly two hours, or until quite tender; it can be stuffed or not, the same as for roasting. Serve with oysters or Hollandaise sauce; pour part of the sauce over the turkey
Poached turkey rewards attention to two things: keeping the water below a true boil, and checking the bird with a thermometer rather than a clock. The original gives no weight, so treat the two hours as a starting point.
- "Boil it very slowly"This is the hinge. Held at a rolling boil the breast muscle contracts and squeezes out its moisture, which is exactly the tastelessness the author warns about. Bring the pot to a boil, add the bird, then drop the heat until the surface barely trembles — around 180-185F.
- Bird size and timingHen turkeys of the period were generally smaller than what is sold today, and two hours suits a bird in the 8-10 lb range. Modern supermarket birds are often 14-18 lb and will need longer, or should be jointed. Cook to 165F in the thickest part of the thigh, away from bone.
- StuffingThe recipe allows stuffing "the same as for roasting," but a stuffed bird submerged in water heats slowly and unevenly at the center. If you stuff it, the stuffing itself must reach 165F; cooking it separately is more reliable and keeps it from going sodden.
- TrussingThe instruction to cut the legs at the first joint means removing the foot at the hock, then tucking the drumsticks against the body. Butcher's twine works; the point is a compact shape that cooks evenly and does not splay in the pot.
- The cooking liquidPlain salted water is a waste of an opportunity. Add onion, carrot, celery, a bay leaf and a few peppercorns — the resulting broth is the base for the sauce and for soup afterward.
- White pepper and lemonWhite pepper leaves no dark specks on pale poached meat, which is likely why it is specified here rather than black. Rubbing seasoning on before the bird goes into the water does little for seasoning depth, so salt generously, or brine the bird beforehand.
- Oyster sauceThe period version is a white sauce made with the poaching broth and cream, finished with shucked oysters and their liquor. Add the oysters at the very end and let them heat only until the edges ruffle, about two minutes; longer and they turn to rubber.
- ServingA 10 lb bird serves roughly 8-10. Poached turkey firms up and slices cleanly once rested 20 minutes, and it is good cold.
Boiling — really poaching — was a standard treatment for large birds in nineteenth-century kitchens, and it persisted because it did not require a hot oven for hours or constant basting, and because it produced both meat and a quantity of good broth from one operation. Cookbooks of the period routinely paired boiled turkey and boiled fowl with oyster sauce, oysters being cheap and abundant on both American coasts before the beds were depleted; the pale sauce over pale meat was considered the elegant presentation, as against the browned skin of a roast. Hollandaise, offered here as the alternative, signals the French influence that was working its way into American middle-class cookery. The insistence on a hen turkey reflects a real difference: hens were smaller than toms and reckoned more tender, and better suited to a pot.