Friday, November 25, 2011

On the Scene with Turkey Ballotine

I got a few of emails from people curious about how I ended up doing my turkey this year. Well, here you go! For the first time, I decided to serve a classic turkey ballotine. 

I removed all the bones, applied a generous layer of herbs and spices, and then some buttery, cranberry bread stuffing. I rolled, tied it up, and slowly roasted it until I had the crispy-skinned beauty you see below. It was so good!

Another highlight was this crisp and colorful winter salad of apples, pears, persimmons, pomegranate, walnuts, and Pt. Reyes blue cheese. When served with the meal, the green salad is usually lost in a sea of side dishes, and becomes nothing more than an afterthought. This time we decided to use it as a separate course to start the meal. It’s nice for doing toasts and giving thanks, since you don’t have to worry about food getting cold. After the salad, we took a short break while the rest of the meal was finished and served. 


I was so preoccupied with the food, I didn’t get many photos of the rest of the items, but we had a great dinner, and used several of the recipes you’ve seen posted on the blog. By the way, I’ll be back with a brand new winter pasta recipe video tomorrow, so stay tuned!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have seen your blog a few times and am very intrigued as to how you removed all the bones from the turkey?

I love the picture of how the 'rolled boneless' turkey looks...very delicious! But, how did you do that???

Thanks! I hope you will share!

Bobolink said...

Show off!!

(J/k ;)

By the way, speaking of persimmons, could you provide some advice as to how to treat/cook them? They look so daunting and difficult in an unfamiliar way in the store!

Thanks and keep up the useful techniques for us clueless kitchenites!

Monica said...

I used to make ballotines years ago and have not heard of them in years. yours looks incredible and so yummy.

M in Mex said...

Beautiful indeed! I used most of your recipes also(4yrs)and all went according to plan; fantastic. At the last minute (wednesday) I received my California Olive Ranch Olive oil and prepared a classic caesars. They owe you for your non-endorsement, the oil is top notch, I'll continue to buy their products. The only thing missing was the genesee cream ale!
God Bless, Adios

Anonymous said...

please show us how to debone a whole turkey\chicken!!!

i would love such a tutorial!

happy thanks giving,
etamar

Anonymous said...

Chef John,

Can you PLEASE demo that ballotine turkey, it looks so amazing and different from the usual thanksgiving turkey.

Your biggest fan.

Steven K. said...

Is that thing as big as it looks? Maybe it's just me, but it resembles the body of a small hog. Lol. It looks delicious, btw.

Sara said...

The turkey looks fantastic...with Christmas on the way, sure wish you'd share how you did this.
Also would love to know more about the salad..recipe?
Thanks :)

Steven K. said...

It's kind of a lot to ask the chef to re-do this meal just to show us how he did it. But, I just remembered a really excellent video by Jacques Pépin where he demonstrates the technique on a chicken, but it would work the same with a turkey or any other type of poultry. It would probably take me over half an hour to do this, but he says he can do it in about a minute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAekQ5fzfGM