This Bird Gave All - With Qview

[smoke 2 geaux]

Well, last week I decided to smoke a Turkey for the LSU - Tennessee game.  I started off with a 14# bird and injected him with my homemade injection featuring melted butter, olive oil and fresh garlic and herbs.  I mix it all together and run it through a blender until it is injectible. The green onions and parsley in the mix turn the injection green, which is kind of fun.  I have to warn people, because they tend to freak out when they see the green pockets inside the bird

.  But they usually calm down really fast once they've had a bite.

Then he got dusted down with rub and into a about a 325 degree smoker until he hit 160 ish in the thickest part of the breast.

About halftime everybody tore into the bird and it wasn't pretty.  Here is a pic of the resulting carnage.  Forgive the fuzzy pics, but for some reason my camera gets fuzzy after I've had 7 or 8 beers.

Looking at that pile of meat got me to thinking about one of my favorite dishes.  Turkey carcass gumbo...  So the next morning The carcass went into a big stock pot for about 2 hours until all the meat boiled off the bone and my stock was infused with the smokey goodness.

And the gumbo was ready right about the time the Saints kicked off.  I apologize for the pic of a half eaten bowl of gumbo, but for some reason I always forget to take pics when it's time to eat.  Luckily, my cooking skills are a little better than my photagraphy!

 

[pineywoods]

Looks awesome

 

[mballi3011]

Man oh Man it looks really good and I know it tasted as good as it looks too.

 

[raptor700]

Very nice, Makes a person glad that the turkey wasn't named as the national bird!  Yuuuummmmmmm

 

[meateater]

Looking good, cant go wrong with butter.

 

[tjohnson]

Fantastic!

Great Job!

TJ

 

[benxrow2002]

That gumbo looks AWESOME!

I smoke turkeys all the time....any chance you would be willing to share that recipe with a Yank?????

 

[smoke 2 geaux]

benxrow2002 

Ask and you shall receive.  Here's the gumbo recipe.  Well, it's really more of a method than a recipe. 

First you need to make the Roux.  This is the hardest part.  Once this is done, you are on ez street.

Mix 2 cups of flour and 2 cups canola or peanut oil together in a heavy bottom pot or large heavy skillet. 

I use cast iron. 

Turn the heat to just above medium and stand over the pot stirring constantly.  If you let this mixture sit still for more than just a few seconds, it will burn.  So be prepared to stand at the stove for a half hour.  You will see the mixture slowly darkening.  Resist the temptation to jack the heat up because you will burn it... Just keep stirring.   When it reaches the color of peanut butter, you are about half way there.  Keep on stirring until the mixture is the color of a hershey bar.  At that point, cut the heat off, but continue to stir because there is a ton of residual heat in that pot and it will still burn.  Some people throw a couple handfulls of chopped onions into the roux at this point to speed up the cooling process.  Continue to stir for a few more minutes until the mixture has had a chance to cool a bit and set it to the side.  By this time, you will have a really deep dark brown roux, because it continues to darken a bit during the cooling process. Take a deep breath now, the hardest part is behind you.

Fill a large stock pot about half full of tap water and put on the stove over high heat.  Take your turkey carcass and strip all the large pieces of meat off it (you are going to add this de-boned turkey meat back in at the end).  Drop the carcass in the pot along with the reserved giblets from the bird.  Don't be afraid to throw skin, bones, whatever in there.  This will result in a rich smokey stock.  You want to bring your stock back up to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer and let it go for at least an hour, two is better.  Remove the carcass, and anything else in there that you don't want to end up in your final gumbo and add the following to your stock.

2 large yellow onions

6-8 jalapeno peppers (bell peppers are traditional, but I just love the hotter chilis...use whatever you like)

3 stalks celery

1 bunch green onion bottoms (save the tops and add to the gumbo at the end)

2 lb frozen cut okra (or fresh if you are lucky enough to have it)

Let this cook until your veggies are tender.  At this point, you are not just cooking the veggies, you are also reducing the stock to make it even better. 

Once the veggies are tender, start adding your roux one large serving spoon at a time.  Add the roux and stir vigorously to make sure that it is fully disolved, then add another spoon.  You want your finished gumbo to be the color of mine in the pic, so just keep adding until it looks right.  It will probably take all the roux, but sometimes if I make an especially dark roux I will have a little bit left over.  Once your roux is incorporated, taste and season to your liking (I use creole seasoning like Tony Chachere's) and let the mixture slow boil for 5 or 10 minutes just to let everything come together.  At this point add your reserved turkey meat and 2 lbs of sliced smoked sausage  If you didn't have a whole lot of turkey meat left over from the bird, you can suplement it with some chicken.  Let it simmer for another hour and it's ready to serve.  Before you serve it, the oil from the roux and the meat will float up to the top.  Get yourself a serving spoon and skim that oil off and discard. Also taste for seasoning and re-season if necessary. Serve over steamed rice and garnish with the reserved green onions. 

Also, this is one of the few things in the food world that gets better the second day, so enjoy those leftovers.

If you have any questions, just shoot me a message.

Enjoy!

STG