Madeira Gravy

thank you RaquelG

did you find the sage brine recipe?

Some breeds are very small, so the first two were 6 and 9 lb hens. About the same size as a large roaster

I think Madeira, Marsala and Sherry are some of the most undervalued fortified wines there are. You can get really great Madeira, often, at low prices. What I like about the recipe is the butter in the roux adds another dimension to the gravy. I make a jus that has a whole bottle of sherry, along with 25 or so bay leaves and reduce it to a syrup it is a riff on a Charlie Trotter recipe but my point is Madeira would work in the jus as well. I like to cook with all three of these wines.

Agreed! Love cooking with them all. Hey, is Port fortified wine as well? This gravy recipe sound great. I forgot to say that. I just made my stock to freeze for Thanksgiving myself. Everyone will sopping up the gravy with this recipe.

Port is my favorite mood altering elixir! But I think I would much prefer Madiera ladeled over my turkey. Great recipe!

thanks ashley_samuel_pierson

That is a 6 lb chocolate a rare heritage breed. I ended up with three breeds. Royal Palm, chocolate and bronze. The Royals and chocolates are lean. I used a recipe from Saveur magazine from a few years ago for a toasted sage brine which really keeps them moist and tasty. I tried a second bird without the brine and it was much drier. I always brine turkeys but since this was the first year raising them I decided to try one without and I won't do that again. I wrapped a couple of pieces of pancetta around the legs for extra flavor and fat. Funny because the turkeys wouldn't touch the grapes, I only have 4 vines, but the chickens will clean them it they get to them.

Wild Napa Valley turkeys have very discerning palates...they know a great cabernet when they taste one!

I am doing an article on local turkeys -- like every food writer around this time of year I would imagine -- and talked with a heritage bird farmer yesterday that said you really should pull the bird out of the oven at about 145 degrees to prevent it being dry. When I asked about the 165 degree requirement I've always adhered to for poultry, she said that was only a "commercial bird stipulation". Do you have any thoughts on that, Tom?

Have you ever tried to feed someone a piece of chicken or turkey that is medium at best in the thighs and the plate is collecting very red juices? People will be uncomfortable with it at best and most will microwave their plate of food. I am not bothered by it because I know how the birds were raised but I have become a firm believer in brining. Like I said, I raised five turkeys this year and we had all sizes. While I don't think the Bronzes meet the heritage standards they are a good mix of both, I believe, and as far as I am concerned the best turkey I have ever eaten and it was a 33 lb bird. The Chocolate and the Royal Palm were very lean and much smaller, the size of a roasting chicken. We brined one and not the other. The brined bird was much more succulent. All three had great flavor way beyond any turkey I have had in the past. I would also say I did not let them free range. They were in a pen with lots of room and were well fed with garden scrapes and high quality vegetarian feed. I have found true free range birds to be to tough for my liking. The other reality is when you only raise a few birds and you have coyotes you can't afford to let them run free while if you have a huge flock you may be able to spare some turkeys, in the end one of my dogs decided he liked turkey and we lost two to him. If you look at the price of a heritage breed bird at $125 dollars for a 15 lb or so bird it really isn't that outrageous when you know the cost of feed and the longer growing times of these birds.