5 Alternative Ways to Cook Turkey
1 Answer
For grand celebrations like Thanksgiving and *********, turkey is a must-have for the dinner spread. Turkey is a delicious, succulent bird that can be made into just about everything. Roasted or baked turkey is a common dish served on Holiday dinner tables. While it does taste good, there are many other ways to cook and prepare turkey other than just roasting or baking it.
The Thanksgiving holidays are almost over, and you may have had a delicious and sumptuous roasted or baked turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. ********* is just around the corner, and you may also want to have a turkey dish for the pièce de résistance. If you’re interested in cooking, preparing, or eating a different sort of turkey dish for the next Holiday dinner, here are five interesting, delicious, and mouth-watering ways to prepare and cook turkey.
1. Turducken
Turducken is as close as you can get to a legendary dish. Many people talk about this delicious three-poultry dish every time Thanksgiving or ********* is just around the corner. Some think it’s the next best thing since sliced bread, and still others think that it’s a heart attack on a silver platter.
turducken dinner
Turducken is a whole roast turkey stuffed with a whole duck and a whole chicken. Each layer of the giant roasted bird is then filled with stuffing. Traditional turkey stuffings and sauces like flavored cornbread and cranberry sauce are also used for turducken, although other delectable gourmet ingredients like aromatic herbs, seafood stuffing, and pesto are fast becoming popular.
Cooking turducken may seem complicated, but it is rather easy. Here are a few things to remember when preparing and cooking turducken:
Have the butcher or poultry dealer remove the bones from the duck and the chicken. Deboned poultry has a faster cooking time, and the heat gets through the birds more evenly. (Tips on how to debone a chicken)
Turkey is a tricky bird to cook, because of the texture and consistency of the meat. Make sure to stick a meat thermometer on the thickest part of the bundled and stuffed turkey, which is the breast area.
Turducken can be a total disaster if you don’t sew up the birds properly. Use strong twine to properly secure the stuffed bird. You may need some help to tie up the birds together strongly and securely.
2. Steamed Chinese-Style Turkey
Steamed spring chicken is a very popular and significant dish among the Chinese. The chicken is steamed with a light and flavorful stock made from water, soy sauce, Chinese **** vinegar, and aromatic vegetables like garlic, ginger, leeks, and onions. The chicken is then served warm, and dipped in sauce. Often the stock is used as a dip because of the wonderful flavors infused in it.
You can make the same flavorful recipe with turkey, although you need to modify the cooking methods a bit to cook such a large bird. Here are some important tips to remember when cooking steamed Chinese-style turkey:
Use a large steamer basket big and strong enough to accommodate and hold the weight of the turkey. Giant bamboo steamers are readily available from kitchen supply stores.
Turkey takes a long time to cook. Steaming is a long process that tenderizes the meat and preserves its juices, and it may take hours for your turkey to cook thoroughly and absorb the flavors of the aromatics. One way to get around this problem is to pierce or cut the turkey before steaming it.
Unlike chicken, turkey has a very strong flavor. To round out the flavor of the turkey, use more aromatic ingredients with strong flavors like ginger. You can also add an exotic dimension to the dish by using red ginseng root.
3. Tofurkey
Many vegetarians and vegans also appreciate Thanksgiving and other feasts, but choose not to eat meat. Vegetarian alternatives to meat dishes are very common, and tofurkey is one of the most popular. Tofurkey is made from wheat or soybean protein. Many tofurkey brands provide the same texture and filling quality of a traditional turkey dinner, with more health benefits. Many non-vegetarians also like tofurkey because it resembles and even tastes like real turkey. Tofurkey is also less expensive than a whole bird.
tofurkey dinner
You can follow the package instructions on how to cook a vegetarian mock turkey dish, but that doesn’t mean you can’t experiment. There are many recipes for tofurkey dishes available on the Internet, or from vegan and vegetarian cookbooks.
4. Deep-Fried Turkey
Like turducken, deep-fried turkey is a dish that everyone talks about. If you can fry duck legs or make fried chicken, then you can definitely do the same thing for turkey. Deep-fried turkey combines the delectable and juicy flavor of turkey with the crisp texture of deep-fried goodness. Like any deep-fried dish, it’s easy to ruin deep-fried turkey just as it’s easy to cook it. Here are some ways to make the best deep-fried turkey on your side of the neighborhood:
deep-fried turkey dinner
Never deep-fry a turkey indoors. Turkey is a very heavy bird, and hot oil can splatter all over the place. Use a suitable deep-frying basket for an outdoor fryer to hold the turkey.
Turkey meat is delicious on its own, but you can add extra flavors to the turkey meat using a flavor injector. Flavor injectors are giant syringe-like pieces of equipment that can be used to flavor the meat from the inside.
To get that crisp exterior while keeping the meat juicy and delectable, fry the turkey in cooking oil at 350 degrees for three and a half minutes for every pound. You’ll be amazed that a 15-pound turkey will take less than an hour to cook. Make sure to allow the turkey to rest before carving it to prevent the juices from leaking and drying out the turkey meat.
For more tips, read how to deep fry a turkey.
5. Peking Style Turkey
Peking duck is a traditional Chinese dish that incorporates traditional Chinese ingredients and cooking methods. The dish is particularly enjoyed for its sweet crispy skin and juicy, delectable meat. The same age-old classic method can be used for other poultry items, and works especially good for turkey. Chinese cooking cookbooks and recipes on the Internet have traditional and modern methods on how to prepare whole turkey Peking style.
peking turkey dinner
Roast turkey is a fine-tasting dish, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t try other recipes and ways to cook your holiday centerpiece. If you’re still thinking about having a turkey dinner for the next big celebration, then these interesting and fantastic ways to cook the big bird may just be what you need to get out of the roasted turkey funk.
The Thanksgiving holidays are almost over, and you may have had a delicious and sumptuous roasted or baked turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. ********* is just around the corner, and you may also want to have a turkey dish for the pièce de résistance. If you’re interested in cooking, preparing, or eating a different sort of turkey dish for the next Holiday dinner, here are five interesting, delicious, and mouth-watering ways to prepare and cook turkey.
1. Turducken
Turducken is as close as you can get to a legendary dish. Many people talk about this delicious three-poultry dish every time Thanksgiving or ********* is just around the corner. Some think it’s the next best thing since sliced bread, and still others think that it’s a heart attack on a silver platter.
turducken dinner
Turducken is a whole roast turkey stuffed with a whole duck and a whole chicken. Each layer of the giant roasted bird is then filled with stuffing. Traditional turkey stuffings and sauces like flavored cornbread and cranberry sauce are also used for turducken, although other delectable gourmet ingredients like aromatic herbs, seafood stuffing, and pesto are fast becoming popular.
Cooking turducken may seem complicated, but it is rather easy. Here are a few things to remember when preparing and cooking turducken:
Have the butcher or poultry dealer remove the bones from the duck and the chicken. Deboned poultry has a faster cooking time, and the heat gets through the birds more evenly. (Tips on how to debone a chicken)
Turkey is a tricky bird to cook, because of the texture and consistency of the meat. Make sure to stick a meat thermometer on the thickest part of the bundled and stuffed turkey, which is the breast area.
Turducken can be a total disaster if you don’t sew up the birds properly. Use strong twine to properly secure the stuffed bird. You may need some help to tie up the birds together strongly and securely.
2. Steamed Chinese-Style Turkey
Steamed spring chicken is a very popular and significant dish among the Chinese. The chicken is steamed with a light and flavorful stock made from water, soy sauce, Chinese **** vinegar, and aromatic vegetables like garlic, ginger, leeks, and onions. The chicken is then served warm, and dipped in sauce. Often the stock is used as a dip because of the wonderful flavors infused in it.
You can make the same flavorful recipe with turkey, although you need to modify the cooking methods a bit to cook such a large bird. Here are some important tips to remember when cooking steamed Chinese-style turkey:
Use a large steamer basket big and strong enough to accommodate and hold the weight of the turkey. Giant bamboo steamers are readily available from kitchen supply stores.
Turkey takes a long time to cook. Steaming is a long process that tenderizes the meat and preserves its juices, and it may take hours for your turkey to cook thoroughly and absorb the flavors of the aromatics. One way to get around this problem is to pierce or cut the turkey before steaming it.
Unlike chicken, turkey has a very strong flavor. To round out the flavor of the turkey, use more aromatic ingredients with strong flavors like ginger. You can also add an exotic dimension to the dish by using red ginseng root.
3. Tofurkey
Many vegetarians and vegans also appreciate Thanksgiving and other feasts, but choose not to eat meat. Vegetarian alternatives to meat dishes are very common, and tofurkey is one of the most popular. Tofurkey is made from wheat or soybean protein. Many tofurkey brands provide the same texture and filling quality of a traditional turkey dinner, with more health benefits. Many non-vegetarians also like tofurkey because it resembles and even tastes like real turkey. Tofurkey is also less expensive than a whole bird.
tofurkey dinner
You can follow the package instructions on how to cook a vegetarian mock turkey dish, but that doesn’t mean you can’t experiment. There are many recipes for tofurkey dishes available on the Internet, or from vegan and vegetarian cookbooks.
4. Deep-Fried Turkey
Like turducken, deep-fried turkey is a dish that everyone talks about. If you can fry duck legs or make fried chicken, then you can definitely do the same thing for turkey. Deep-fried turkey combines the delectable and juicy flavor of turkey with the crisp texture of deep-fried goodness. Like any deep-fried dish, it’s easy to ruin deep-fried turkey just as it’s easy to cook it. Here are some ways to make the best deep-fried turkey on your side of the neighborhood:
deep-fried turkey dinner
Never deep-fry a turkey indoors. Turkey is a very heavy bird, and hot oil can splatter all over the place. Use a suitable deep-frying basket for an outdoor fryer to hold the turkey.
Turkey meat is delicious on its own, but you can add extra flavors to the turkey meat using a flavor injector. Flavor injectors are giant syringe-like pieces of equipment that can be used to flavor the meat from the inside.
To get that crisp exterior while keeping the meat juicy and delectable, fry the turkey in cooking oil at 350 degrees for three and a half minutes for every pound. You’ll be amazed that a 15-pound turkey will take less than an hour to cook. Make sure to allow the turkey to rest before carving it to prevent the juices from leaking and drying out the turkey meat.
For more tips, read how to deep fry a turkey.
5. Peking Style Turkey
Peking duck is a traditional Chinese dish that incorporates traditional Chinese ingredients and cooking methods. The dish is particularly enjoyed for its sweet crispy skin and juicy, delectable meat. The same age-old classic method can be used for other poultry items, and works especially good for turkey. Chinese cooking cookbooks and recipes on the Internet have traditional and modern methods on how to prepare whole turkey Peking style.
peking turkey dinner
Roast turkey is a fine-tasting dish, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t try other recipes and ways to cook your holiday centerpiece. If you’re still thinking about having a turkey dinner for the next big celebration, then these interesting and fantastic ways to cook the big bird may just be what you need to get out of the roasted turkey funk.