Out of the Deep Woods: Don't Forget the Turkey - Part 1

    40 seconds into the first episode & we're already talking food. Not that I'm complaining, but for someone with Diabetic Gastroparesis & Cyclic Vomiting to boot, food is a touchy subject for me. There are many foods I have to avoid & most of the time, I can only fit a child's portion of anything, so the QUALITY of things I eat is at the highest expectation. Even before Covid, we never went out to eat much, because I was always so unhappy with the state of food I would order. While we don't go to Michelin Star restaurants, I still expect a certain level of quality, considering this is literally their job & we're paying for that service, but that's is a whole rant in and of itself & that's not why I'm here. I'm simply establishing why I watch so many cooking shows & am collecting kitchen gadgets as if I have all the storage room in the world. The saying is true, if you want something done right (right=your expectation vs others) than do it yourself. So I am. I started my renewed interest in cooking recently just randomly trying to find some fancier more flavorful recipes & not really being inspired by much, until I saw all the food shown in Sweet Tooth. Hard to watch a series a dozen times without getting hungry, even for me. So why not take these two passions & combine them. Much like my combo of Sweet Tooth & crafts. Creating my own personal UNofficial Sweet Tooth cookbook. I have seen others actually sell their own homemade cookbooks on Amazon, so why couldn't I do that for myself.

    But first...I want to explain just how insane I probably am. When developing this concept of my own personal UNofficial Sweet Tooth Cookbook, I wanted it to be as authentic an experience if I could. Like, if I was actually gonna do this thing, then let's do it right.The show is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where many ingredients may not be available, but obviously anything appearing in the show or found in nature already were fair game. For example, a huge one is Maple Syrup. We see them tapping a tree in this first episode & G.U.S. drinks it like a actual addict, but does Yellowstone Park have maple trees? Yes, yes they do, but they are not your common maple tree you use for maple syrup. It's Red Maple, otherwise known as Boxelder. This is not what maple syrup "farmers" pick as their tree of choice. Do you know how easy it is to find? Pffft. Yeah, I'll get back to you if I ever actually do find any. And I'm not crazy enough to buy a sapling & wait 10-20 years til it grows large enough to tap & then process my own syrup. Even I have my limits. Thank the great flying spaghetti monster!! Maybe? I did just buy a book that tells you exactly how to do that. Ask me in 10 years? lol

    As you see, I've given myself a challenging enough task (coming up with all new recipes I've never tried before or create myself) without adding rules to it, but this is me. I never do anything in half measures, unless I am forced to by my health/etc. It's not a willing choice on my part. Go big or go home has always been an unofficial motto. It'll go along with my unofficial cookbook. In fact I think they'll be best friends. lol So, as Pubba & G.U.S. make a home in Yellowstone Park, WY, I decided to look into native plants & animals to the region. Luckily, Yellowstone National Park has a pretty comprehensive list on their website here. I even had the idea of checking the Yellowstone National online gift shop & no maple syrup, but about a gazillion Huckleberry items, so that'll be in a future post apparently. lol 

    The point I am making here is, I will be as authentic with the recipes I present as I can, but understand that this is a STORY & there's no hard & fast rules here, so I'm going to TRY not to kill myself agonizing over every detail.

Let's get this show on the road then. Here's the clip:

    When most Americans hear turkey, they think, Thanksgiving. Maybe that's just me? From the clip we see, football is on their t.v., meaning it's probably fall, so a Thanksgiving turkey wouldn't have been out of the question, but I didn't wanna go that route. They appear to be of Asian ethnicity, so I started there. I have only had Indian food once (in England) & my stomach didn't react well AT ALL & there was some spice/s that I didn't like in curry. I have since discovered that spice I hate is cumin. Weird that I don't mind it in chili, but here I do. I originally did the recipe I found as inspiration exactly as written & couldn't stand the smell, so I washed off the turkey & started over without the dreadful cumin & made some other changes based on that first attempt & this is what I ended up with. My fiance absolutely LOVED it & went back for seconds of just THAT!! lol 

Don't Forget the Turkey

approx 9lb turkey breast bone-in

orange rinds from marinade

For the marinade - 

1/2 tsp Garlic powder

1/4  t ground ginger

1/4 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 T - DIY garam masala spice mix- minus the cumin

2 t turmeric

1 T Watkins Maple Bourbon Rub

5oz Brown Cow Maple Yogurt

juice and zest of 1 orange

Crown Bourbon Maple Syrup for glazing

Place all the marinade ingredients in a gallon ziploc bag. Seal & mix together. Prick turkey all over with a fork & then place in bag with marinade. Seal & rub the turkey breast all over with the marinade. Leave in the fridge overnight to enhance the flavor. Now that you've gone to all this trouble, "Don't forget the turkey."

Remove the turkey from the fridge 30 minutes before roasting to allow it to come up to room temperature. Stuff the "cavity" with the orange rind, then pour the marinade from the bag over the turkey. Cook your turkey according to its weight. About 13 minutes per pound at 350°F for an unstuffed turkey (that's about 3 hours for a 12- to 14-lb turkey), or 15 minutes per pound for a stuffed turkey. To ensure proper cooking, pierce the thickest part near a bone & make sure the juices run clear. I cooked mine for about 2 hours & glazed it with the maple syrup twice during the cooking process.

Cover with foil to rest for at least 20 mins before slicing. Meanwhile, take all the liquid in the roasting dish & make a gravy (I used a very basic cornstarch & cold water mixture.). 

Wanna try it? Get the printable recipe here.

That's it! 

Well, not really. I couldn't JUST serve a plate of turkey w/gravy. Although having skipped all our other leftovers for lunch today, in favor of leftovers of this turkey, my fiance might disagree with me. So then, I had to come up with sides. I went for Garam Masala & Maple Roasted Rainbow Carrots, Coconut Rice, & Minted Peas. But you probably guessed some of that from the photo. Recipes for the sides will be in part 2.