A French way to cook your Thanksgiving turkey left-over

I’ve adapted and tested my French Rillettes recipe to help you reuse the Thanksgiving turkey left-over.

Please find following the recipe:

1. The cold cooked turkey left-over should be cut in small pieces (approximately 1’’ by 0.5’’).
   Even the smaller ones have to be taken. Put all the pieces in a big pot.
2. Fry the turkey pieces in the fat coming from the original turkey’s cooking.
   If you don’t have this fat, just fried the turkey skin until it’s melted and put it in the big pot.
   You need to have 0.5’’ fat height from the pot’s bottom if you don’t have enough just had some pork fat.
3. Fry the turkey pieces in the fat.
   Take the skin off anyway even if you didn’t use it to make some fat (step 2).
4. The gently fried turkey pieces should be covered by water.
   The water should be 2’’ over the turkey pieces in the pot. This level of water in the pot should be maintained until step 8.
5. If the turkey was not originally cooked with garlic, you should add some garlic clove cut in 2 half.
   You can add as much as garlic as you like depending on your taste. Just put half of the garlic you want at this step the other half will be used at step 8.
6. 6. Up water to a boil, then come back to a gentle heat.
   It should cook like this for 4 hours.
7. Regularly you should mix the turkey pieces and crush them in the big pot.
     The turkey pieces should fall apart in smaller pieces.
8. When the mixture starts to become homogeneous, you should add the half of garlic you’ve kept and some spices, herbs … depending on your taste.
9. Continue the cooking until all the water is evaporated and maintain the water at the same temperature and mix VERY often.
10. When the water is 50% evaporated start to eliminate the fat.
    Depending on your taste you can eliminate more or less fat.
    Personally the less fat there is, the better it is.
11. When the mixture is still amenable, thanks to the very few water left, stop cooking and put it in jars using a skimmer.

Let the jars getting cold outside of the fridge.
Then you can put them in the fridge (good for 2 weeks) or the freezer (good for months).

In case you get the turkey Rillettes out of the freezer don’t put them in the microwave.

 

Feel free to email me any question you may have: lebras.catherine@gmail.com

Bon apétit and have a lovely Thanksgiving !

Les Rillettes de Catherine