Roast Turkey

Ingredients

• Select a young turkey.
• Take about two medium-sized loaves of stale bread.
• Add a tablespoonful of salt.
• an even teaspoonful of pepper.
• an even teaspoonful of sage.
• two of summer savory.
• a large teaspoonful of minced parsley.
• half a cupful of butter.
• pour a pint of hot water under the turkey.
• thickening it with a tablespoonful of flour.

Method

1. 1

   Select a young turkey, draw, stuff, and truss it.

2. 2

   Remove excess fat and tendons.

3. 3

   Prepare stuffing with stale bread crumbs, salt, pepper, sage, summer savory, parsley, and butter.

4. 4

   Fill the turkey with stuffing, rub with butter, salt, pepper, and flour.

5. 5

   Roast in a hot oven, basting every 15 minutes.

6. 6

   Cook for about 1 hour and 45 minutes for a 7-pound turkey.

7. 7

   Make gravy with giblets and drippings.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The complete cook book (1900) by Rees, Jennie Day Mrs., page 29. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Select a young turkey. One that does not weigh over six or seven pounds is gener- ally the best. Heavy birds are apt to be old and coarse in flavor. The turkey should be drawn the day it is killed, and hung in a cold place at least twenty-four hours after it is killed. All the layers of fat under the skin of the breast and on the inside of the bird that can be reached must be taken out. If it is left in, it gives a strong flavor to the flesh. It is not of any use to the 66 The Complete Cook Book. cook, but may be tried out for soap fat. Chicken fat, on the other hand, though it should be removed from the bird when it is cooked, can be tried out for cooking potatoes and other articles, and is a very fair substitute for olive oil in a salad dressing. The removal of the oil bag in the tail of the bird is also necessary, to prepare it for roasting. This is a matter often forgotten, but even this small portion of oil imparts an unpleasant flavor to the turkey if it is left in. Eemove the tendons from the drumsticks. Wipe the bird off carefully, and prepare a stuffing of dry bread crumbs. This is now preferred, as more delicious and more wholesome than the moist dressing of olden times. Take about two medium-sized loaves of stale bread. Rub them, after breaking them apart, on a coarse grater, until the inside is evenly crumbled. Lay aside the cuter dry crusts for drying and sifting for dried bread crumbs to be used for breading meats and croquettes. Take the soft inner crumbs. They should make a heaping quart. Add a tablespoonful of salt, an even teaspoonful of pepper, an even teaspoonful of sage, two of summer savory, and a large teaspoonful of minced parsley. Rub all these ingredients in the bread crumbs, and add half a cupful of butter. Rub this in and fill the inside and crop of the turkey. Skewer the bird carefullly. If this is done properly it will not be necessary to use a trussing needle to sew it up. Rub the bird thickly with butter, dredge it with salt and pepper and then thickly with flour. Put it in a very hot oven on a meat rack. Dredge a little flour in the pan. When this browns, pour a pint of hot water under the turkey. Turn the turkey, to brown it evenly, and every fifteen minutes baste it with the liquor in the bottom of the pan. As this liquor boils away, add water from the teakettle. It will take about an hour and three-quarters for a seven-pound turkey to roast. The best gravy is made by boihng the giblets slowly while the turkey is roast- ing, and by mixing the liquor from them with the drip- pings in the pan. The liver is the only portion of the giblets saved. Chop the liver and add it to the gravy after skimming and seasoning it and thickening it with a tablespoonful of fionr. The Complete Cook Book. 67 HOW TO COOK AND CARVE THE THANKS- GIVING TURKEY. If the man who doesn't know the slightest thing about the art of carving a holiday turkey will study the directions here given, he can go to the home of his prospective mother-in-law next Thanksgiving, and with a light heart offer his services for the partition of the bird. And the man who wields the carver at a Thanksgiv- ing feast must needs know something above the ordi- nary about the task confronting him. The other diners observe him closely. No matter how brisk the conver- sation may be, every pair of eyes at the table watches the disintegration of the turkey narrowly. A blunder causes a terrible lull in the table pleasantries, which stabs straight to the heart of the carver. If he hacks the bird into small bits in a vain efforts to find a joint, he knows that every diner has summed him up as a clumsy boor. If, on the other hand, he meets the responsibility neatly and with precision, he has earned the admiration of all hands, for artistic carvers are rare articles, and everybody recognizes the genuine one at sight. To accomplish the removal of left wing, place the fork in the breast of the turkey, having one prong on each side of the breast bone. Grasp the handle of the fork in the left hand, and, laying the flat of the knife parallel with and close to the neck, just above where the left wing joins the body, cut downward, catching the joint. A slight pressure severs the cartilage and a single sweep of the knife removes the wing. In the task of removing the left leg, put the point of the knife into the flesh which holds the second joint to the carcass, and cut downward to where the second joint's bone joins with the carcass. Place the knife between the leg and the carcass, making a downward sweep to where the second joint connects with the body, and meeting the cut described in the above lines. A gentle pressure with the point of the knife then causes Sie leg at the second joint to drop into the dish. Slicing off the breast is a delicate task. The breast 68 The Complete Cook Book. may be sliced off in two ways. It can be removed in slices parallel to the breastbone; it can also be removed in slices, cutting crossways. The removal of the oyster bone is another delicate task. Place the flat of the knife against the vertebrae connecting the pope's nose with the carciass, and press the edge in the direction of the neck of the bird. When the knife reaches the place indicated, turn the blade, and the leverage causes the oyster bone to fall into the plate. After removing the oyster bone, turn the plat- ter and remove from the right side the wing, the leg, breast and oyster bone in the same manner as on the left side. Every carver should understand how to remove the wishbone, and if he fails to do this in a satisfactory way the young folks at the table will have a mighty small opinion of his ability. To properly accomplish this task, place the flat of the knife against the breast- bone next the wishbone, and, keeping it pressed against the carcass, sweep it toward the neck. This removes the wishbone. When the wishbone has been removed the work of the carver is practically over, and if he has performed his work skillfully he can legitimately feel that he is the hero of the day, ROAST TURKEY

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.