Turkey anyone?

pg 208-209 To roast a turkey cock and turkey hen.

As described in a previous post it is sometimes called "Indian Peacock".

Original:
If you want to spit-roast it, do not let it sit for more than six days in winter before being drawn, or in summer for more than two. Pluck it dry or in hot water- as the turkey hen is also to be plucked. Then, when it is drawn, prepare its breast because there is a bone there that is a bit higher than in other fowl: cut away the skin on one side of that bone and skillfully remove the flesh from the bone; cut the tip of the bone with a shaving knife and sew up the skin again.If you want to stuff it, use one of the stuffings of recipe 115. Cut the wings away, leaving the head and feet. Blanch it in water then let it cool. Stick it with fine lardoons of pork fat, although if it is fat, and stuffed there will not be any need for that larding; you will have to stud it though with a few whole cloves. Mount it on a spit and cook it slowly, that bird cooking much more quickly that a common peacock. From the breast you can make croquettes, and meatballs and all those prperations that are made from the lean meat of milk-fed veal. in recipes 43 and 47. The same too, for the flesh of a turkey hen and an ordinary peacock, but immediately after they have been killed because having hung they do not turn out as tasty. The turkey cock and hen have the same season as an ordinary peacock, yet in Rome they can be found throughout the year. Their viscera are done like those of the ordinary peacock.

My way:
Not having a spit available or fresh turkeys I have changed how they were prepared to suit what I will have available. First I did not blanch the turkey as modernly that is often done to kill off bacteria before sale because of the time that it takes to go from farm to consumer also modern turkey is probably fatter than one in period so i skipped larding the turkey as well. Though to keep it moist through my cooking process i did rub the skin down with butter. After which it was studded with cloves and sprinkled with salt and pepper (a given for most recipes). We used 3 cloves per leg and about 5-7 in the breast. After which i used my oven set to between 190 - 200 c. Using the approximation of 15 min per pound and it being an 11 pound turkey and not wanting to undercook it I cooked it for 2 hours wrappen in aluminum foil (causing it to "self baste") for the last hour i removed the foil in order for th eskin to crisp up as it would have on a spit.

Results:
Despite being uncovered for an entire hour it was suprisingly NOT dry. Taste, awesome! I never would have thought clove for turkey but just that little bit is marvelous and we complimented the meal with the chickpea recipe (made with yellow peas by accident, see previous post) and the Kohrabi with garlic sauce, when he says this goes with fowl he isn't kidding, the garlic sauce was the perfect thing for the turkey! If all this isn't enough, my husband's 80 year old, traditional German grandmother liked the food!

chickpeas again part 2

So dear readers it is time to yet again explore chick peas. Eureka! there has been success! The taste was PERFECT!!!!!! unfortunately there was an error at the store that not I didn't catch, my partner in crime at the time did not catch it either. We bought.... yellow peas! lol. So, now that I have split the difference with the spices and used cracked pepper instead of the fine powder stuff you get now, the taste is exactly what we were looking for! Now to try it with chickpeas! lol.