Ye Olde Turkey Leg

Totally Anachronistic Turkey Leg

Last Sunday I ran my bi-weekly Shadowrun game. in this particular session the characters were made to write and perform a stage show at the 6^th World’s equivalent of Medieval Times, a Horizon owned restaurant chain called Crossed Swords™.  Despite the lack of Turkeys in medieval Europe, I decided to go for the “renfair” classic: the roasted turkey leg.  This particular take on the classic was inspired by the +5 Book of Cooking by Tiffany Simmons. This was a Kickstarter project that was funded but did not ultimately produce what was promised.  However, they did provide its backers with a lovely PDF cookbook.

This recipe uses a couple of different techniques to infuse the turkey with flavor.  You’ll have to plan the night before the game, but the results are worth it. 

One of the tricky bits with this recipe is the turkey legs themselves. Depending on where you buy them, the size can vary widely from a little bigger than a chicken leg to the size of an adult’s forearm.  The amounts I’m giving you here are good for 10 of the smaller legs or 5 of the larger, luckily for the brine and rub all you need is enough to cover whatever you have.  If you need more brine, make up for the difference with ice before putting it in the fridge. For more rub, just keep the proportions equal and you’ll be fine.

Turkey legs (5 – 10)

Brine

• 4 quarts water
• 2 oranges
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons seasoning salt
• 1 whole bay leaf 

 Dry Rub

• 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
• 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons onion salt 

Start the night before with the brine.  First, wash the oranges and pat them dry.  Then, if you have a microplane, zest them.  If you don’t have a microplane, you’ll want to carefully cut the rind away from the orange peel, taking as little of the pith (white part under the rind) as possible, and then cut it into small pieces about an inch to a side.  You won’t use the rest of the orange in this recipe so just put them back in the fridge.

Now take all of the brine ingredients including the zest you’ve collected and place it in a large pot.  Just bring it to a boil and then remove it from the heat.  Let it cool, you can add ice to it here to speed up the process, but no more than two quarts of ice to avoid diluting it too much.  When it’s cold, submerge the turkey legs in the liquid. If you can’t fit all the legs in the pot you used to boil it, you can find turkey bags at the grocery story made just for this.  Place the whole thing into the refrigerator and keep it there for at least 6 hours and no more than 24.

The timing of the next step is going to again depend on the size of the turkey legs you purchased.  If you have smaller legs you’ll only need to start about an hour before you’re ready to serve, with larger legs it’s going to be closer to two hours.  I recommend starting a couple of hours before serving time. If they are done early all you need to do is put them in the oven at 300˚ for 10 minutes and they’ll be fine.

Preheat your oven to 400˚.  While it heats up whisk the dry rub ingredients together.  Take out your turkey legs and rinse them under cold water.  Pat them dry with a paper towel and place them onto a concave plate (this will make it easier to apply the dry rub).  Rub each of the legs down thoroughly with the dry rub mixture, rubbing it under the skin at the top of the leg where you can without tearing.  

Now transfer them to a baking sheet and pop them in the oven on a middle rack for 20 minutes.  While they are still in the oven, reduce the heat to 325˚.  With smaller legs you’ll want to keep them in for 15 – 25 minutes, with the larger legs then this could take up to an hour and a half.  The important thing here is that you want to keep them in the oven until the internal temperature is 165˚.  Test this by sticking your thermometer into the thickest part of the meat about half way to the bone.  I recommend that you check them every 15 minutes until they’re ready, but make sure you don’t leave the oven door open while you check or you’ll lose heat.

Once the turkey legs are cooked through, they should be a beautiful golden brown with a spice crust.  Sorry that there are no pictures today, just didn’t think to get some before I served.  To add a little plating flair and make them easier to eat you can wrap the bottom of the legs in aluminum foil.  This will have the added benefit of reducing the number of grease stains on your player’s character sheets.

Next week we’ll finish exploring the pieces of D&D 4^th Edition we were discussing last time and how they can work, even in more rules light games like Numenara and Fate.  Talk to you then.