Julia Childs Stuffed Turkey Updated Recipes

Steps:

• Special equipment: oven-safe large 2 1/2 or 3 quart round-bottomed bowl.
• Two days prior to making the dish: remove the core from the cabbage, wrap the head tightly in plastic, and place it in the freezer; the day you're going to make the dish thaw the frozen head in hot water and the leaves will easily peel off.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• In a pot, boil some water; blanch the slices of salt pork by immersing them in the boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes, then rinse them in cold water to halt the cooking and pat them dry.
• In a skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the minced onions until tender, about 7 minutes.
• Take 3/4 of the cooked onions and set aside for stuffing; take the remaining cooked onions and set them aside for the sauce.
• Using 1 tablespoon of olive oil, in a small pan over medium heat lightly brown the carrot and thinly sliced onion, about 5 minutes.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the ground cooked turkey, sausage, eggs, cloves, salt, pepper, thyme, allspice, and the cooked onions reserved for the stuffing, and mix well; add 5 tablespoons (or more, to moisten enough so that the stuffing will adhere to cabbage leaves- see steps below) of the stock and mix.
• Take the large oven-safe round-bottomed bowl and line the bottom of it with half of the blanched salt pork strips, then lay half of the sliced carrots and onions on top.
• Take the peeled cabbage leaves and select the largest and best to line the bottom (covering the pork, carrots, and onion) and sides of the bowl- place the leaves with the ends down and the stem-side up.
• Spread a layer of the stuffing mixture, about 1/2-inch thick, on the bottom and sides of the bowl (which are now covered with the cabbage leaves), then press some smaller cabbage leaves on top of the stuffing.
• Repeat the process until the bowl is filled to within 1/2-inch of the top, occasionally slipping a large green leaf down the sides of the bowl, if necessary, to be sure that no gaps appear between the leaves.
• Cover with a final layer of cabbage leaves and the remaining pork and carrot/onion mixture, then pour in enough beef stock to come within 1 inch of the bowl rim.
• Place the bowl on a pan (to catch drippings) and place in the lower-middle section of the preheated oven; cook for 30 minutes- the cabbage should simmer.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours; it is done when you place a thermometer into the thickest part of the bowl and the temperature reads 165 degrees F.
• Check it occasionally as it bakes- you want to keep the cabbage at a slow simmer, and you might need to add additional stock if too much evaporates.
• When the cabbage is almost done and there's only about 15 minutes left for it to bake, prepare the sauce: over medium heat in a saucepan, stir together the tomato and the remaining cooked minced onion, and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Remove the cabbage from the oven, remove the pork, carrot, and onion from the top layer, and drain off 1 cup of the liquid from the bowl; add the liquid to the tomato mixture and simmer an additional 5 minutes.
• Place a warm serving dish upside-down over the bowl and, while holding the dish in place, carefully un-mold the cabbage by turning bowl and dish over.
• Remove the pork, carrot, and onion mixture from where it was on the bottom of the bowl (which is now the top of the mold).
• In a saute pan, brown the pork strips.
• To serve, pour the tomato sauce around the base of the molded cabbage and garnish with the browned pork strips.

Steps:

• Remove any feathers and quills with pliers (kosher turkeys tend to require this more than others).
• Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.
• Rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry. Mix salt and pepper in a small bowl and sprinkle it evenly in turkey cavities and all over skin. Fold neck skin under body and, if desired, secure with metal skewer, then tuck wing tips under breast and tie drumsticks together with kitchen string.
• Put turkey on rack in a large flameproof roasting pan. Roast, rotating pan 180 degrees halfway through roasting, until thermometer inserted into fleshy part of each thigh (close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F, 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Carefully tilt turkey so juices from inside large cavity run into roasting pan. Transfer turkey to a platter (do not clean roasting pan) and let stand 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 180°F). Cut off and discard string from turkey.
• For a stuffed turkey:
• Twelve cups of stuffing will fill both cavities and leave you extra to bake separately. Just before roasting, spoon room-temperature stuffing loosely (stuffing expands as it cooks) into the neck (smaller) cavity. Fold the neck skin underneath the body and secure with a small metal skewer. Then loosely fill the body (larger) cavity, and tie drumsticks together. If you don't want any stuffing to spill out, cover the opening with a slice of fresh bread, tucking it inside the cavity before tying the drumsticks. Follow roasting directions above. (Timing for a stuffed bird may be slightly longer, but start checking the temperature at 1 3/4 hours.) Immediately transfer stuffing from body cavity to a shallow baking dish (separate from one for stuffing baked outside the turkey). Take temperature of stuffing in neck cavity and if less than 165°F, add it to the baking dish. Bake (covered for a moist stuffing or uncovered for a crisp top) until it reaches a minimum of 165°F. This can take 20 to 45 minutes, depending on the temperature of the oven, which you may have lowered to reheat side dishes.
• For a roast turkey breast:
• The same method used above can be applied to a whole turkey breast (instead of the entire bird). For a 6- to 8-pound breast (with skin and bone), reduce amount of salt to 1 1/2 teaspoons and pepper to 3/4 teaspoon. Use a V-rack instead of a flat rack. Roast, rotating pan 180 degrees halfway through roasting, until thermometer inserted in thickest part of each breast half (close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F, about 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. Let stand 30 minutes (temperature in breast will rise to between 175°F and 180°F). (For a grilled turkey option, see Grilled Whole Turkey.)