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why cranberries and toum?
because it's delicious; duh! i know it seems like a wild combo, but think about it, toum (hands down) is the best condiment for chicken, and what's a turkey but a gigantic chicken!
to be honest, i've been thinking about this for the past three holiday seasons. ever since toum and cranberry sauce touched on my plate, i haven't stopped thinking about the possibility of a fusion. for me, this is part of the beauty of all the different foods around the holiday table.
as good as cranberry toum is going to be with your turkey the day of, we all also look forward to the next day for the leftovers, and i think it'll be even better on a leftover sandwich with some shatta!
all this talk about cranberry toum, but let's not forget the turkey itself. time to make a shawarmaji turkey to go with it.
shawarma-spiced turkey
ingredients
for about a 15lb turkey, you'll need the following:
1 jar of shawarmaji chicken spice
200g of yogurt
turmeric
100g of olive oil
100g of pepper paste (can be skipped if you cant find it)
now before you cook your turkey, you need to brine it.
for the brine, you'll need the following ingredients:
1 gal of water
1.5 c of sea salt
1000g of ice
1.5 c of sea salt
1000g of ice
optional aromatics:
1 bunch of rosemary
1 bunch of thyme
3 each serrano or jalapeno pepper (leave them whole; don't worry your turkey won't be spicy)
2 each onions
1 each bulb garlic
5 each bay leaf
10 each whole cardamom
1 tsp whole black pepper
5 each whole allspice
1 each whole cinnamon
1 bunch of thyme
3 each serrano or jalapeno pepper (leave them whole; don't worry your turkey won't be spicy)
2 each onions
1 each bulb garlic
5 each bay leaf
10 each whole cardamom
1 tsp whole black pepper
5 each whole allspice
1 each whole cinnamon
brine prep
when it comes to the brine, what's important is the salt-to-water ratio. it's absolutely necessary for a well seasoned turkey. everything else is bonus points - you can mix and match whatever of the aromatics you want. there are even things that are not on the list that some people add to the mix, like citrus and oregano.
so what you want to do is bring the water, salt, and all its friends to a boil and stir to make sure the salt is dissolved. obviously, you can't brine in hot water, so thats what the ice is for. in a container that's big enough to hold the brine and turkey, pour in the the brine and add the ice to make sure it cools down to room temperature before adding the turkey. then put it in the fridge or ice chest and leave it there at least overnight. the longer the better.
turkey prep
its go time!
mix your shawarmaji spices with yogurt, olive oil, and pepper paste, and slather your turkey after you take it out of the brine. let it sit on your counter for at least an hour (up to 2 hours) before you cook the turkey. this is called temping. basically, cooking your turkey from the start point of room temperature will make for a more even cook than if you started from refrigerated temperature. however, this step is not necessary, so if you don't feel comfortable doing it, i'm sure the turkey will be just as delicious.
while your turkey is temping and marinating in the shawarmaji rub, make sure to preheat your oven to 350F. once your oven is hot, go ahead and pop that bird in for about 3 hours. now we need to pay attention because we put the rub on it. if it stays in the oven uncovered for 3 hours, it will burn. so i like to check on it about an hour after it's in the oven. if you like the color of the turkey, you can take it out and cover it with foil or a lid. if you have one of those, put it back in for the remainder of the time.
165 F is the target temperature you want your turkey to be at. once you hit that, take it out and let it rest for at least 30 minutes before digging in.
i've been really excited and looking forward to bringing this idea to fruition for some time now, so being able to share it with all of you is really special to me. i hope you all enjoy this limited time, holiday edition toum, and you try my shawarma-spiced turkey recipe.
happy holidays, everyone!
thank you to every one of you who continually support our small family business, allow me to share my musings, and give me the opportunity to live my dream by serving our community the food that i love (and live) to eat.
peace, love, and toum,
chef mohammad abutaha
