I am going to endeavor to share a recipe with you. I am a guidelines cook, not a by-the-book cook so bear with me.
One of the blessings of being home so much right now is getting to play around with my kids and be creative in my hobbies. I enjoy cooking but don’t always have the time to experiment or do more fun recipes, but there is no time like the present. I grabbed a whole turkey at my last shopping trip… because the price was right and I wanted to make soup stock. I also grabbed some limes for homemade salsa and happened to have some left over. I was suddenly hit with the inspiration for Jerk Turkey and this is the recipe that came from it. My family thoroughly enjoyed this one. I hope yours does as well!
Ingredients: 1- 12-14# Turkey, Tony Chacheros Creole seasoning, 1/2 cup brown sugar, Cinnamon, Thyme, 4 Garlic cloves, Minced garlic, 1/2 cup Butter, Cloves, 2 Limes, 2 cups water
* I know there are only measurements for some of these items. I do a dash, dollop, or sprinkle of the others. There are very few things in this life that I am vehemently opposed to and the dirtying of more utensils than absolutely necessary is one of those things. #sorrynotsorry
Step 1) Rinse out Turkey, remove any gizzards or giblets (they work great for boiling in a soup stock). Pat dry with paper towels and place in roasting pan.
Step 2) rub 1/4 cup of butter on Turkey and then sprinkle with creole seasoning
Step 3) Preheat over to 500* F and gather ingredients while the turkey gets to room temperature.
Step 4) melt the butter and mix with the brown sugar, soy sauce, juice from one lime, a shake of thyme, sprinkle of cinnamon, heaping tablespoon of minced garlic (or 2 or 3 or 4, depending on your ancestral background and whether or not you plan to kiss anyone after eating) and 2-3 Tbl of Creole seasoning. –
Fun fact. In the culinary world having all your ingredients gathered like so is called Mise en Place ( everything in place). My Chef at Culinary school always called it “Mice in Place” and, yes, he was a father.
Step 5) peel garlic, slice the other lime and poke cloves into wedges
Step 6) rub butter mixture all over Turkey. Under skin and inside the cavity as well, then place limes and garlic inside of the cavity.
– The reason for the Turkey being upside down is two-fold. 1) It appears to have thawed in a rather skewed manner and did not want to stand up straight. 2) although not as beautiful, birds cooked upside down retain more moisture.
Step 7) pour 2 cups of water into pan and bake at 500* for 30 minutes.
Step 8) reduce temperature to 350* degrees and bake for another hour and a half. Pull out and baste with juices.
Step 9) place back in oven to cook for another half hour to an hour. Checking to see when the internal temperature reaches 165*. – I prefer to temp closer to 160* and then let sit under some aluminum foil to rest while the temperature rises. Letting meat rest before cutting into it helps seal in the juices leaving you with more flavor, more moisture and less mess.
Step 10) carve the turkey and serve. I dredged mine in the sauce at the bottom of the pan and served over rice stuffing.
– this was a basic mix of sauteed carrots and celery, cooked brown rice, chicken stock, thyme, basil, oregano and pepper. It made a lovely combination of flavors with the turkey.
Bon appetit!
Fireweed Faith 