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This is better than Cajun fried turkey...
Pot Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey - Strictly N'awlins Chef Frank Davis
D’ja ever cook for Thanksgiving, turkey in a black pot Cajun style? Well, you might want to give it a try this year. It couldn’t be easier and it can only come out pretty and perfect. What’s more, because it’s roasted slowly at a constant temperature, unstuffed in an old-fashioned Dutch oven, you get one of the juiciest turkeys you ever ate. If you like my traditional slow-roasted turkey, you’re gonna love this! Cuz’ you don’t cook a turkey this way for the turkey, you cook it this way for the gravy!
1 fresh or frozen turkey, 10-12 lb average
4 Tbsp poultry seasoning
2 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tsp cayenne pepper
½ cup soften margarine
First, put the turkey in the sink under cold running water and wash it thoroughly, making sure to remove every single trace of debris from the internal cavity. Then, with paper towels, pat the bird dry inside and out and place it onto a sheet of waxed paper on the countertop. At this point, you also want to preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Next, prepare the turkey, front and back, inside and out, with the poultry seasoning, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. And I don’t mean just sprinkle it on—rub those seasonings into the bird hard! Then, with the margarine, massage the bird liberally—again both inside and out—until it coats the entire turkey. And be sure you put some of the margarine up under the skin too!
Now place the turkey, breast-side up, into a pre-buttered, cast iron Dutch oven large enough to hold the bird plus whatever juices will be rendered out (and you will get juices). Oh, yeah—and you want to cook the turkey unstuffed, except for one whole onion which you place inside the cavity.
When the thermostat indicates that the oven is right at 325 degrees, put the lid on the black pot and slide it into the oven on the center rack. Then set your time for about 2 hours and don’t even peek in the pot until the timer goes off. Depending upon when the weight of the bird, you can expect it to cook to perfection in about three to fours hours (which figures about 20 minutes to the pound). Of course, to be sure you’re correct, I suggest you use a meat thermometer and roast the turkey until the internal temperature test in the turkey breast reaches 180 degrees.
Finally, when you’re ready to eat, remove the bird from the pot, place it onto a serving plate, and carve it fresh for your family and dinner guests. But whatever you do, make sure you mix together a little cornstarch and water, stir it into the natural pot drippings while it’s at a slow boil, and thicken it in to best tasting gravy you ever passed over your lips!
It’s really the only reason you do a turkey this way!
Chef’s Notes:
1 – To make removal from the Dutch oven easier, I suggest you allow the turkey to cool and set briefly on the stovetop. This will make the turkey a little easier to carve, because it come out so tender and juicy it’s gonna fall apart.
2 –If use a meat thermometer, place it into the breast or the thigh; but make sure it doesn’t touch any bone or grizzle.
2 – To keep turkey from sticking to the pot as it roasts, rub down the cold Dutch oven with margarine before placing the bird into it.
4 – Just for the record, if you want the onion you stuffed inside the turkey, for yourself alone, you had better claim it early in the roasting process. There’s a tendency for the family to fight over it once it makes the table.
Pot Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey - Strictly N'awlins Chef Frank Davis
D’ja ever cook for Thanksgiving, turkey in a black pot Cajun style? Well, you might want to give it a try this year. It couldn’t be easier and it can only come out pretty and perfect. What’s more, because it’s roasted slowly at a constant temperature, unstuffed in an old-fashioned Dutch oven, you get one of the juiciest turkeys you ever ate. If you like my traditional slow-roasted turkey, you’re gonna love this! Cuz’ you don’t cook a turkey this way for the turkey, you cook it this way for the gravy!
1 fresh or frozen turkey, 10-12 lb average
4 Tbsp poultry seasoning
2 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tsp cayenne pepper
½ cup soften margarine
First, put the turkey in the sink under cold running water and wash it thoroughly, making sure to remove every single trace of debris from the internal cavity. Then, with paper towels, pat the bird dry inside and out and place it onto a sheet of waxed paper on the countertop. At this point, you also want to preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Next, prepare the turkey, front and back, inside and out, with the poultry seasoning, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. And I don’t mean just sprinkle it on—rub those seasonings into the bird hard! Then, with the margarine, massage the bird liberally—again both inside and out—until it coats the entire turkey. And be sure you put some of the margarine up under the skin too!
Now place the turkey, breast-side up, into a pre-buttered, cast iron Dutch oven large enough to hold the bird plus whatever juices will be rendered out (and you will get juices). Oh, yeah—and you want to cook the turkey unstuffed, except for one whole onion which you place inside the cavity.
When the thermostat indicates that the oven is right at 325 degrees, put the lid on the black pot and slide it into the oven on the center rack. Then set your time for about 2 hours and don’t even peek in the pot until the timer goes off. Depending upon when the weight of the bird, you can expect it to cook to perfection in about three to fours hours (which figures about 20 minutes to the pound). Of course, to be sure you’re correct, I suggest you use a meat thermometer and roast the turkey until the internal temperature test in the turkey breast reaches 180 degrees.
Finally, when you’re ready to eat, remove the bird from the pot, place it onto a serving plate, and carve it fresh for your family and dinner guests. But whatever you do, make sure you mix together a little cornstarch and water, stir it into the natural pot drippings while it’s at a slow boil, and thicken it in to best tasting gravy you ever passed over your lips!
It’s really the only reason you do a turkey this way!
Chef’s Notes:
1 – To make removal from the Dutch oven easier, I suggest you allow the turkey to cool and set briefly on the stovetop. This will make the turkey a little easier to carve, because it come out so tender and juicy it’s gonna fall apart.
2 –If use a meat thermometer, place it into the breast or the thigh; but make sure it doesn’t touch any bone or grizzle.
2 – To keep turkey from sticking to the pot as it roasts, rub down the cold Dutch oven with margarine before placing the bird into it.
4 – Just for the record, if you want the onion you stuffed inside the turkey, for yourself alone, you had better claim it early in the roasting process. There’s a tendency for the family to fight over it once it makes the table.
RR
