Whiskey-Glazed Turkey Breast Recipe
Agnieszka Spieszny 11.15.11
Girl Hunter is a book for those female huntresses who like to impress even further by cooking a gourmet meal with the fruit of their hard-earned catch (and for male hunters who want to impress the ladies too!). Georgia Pellegrini peppered her rite of passage story of becoming a woman-hunter with game recipes any hunter can make with their harvest. This one for whiskey-glazed turkey could be a good recipe for two for Thanksgiving, especially because cooking with alcohol is so sexy.
This is just one of her recipes within the book, which will be released December 2011. Read a recipe for Turkey Schnitzel here. Look back for two more recipes the week of December 12th when Girl Hunter will be available at book stores nationwide.
Whiskey-Glazed Turkey Breast
Turkey feathers are quite easy to pluck as long as you do just a few at a time so that skin doesn’t tear. It is better to leave the skin on, because attempting to remove it while the feathers are still on can result in a feathery mess. If you don’t have skin on your turkey breast, simply layer it with bacon or lard before cooking. It is essential that you brine the breast meat before cooking it. I have a friend that uses a brine of simple filtered water from the sea, which has ample salt, then after 24 hours, switches to a bath of unsalted purified water. Or if you’re not feeling quite as adventurous, you can also use homemade brine.
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 turkey breast, skin on and brined
- salt and pepper
- 8 to 10 strips of bacon, or equivalent in lard (for breasts without skin only)
- 1 cup turkey stock
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 6 tablespoons whiskey
- 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. In an ovenproof skillet or Dutch oven, heat two tablespoons of the butter until it begins to bubble. Sprinkle the skin of the brined turkey breast with salt and pepper. If the breast is without skin, wrap it with bacon or lard and fasten with toothpicks or kitchen twine as needed. Place the breast skin side down in the butter, sprinkle the underside with salt and pepper, and let the skin brown for about 5 minutes. Turn it over and add the stock. Cover with foil or a lid and transfer to the oven.
- In a separate skillet, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Whisk in the honey until well incorporated. Add the whiskey along with the orange zest and juice, and cayenne and whisk together. Turn the heat to low and let the glaze reduce by half. Turn off the heat and set aside.
- Once the turkey has cooked for 10 minutes, brush with half of the glaze and recover. Roast for 20 more minutes, brush with the remaining glaze, leave uncovered and increase the temperature to 400 degrees F. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes more, or until the internal temperature reads 140 degrees to 150 degrees F.
- Remove the turkey from the oven, cover with foil for 10 minutes before slicing, and serving.
Serves 4
Also try: upland game birds
From the book Girl Hunter by Georgia Pellegrini. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright (c) 2011. www.dacapopresscookbooks.com
More recipes: Wild Turkey Schnitzel, Buttermilk Fried Rabbit, Moroccan Elk Stew.
