Thompson turkey pt 1

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 Huge turkey; 16 to 22 pounds
Turkey heart
Turkey gizzard
Turkey liver
Turkey neck
1 Clove of garlic
1 large Bay leaf
½ teaspoon Coriander
½ teaspoon Salt
4 cups Water (up to 5)
1 Diced apple
1 Diced orange
1 can (large) crushed pineapple
1 Lemon; grated rind of
3 tablespoons Chopped preserved ginger
2 cans Chinese water chestnuts; drained
2 teaspoons Hot dry mustard
2 teaspoons Caraway seeds
3 teaspoons Celery seed
2 teaspoons Oregano
1 Bay leaf; well crushed
1 teaspoon Black pepper
½ teaspoon Mace
4 tablespoons Finely chopped parsley
5 Crushed cloves
½ teaspoon Turmeric
½ teaspoon Summer savory
1 tablespoon Poultry seasoning
¾ teaspoon Thyme
½ teaspoon Basil
½ teaspoon Chili powder
5 Good dashes Tabasco
1 tablespoon Salt
1 teaspoon Monosodium glutamate

Directions

TURKEY

BASTING FLUID

BOWL 1

BOWL 2

The most fun to talk about, if not to make! Thompson's turkey is a terrifying recipe, full of violence and hard work.

In the end, there's not much left of either turkey or chef. It's really a man's recipe, but where, in this age of TV football, will you find a man willing to tackle the Thanksgiving bird? The woman of the house may just enjoy working out her frustrations on a lonely holiday with this kind of exercise. And the end result will serve him right! When the charred bird is borne to the table. She can relish his dismay.....

Let me explain that the original recipe was written by author Morton Thompson in a book entitled "Joe, The Wounded Tennis Player" (Doubleday 1945), Author Richard Gehman perpetuated it in an article in The American Weekly in 1959, from which the following is excerpted: The Recipe

"Get a HUGE BIRD, one weighing no less than 16 lbs and not more than 22.

Get a hen if possibly, because she will have more breast meat. A frozen bird will do, but if possible, try to get a fresh-killed one. Have the butcher cut off the turkey's head to leave a tube of neck skin, and have him peel back the skin and cut off the neck close to the shoulders. This will give you a tube in which you can use left-over stuffing. Save the turkey fat.

Rub the bird inside and out with salt and pepper. Give it a friendly pat and put it aside.

Chop the heart, gizzard and liver, and put them with the neck, into a stew pan, adding a clove of garlic, a large bay leaf, ½ teaspoon coriander, and ½ teaspoon salt. Cover with four or five cups of water and set it simmering on the stove. This is going to be the basting fluid later....

Get a HUGE BOWL. Throw in it the "Bowl 1" ingredients.

Get another bowl. Throw into it "Bowl 2" ingredients.

WIPE YOUR BROW, refocus you eyes and get yet a third bowl. Put in three packages of bread crumbs, and get them at a bakery is you can. Add ¾ pound ground veal, ½ pound ground fresh pork or sausage meat, ¼ pound butter and all the fat (first rendered) you have been able to pull out of the bird.

Get a fourth bowl, an enormous one. Mix the contents of all bowls in it.

Mix it well, Sit down and have a drink until the ache goes out of your arms.

Stuff the turkey and skewer it. Put the leftover stuffing into that neck tube I told you to be the butcher to make.

continued in part 2

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