After spending the better part of yesterday breaking down and carving countless turkeys (yes, people really do order pre-roasted, pre-carved turkeys), I just had to play. All those sinews and tenacious muscles clinging to bones. Not to mention the incompatible white meat/dark meat cooking factor.
While gnawing meat off the bone makes for a primal experience, there are times when I want something more refined. If nature was not going to provide me with a product that can be cooked integrally and be easy to eat, I thought that I would give it a shot.
A core of brined white meat, wrapped around the wing bone, followed by a thin slice of brined dark meat, then skin…mission accomplished.
One thing that I've learned over the years is that Thanksgiving is the one holiday that I can play with presentations, as long as the traditional flavor profiles remain in tact. At least thats how it plays out in my family.
white meat/dark meat petite drumstick
sweet potato marshmallow
liquid stuffing
brussels sprouts
whipped potatoes
pickled cranberries
This year, I am thankful that Thanksgiving only comes around once a year, and that someone else will be cooking my dinner.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Playing with Fire and Water 
Very nice. By the way, I borrowed (ok, stole) one of your recipes. I did an app for a dinner last night using pulled pork hocks on a bacon version of your chicken biscuits plated with the tootsie roll bbq sauce and bbq marshmallow from Chadzilla. Inspired by my two favorite blogs, it was a huge hit. Thanks!
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Nice! Beat my Thanksgiving meal, which was a pork hock (good) with an ungodly amount of lard-fried steamed buckwheat in what the Poles called the “light lunch option”.
Anyway, how did you cook the “leg”? Sous-vide then some heat to brown/crisp the skin? Any particular special tricks to the marshmallow or is it a straight-out marshmallow prep?
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Larry-
Nice take.
Ivan-
The drumstick was deep fried. The marshmallow was made with sweet potato juice and methocel, then bruleed with muscavado–you can find the recipe in the s’mores post in the March archives.
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Hi,
Just found your site…I think I may be spending a lot of my time experimenting with all of this!!
I’m wondering if you can elaborate a bit more on how you made the turkey “leg”. Built it all raw then fried it? How does the skin stay attached? Thanks so much!
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Hi Chris,
It was built raw, then fried. It was glued together with transglutaminase, an enzyme that binds protein.
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