Recipes for Your Heritage Turkey

We can't believe the community that turned out to help us get 81 birds from pasture to table this weekend. We're so very thankful to all of you who helped make it all happen: Jason, Heather, Erin, Rick, Neva, Kate, John, Nathan, Mandy, Dad/Clyde, Jennephyr, Bronco, Kelsey, Jill, Russ, Christa, David, and Mom/Julie. At one point, these brave souls were butchering in -19 degree weather. Troopers doesn't even begin to describe these people. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And, of course, customers, we couldn't do this without you. Thank you for supporting us, encouraging local food in Central Montana and for keeping these breeds alive by eating them.

Back by popular demand, after the jump (click on "more" below) are three great recipes for your birds.

Happy, happy, happy Thanksgiving from Prairie Heritage Farm, Jacob, Courtney and Willa.



A Few Heritage Turkey Recipes

Roast Heritage Turkey
This recipe is from Chef Leonard Spampinato of Aromas Fine Catering. These are his roasting guidelines: 6 to 16 pounds, 15 to 20 minutes per pound. Over 16 pounds, 12 to 15 minutes per pound. Do not cover the birds with foil, he cautions, or they will steam, not roast.

For the turkey:
1 12- to 15-pound turkey
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 large sprigs fresh thyme leaves, coarsely chopped
3 large sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Stems from 1/2 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley

For the pan sauce:
4 to 5 tablespoons cornstarch
5 cups chicken stock

1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Rinse the turkey and pat dry. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Allow butter to cool to room temperature.
2. While the butter is cooling, season the turkey. Rub the minced garlic over the entire turkey, including the underside. Brush butter over the entire bird. Then season with thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. Place the bay leaf and parsley stems inside the cavity. Put the turkey in a roasting pan and place in the preheated oven to roast for 30 minutes.
3. After 30 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees. Roast the bird for 3 hours and 30 minutes to 5 hours (see roasting guidelines above), or until a thermometer registers 165 degrees*. Be sure to place the thermometer into a thigh and avoid touching the bone.
4. Transfer the turkey to a platter and let it rest for 30 minutes before carving. While the turkey is resting, prepare the sauce.
5. Preparing the pan sauce: Dissolve the cornstarch in one cup of cold chicken stock. Pour the fat and juices from the roasting pan into a container. Let the juices settle to the bottom and skim the fat from the top. Place the roasting pan on top of the stove over medium heat.
6. Add the juices back to the pan along with the remaining 4 cups of chicken stock (about 1/4 cup for every pound of turkey).
7. Bring the liquid to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan to release the browned drippings on the bottom. Thicken the sauce by whisking in the cornstarch-stock mixture. When the sauce returns to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes.
8. Adjust the seasonings and strain through a sieve. The sauce is now ready to serve. Carve the turkey and pass the sauce.

Roasted Heritage Turkey
By Sandra Kay Miller
She says, "Besides the fact that most old fashion Heritage turkeys are also raised the old fashioned way – with plenty of grass and sunshine – they need to be cooked quite differently than their modern, factory-farmed counterparts. This tried and true recipe (which serves 10-12 people) will make the best of your Heritage bird this year. "

Ingredients:
15-pound fresh heritage turkey at room temperature
Kosher or sea salt & fresh ground pepper
4 cups giblet broth (see recipe below)
Rosemary Maple Butter (see recipe below)
Oiled parchment paper

1. Rub turkey inside and out with salt and pepper.
2. Loosen the skin around the breast with your fingers and insert Rosemary Maple Butter between the meat and the skin as well as on the inside of the bird's cavity.
3. Set bird in deep roasting pan. Use a wire rack to lift the bird off the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the giblet broth to the bottom of the pan. Using a sheet of oiled parchment paper, tent the roasting pan with the oiled parchment paper. Any type of cooking oil can be used. Brush it on both sides with a pastry brush. The parchment paper is easily affixed to the roasting pan with a strip of foil on each end or you can use clean, oiled wooden clothespins.
5. Remove parchment paper and the last 30 minutes of cooking to develop a crispy, golden skin.
6. Pre-heat oven to 425F-450F. Roast the bird until the thigh temperature reaches 140F-150F*.
7. Let the bird rest 10-15 minutes before carving to let the juices settle.

A word about basting
Quick roasting at high temperatures means the oven temperature needs to be maintained and frequent basting defeats that purpose. By adding butter under the skin, the bird is self-basted. Baste the bird when you remove the parchment tent. If there is not enough liquid for basting, add either more water or wine.


Giblet Broth
2 cups white wine (a deep, oaky chardonnay lends a wonder taste)
2 cups water
Giblets & neck
Bay leaf

Simmer everything in a small saucepan for 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf and neck. Giblets can be discarded if they aren't your type of thing or they can be finely chopped and added to the broth.

Rosemary Maple Butter
1/2 pound butter
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon fresh minced rosemary
Bring butter to room temperature and whip all ingredients together.

Simple Heritage Roast Turkey
This one is from the November 7, 2007 New York Times and the one we used last year. It was delicious.

Time: 2 to 3 1/2 hours, depending on size of turkey

1 12-to 18-pound heritage turkey such as a Bronze or Bourbon Red, thawed, with giblets and neck removed
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons black pepper
4 tablespoons butter, cut into four pieces
1 medium onion, quartered
2 stalks celery, cut in two or three pieces each
1 medium apple, halved
8 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cups turkey broth, water or a mixture of half water and half apple juice.

1. At least four hours before roasting, rub turkey inside and out with salt and pepper; refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator 45 minutes before roasting. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Set turkey in roasting pan fitted with a V-shaped rack. Slip your fingers under skin to loosen it. Rub butter over breasts. Stuff vegetables, apple and thyme into cavity. Tuck wingtips under bird.
3. Pour broth or water into pan, around bird. Put turkey in oven and roast, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 325, baste turkey with pan juices, cover with a foil tent and return to oven. Cook for another 30 minutes. Remove foil, baste again and place foil back on turkey. Cook for 30 more minutes. Remove foil.
4. When turkey has roasted for a total of two hours, insert a meat thermometer straight down into fleshiest part of thigh, where it meets drumstick. Check a second spot, then remove thermometer. (Do not let thermometer touch bone.) Thigh meat should reach no more than 165 degrees*. Juices should run clear. (If bird is larger than 14 pounds, keep foil on longer and begin checking meat temperature at two and half hours.) To assure perfectly cooked white and dark meat, you may remove bird when meat thermometer shows thigh temperature at 155, then remove legs and roast them separately for another 15 to 30 minutes, depending on size of bird.
5. When bird has reached desired temperature, remove from oven and let rest for at least 30 minutes, covered in foil and with a damp towel on top of foil, to retain heat and allow juices to return to meat. Remove foil and towel and serve.
Yield: 8 to 12 servings.

*Note: The Department of Agriculture recommends an internal temperature of 180 to 185 degrees, tested in the thigh, while many cooking experts say 165 degrees is safe and results in a moister bird.