Barrys South African Turkey

Some time, long, long ago when I used to work at Bally’s Total Fitness I met an amazing human being named Barry Stoffberg. He was the coolest dude and upon meeting him I had to ask him where his accent was from. He had explained he was from South Africa, he is the only person in the US I have ever met from there. One of the biggest topics we ever talked about was food. Once day he even shared this recipe with me. He passed on a few years ago after a serious battle with MS. I have not been able to make it until now, long after this recipe was shared with me and especially since having travelled to South Africa for the first time this year. I hope you find yourself making Barrys South African Thanksgiving Turkey sometime soon. Enjoy.

Barrys South African Thanksgiving Turkey

Ingredients

• 14-20 lb turkey

Seasoned Brine

• 2 oz. Sea salt
• 2 oz. Toasted garlic nuggets
• 1.90 oz Fennel seed
• 1 oz. Dried rosemary
• 1 oz. crushed sage
• 2 oz. Black peppercorns
• 3.5 oz. Pink peppercorns
• 0.17 oz Bay Leaves
• 6 cups water

Rub

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp thyme, leaves removed, stems discarded
• 1 package sage
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Stuffing

• 12 oz. package Hawaiian Rolls
• 1 sausage roll, casing removed
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 Tbsp flour
• 1 Tbsp chicken demi glace
• 2 Tbsp walnuts
• 2 Tbsp raisins
• 2 tsp Poultry Seasoning

Prepare

Seasoned Brine

1. Take all of the brine ingredients, except the water, and combine in a bowl or jar. If making multiple batches, you can jar them for two years.
2. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil and add the dry brine and boil for 4 minutes and set aside to completely cool.
3. Place the turkey in a large turkey bag along with the brine and seal tightly. Brine the turkey for 24 – 48 hours.
4. Remove from fridge, drain brine, and rinse the turkey with cold water.

Rub

1. First, prepare your turkey by removing and discarding the innards packet and neck and give it a good rinse.
2. Make a simple herb butter rub by mixing the brown sugar, fresh thyme, and sage, garlic powder, and Old Bay seasoning rubbed onto the skin and under the breast skin and then season with the salt and pepper. Place on a turkey pan, positioned on an insert rack.
3. Then bake the turkey at 500 F for 10 minutes and then turn it down to 400 F for 2 1/2 hours covering the wing tips and legs ends and breast with foil.

Stuffing

1. Next, make grandmas stuffing. Bake Hawaiian rolls toasted in the oven for 10 minutes, Next, sweat down the chopped onions and celery in butter for about five minutes. Cut the Hawaiian rolls down into smaller cubes, and set aside.
2. In a separate pan saute and brown a whole sage breakfast sausage roll and add to the onions and celery.
3. Now mix all the ingredients together with the onions and celery, adding the toasted cubed Hawaiian rolls and add walnuts and golden raisins, and the poultry seasoning, a pinch of fresh sage and thyme, some salt and pepper and turkey gravy and 1/2 cup – 1 cup of walnuts and the stuffing is done so set it aside.

Turkey + Assembly

1. When the turkey is finishes reserve 3/4 cup of the pan drippings. Add it along with 3/4 cup water to a small pot and boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
2. In a small sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the shallot and thyme and cook for 5 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring rapidly, for 2 minutes. Rapidly whisk in the reserved pan drippings, the stock and demi-glace. Cook, stirring constantly, until the gravy is thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the sherry and season with salt and pepper. Pour the gravy into a warmed sauceboat and set aside.
3. Serve the turkey with stuffing and gravy, and enjoy.