Turkey help?

[Chris in VA]

We want to make turkey for Thursday but all we found were legs and a skinless breast, so thatxs what we bought. Trouble is, I don't know how to make a skinless (boneless, too, I think) breast of turkey so thst it is moist and flavorful. I don't even know how to make that kind of chicken taste good, without turning it into chicken salad! 

Help? 

How do I roast it? (The legs are ok.)

And how the heck do I make gravy? No drippings to speak of. 

Don't get me started on the mashed potatoes (no russets)...or subbing yucky, starchy yams for sweet potatoes....Ugh. 

This sucks and I am really missing home. 

[Starr]

I'm finding recipes online. Here's one but there are many. https://greatist.com/eat/recipes/herb-stuffed-turkey-breast?utm_campaign=yummly&utm_medium=yummly&utm_source=yummly#1

It's so hard to cook the foods you've grown accustomed to when all the ingredients are a little different.  💗 

[Chris in VA]

That is so helpful, Starr, thank you. 

I am really sad this year, battling clinical depression (started off situational and morphed). On top of everything, Ds has to spend Thanksgiving in his rented room, alone, because his company had him travel the week before TG and he wasn't able to come back in enough time to reliably COVID-19 test after,  so he had to cancel his trip to see relative. The family he lives with has a member with chronic cancer so he can't even use the kitchen or be with them. I'm just so sad. 

[Pam in CT]

(( chris ))  I am so sorry that you're struggling, and especially that you won't be able to be with your son.

 

The key to keeping skinless turkey breast moist is to create an artificial "skin" that prevents the juices from steaming out.  If you cover it fairly tight with tin foil until the last ~15-20 minutes or so, that should do the trick; then remove the foil, turn up the heat, baste it with something that'll carmelize a little (see below) to finish it off, and it'll taste fine.

For the basting juice/gravy... if you place it on top of thick slices of onion with a half stick or so of butter, and then cook it in something that will cook down with both a lot of juice, and some sugars that will carmelize (apples/applesauce/apple juice, orange juice, even canned peaches will all work)... then the butter, roasted onion and cooked-down fruit all blend into a rough sauce that is excellent for basting (the sugars will even carmelize a little to create a sort of "fake skin" on the boneless meat) and with a bit of thickener can be whisked up into a decent gravy.  I do this with boneless chicken parts all the time and it really does yield up a perfectly fine (if slightly sweet) gravy.  Even more so, if you cook the legs in the same pan and have some drippings and decent fat from them.

It'll be FINE. Turkey is very forgiving. Necessity is the mother of innovation.

[Sneezyone]

I would smoke/BBQ the turkey, theme park style. It’s so flavorful and the process alone will be memorable and fun. https://thewoksoflife.com/smoked-turkey-legs-disney-copycat-recipe/ sometimes the best plan isn’t to make your odd ingredients fit your traditions but to embrace the difference and make the most of what it can do/be. We’ve made these and they are amazing.

To make gravy w/out drippings, you can use any kind of fat to toss some peas, carrots, onions and garlic then roast (30-45 minutes) until carmelized. I would purée the mess out of ‘em then add and them to a toasted roux of flour and fat. Add poultry stock, herbs, salt, pepper and simmer til thickened. Delish!!

My family doesn’t love oven roasted turkey even in the best of times tho so...yeah...

Edited November 22, 2020 by Sneezyone

[El...]

I make turkey breast, boneless and skinless, in a slow cooker! I'd do the breast in there and roast the legs.  

My version is from America's Test Kitchen, but this one looks just like it. I'd ignore the thing about cornstarch, (blegh) and just strain and simmer the sauce into a gravy. It's delicious. 

https://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/1747455032/slow-cooker-turkey-breast-with-gravy-that-almost-makes-itself/

[El...]

I posted before I was done.

We live a long way from home, and I get the holiday blues, too. The darkness this time of year doesn't help. Have you checked your vitamin D levels? It helps me to supplement mine. It's SO dark and that wears me down. And covid is making things absolutely stupid this year.

Hugs. 

[Chris in VA]

Thx all. No slow cooker or ingredients for the Disney recipe (both sound amazing so I will bookmark for when we get back home).  Thx for the gravy tips. Getting lab work done tomorrow, actually, since I'm going on an anti-dep as soon as they check liver function and various other known culprits. Also getting some bleeding checked out. I'm a bit of a mess. 

[El...]

Oh man, that's a lot going on.  I hope you get clear lab results with easy fixes.

[Spy Car]

If you wanted to do the legs in a more traditional way (like roasting them)--here is an less conventional option for the turkey breasts.

Consider Turkey Breast Scallopini.

Goggle "Chicken Scallopini" to get videos and recipe ideas, but the basic idea is to slice across the breasts to get pieces at are of rough even thicknesskless.

Then cover the pieces (one at a time) with plastic wrap and lightly pound them (to somewhat flatten them). Then they will cook really quickly sauteed in a generous amount of butter (and/or butter with olive oil). 

You can dip the pounded breast pieces in seasoned flour (or not) but do use some herbs to provide a nice flavor. Lemons and capers can be a nice touch. Or a cream sauce with the pan drippings.

The "slicing and pounding can be done ahead, just cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Scallopini feels fancy and festive and is really easy.

Wish you the best, Chris.

Bill

 

 

[PeterPan]

I just ate "chicken fried turkey" from Cracker Barrel twice this week, and it's THE BOMB. So I think either cooking it down with gravy or coating and frying and then serving with gravy would work great. 

As for the legs, personally I would coat them in bbq sauce and cook them down slowly. I did that one year, serving both regular turkey and bbq turkey and it was fun. 

I'm sorry you're not feeling well. I hope the labs turn up something! 

[Starr]

Chris I'm sorry you are having a rough time. Covid makes everything difficult and when you are already going through difficult it's worse. Hugs

[Chris in VA]

Y'all are so kind. 

FWIW it was a burst cyst on the outside (hadn't noticed because of other...bumpy things there...TMI TMI! Roughing the Listener! 10 Yards!). 🤣

Not sure how I'm doing the turkey breast yet but will probably roast the legs on top of some homemade bread stuffing. If I can find marjoram. Because it is in poultry seasoning. And there is no poultry seasoning so I have to make that, too. 

My god why is everything so complicated. 

[El...]

Ow, ow, ow! Whew! 

Turkey legs over stuffing sound very tasty.