Stuffed Nanking Brined Turkey With Five Treasure Sweet Rice Recipes

Steps:

• Make brine:
• Remove neck, giblets, and liver from turkey and reserve for another use. Rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry.
• Place whole nutmeg in center of 9-inch-square of cheesecloth. Using back of knife or cleaver, smash nutmeg. Add Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds and mace (if using), gather cheesecloth around spices, and tie tightly with kitchen string.
• In large stock pot over high heat, bring 2 gallons water to boil. Add spice package and ginger, then reduce heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Stir in salt, remove from heat, and let cool. Strain out and discard spice package and ginger.
• Place turkey in cooled brine (brine should completely cover turkey; if it doesn't add additional chicken stock) and refrigerate at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours.
• Make stuffing:
• In large pot, soak rice in enough water to cover by 2 inches for 4 hours, then drain and set aside. In small, dry skillet over moderate heat, toast pine nuts, shaking skillet occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove freom heat and set aside.
• In medium saucepan over high heat, combine 1 cup water, chestnuts, and sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until chestnuts are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in butter and continue to cook, uncovered, until most of liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
• In heavy, large skillet over moderately high heat, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add shallots and garlic and sauté until soft, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add sausage and mushrooms and sauté 2 minutes. Add rice and sauté, uncovered, until grains are coated with oil, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to moderately low and slowly pour in stock. Continue cooking until rice is translucent and stock is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
• When rice is room temperature, stir in pine nuts, chestnuts, salt, and pepper.
• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Remove turkey from brine and place, breast side up, on wire rack set over paper towel-lined, rimmed baking sheet to drain completely. Pat dry. Loosely fill large body cavity (and neck cavity if desired) with stuffing. Fold neck skin under body and secure with skewers. Tie legs together with kitchen string and tuck wings under bird or secure with kitchen string or skewers.
• Brush melted butter over breast side, then transfer turkey, breast side down, to rack set in large roasting pan. Brush other side with melted butter. Add 2 cups water to pan and roast 45 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Remove turkey from oven and flip over so breast side faces up, then return to oven and roast, adding water if pan juices evaporate, 45 minutes.
• Raise oven temperature to 425°F and roast until thermometer inserted in center of body cavity (stuffing) registers 165°F (fleshy part of thigh will be about 180°F; do not touch bone) and juices run clear when thigh is pierced with skewer, about 45 minutes. If skin starts to brown too much, tent breast with foil.
• Transfer turkey to platter, remove skewers, and discard string. Transfer stuffing from cavity to serving dish and keep warm, covered. Let turkey stand 30 minutes before carving.

Steps:

• Open a jumbo plastic food storage bag in the sink and add the water, salt, sugar, bay leaves, shallots, seasonings and garlic and swish around to combine. Add the turkey breast and seal the bag. Put it into the refrigerator and let it brine for 24 hours in advance of your cooking day.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Pat the turkey breast dry, season with salt and pepper and put it in a roasting pan. Roast in the oven at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes. Baste, reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F and roast until an instant-read thermometer registers 170 degrees F, about 40 minutes. Remove the turkey breast from the oven to a cutting board. Cover with foil and let rest for 15 minutes. Carve the breast and arrange it on a serving platter. Serve with pan juices.
• Reserve 1 pound of meat for another menu. Cool, wrap and refrigerate the reserved meat.
• Add the butter to a medium sauce pot and melt it over medium to medium-high heat. Add the shallots and thyme and saute for 2 minutes, then add the flour and stir 1 minute. Whisk in the stock, Worcestershire and maple syrup. Season with black pepper, to taste, and reduce the mixture until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 to 12 minutes.
• Melt the butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the spaghetti and toast until deeply golden in color. Add rice, carrot, celery, scallions and orange zest, then stir in the stock and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook until the rice is tender, about 16 to 18 minutes.
• Fluff the rice with fork and add the oranges, grapes, nuts, parsley, and salt and pepper, to taste.
• Transfer the rice to a serving bowl.

Steps:

• Remove turkey from refrigerator and let stand for 2 hours at room temperature.
• Place rack on lowest level in oven. Heat oven to 450 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine melted butter and white wine. Fold a large piece of cheesecloth into quarters; cut it into a 17-inch, four-layer square. Immerse cheesecloth in the butter-and-wine mixture, and let soak.
• Working on a large piece of parchment paper, fold wing tips under turkey. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper inside turkey. Fill large cavity and neck cavity loosely with as much stuffing as they hold comfortably -- do not pack tightly. (Cook remaining stuffing in a buttered baking dish for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.) Fold neck flap under, and secure with toothpicks. Tie legs together loosely with kitchen string (a bow is easy to undo later; it is not necessary to make a tight knot). Rub turkey all over with the softened butter.
• In a heavy, metal roasting pan (sides should be 2 to 3 inches high), place parsnip, onion, celery, carrots, celeriac, and white turnip. Place roasting rack on top of vegetables, then place turkey, breast side up, on roasting rack. Sprinkle turkey with remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and pepper.
• Lift cheesecloth out of liquid, and gently squeeze it, leaving it very damp. Spread folded square of cheesecloth evenly over breast and about halfway down sides of turkey; it can cover some of leg area. Place turkey, legs first, in oven. Cook for 30 minutes. Using a pastry brush, baste cheesecloth and all exposed parts of turkey with butter-and-wine mixture. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees. Cook 2 1/2 more hours, basting with pastry brush every 30 minutes and watching the pan juices; if pan is getting too full, spoon out juices so level remains below the rack.
• After this third hour of cooking, remove and discard cheesecloth. Turn roasting pan so the breast faces back of oven. Baste turkey with juices that have collected in bottom of pan. If there are not enough juices, continue to use the butter-and-wine mixture. The skin gets fragile as it browns, so baste carefully, particularly over the breast. Cook another hour, basting every 30 minutes. If some areas of the bird start getting too brown, cover those areas loosely with aluminum foil.
• After fourth hour of cooking, insert an instant-read thermometer into thickest part of thigh. Do not poke into a bone. The thermometer should reach at least 180 degrees and the turkey should be golden brown. The breast does not need to be checked for temperature. If turkey is not golden brown or the thigh meat does not register 180 degrees, baste turkey, return to oven, and cook another 20 to 30 minutes. Insert the instant-read thermometer into the center of the stuffing. Temperature should read from 140 degrees to 160 degrees.
• When fully cooked, transfer the turkey to a serving platter, and let rest for 20 to 30 minutes. Make gravy using the vegetables while the turkey rests.

Steps:

• Remove any giblets from the cavity and reserve for stock or gravy. Pat turkey and turkey neck dry with paper towel; rub turkey all over with 1/2 teaspoon salt per pound of turkey, the pepper and the lemon zest, including the neck. Transfer to a 2-gallon (or larger) resealable plastic bag. Tuck herbs and 6 garlic cloves inside bag. Seal and refrigerate on a small rimmed baking sheet (or wrapped in another bag) for at least 1 day and up to 3 days, turning the bird over every day (or after 12 hours if brining for only 1 day).
• Remove turkey from bag and pat dry with paper towels. Place turkey, uncovered, back on the baking sheet. Return to the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to 12 hours to dry out the skin (this helps crisp it).
• When you are ready to cook the turkey, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature for one hour.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees. In the bottom of a large roasting pan, add the cider and enough wine to fill the pan to a 1/4-inch depth. Add half the onions, the remaining 6 garlic cloves and the bay leaves. Stuff the remaining onion quarters and the lemon quarters into the turkey cavity. Brush the turkey skin generously with oil or melted butter.
• Place turkey, breast side up, on a roasting rack set inside the roasting pan. Transfer pan to the oven and roast 30 minutes. Cover breast with aluminum foil. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue roasting until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of a thigh reaches a temperature of 165 degrees, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours more. Transfer turkey to a cutting board to rest for 30 minutes before carving.

Steps:

• In large bowl, mix all ingredients except turkey. Cut turkey into slices at 1-inch intervals about three-fourths of the way through, forming deep pockets.
• In 3- to 4-quart slow cooker, place turkey. Stuff pockets with wild rice mixture. Place remaining rice mixture around edge of slow cooker.
• Cover; cook on Low heat setting 8 to 9 hours or until juice of turkey is clear when center of thickest part is cut (170°F). Thermometer inserted in center of stuffing should read 165°F.