Wild Turkey Smitane
Many of the recipes I use for game cooking came originally from Europe. With wild turkey, one of my favorites is wild turkey smitane, a French recipe probably originally used to cook smaller game birds like partridge or quail. Auguste Escoffier, one of the best-known French cookbook writers, wrote about a sauce smitane in his 1903 treatise, and versions of it are used for pheasant, dove and other birds.
Ingredients
1 cup diced bacon ends or 6 bacon slices, diced
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
½ wild turkey breast, cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes (2-4 pounds)
3-4 tablespoons minced onion
1 cup poultry stock, divided
1 cup white wine, divided
1-2 cups sour cream or crème fraîche
4-6 cups tart apples, peeled and sliced
4 tablespoons Calvados (apple brandy)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, optional
Pinch of nutmeg, optional
Fresh parsley, optional
Directions
Brown the bacon until nearly cooked. Brown onion until translucent. Set both aside. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease. Add the butter or olive oil, and heat the pan to medium-high.
Brown the turkey chunks until golden. Set aside. Deglaze the pan with ½ cup of stock and ½ cup of wine, loosening any browned meat.
Add the turkey, bacon and onion back to the pan. Add ½ cup of stock and ½ cup of wine, or more as needed to keep the meat covered. Simmer for 45-75 minutes or until the turkey is tender.
Remove the turkey and bacon from the pan and continue to simmer the liquid until reduced to approximately ½ cup.
Add the turkey and bacon back to the pan. Add the sour cream or crème fraîche, apples and Calvados. Cover and simmer until the apples are soft.
Add salt and pepper to taste. If you wish for a little more verve, add 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice just before serving. Garnish with fresh parsley and nutmeg (optional) and serve.
Suggestions
Wild turkeys are procured by hunting, and a hunter’s aim is at their heads with shotguns. Some shot might be found in the breast afterward, but you will see a shot entry point and can remove any errant shot when the breast is cut up. Sometimes feathers are carried into the flesh by a shot pellet; remove them and any bruised flesh.
Turkeys harvested in Wisconsin can range from 14 to 28 pounds, so the size of the breast and its tenderness can vary. You’ll want to adjust cooking times and amounts depending on the size and age of the bird.
If you’re looking for delicious complements to the wild turkey smitane, I suggest good quality wild rice (I prefer North Bay Trading Company’s wild-harvested Ontario rice, with long grains and great flavor.) simmered slowly with homemade poultry stock, and homemade cranberry sauce. Mushrooms, minced bacon or onions or chopped pecans are all nice choices for additions to your wild rice dish.
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