A Feast of Fridays: Texas Holiday Turkey

When you’re feeding a crowd, few main dishes are as inexpensive and easy to prepare as turkey!

This year, why not do something a little different with your turkey?

Now, those of you who get our Texas Pepper Jelly newsletter (It’s easy to subscribe to and absolutely free!) already know about our recipe for baked – or smoked – ham made with our rib rub and our Texas Pepper Jelly.

So, this post won’t repeat that.  Instead, we’ll talk turkey. 

We know that many people like to put the turkey in a smoker, or deep-fry it, etc, we do too. We also like to bake it in a regular oven, in a roasting bag. The roasting bags keep the moisture IN the turkey, and you’ll end up with a genuinely delicious, moist main dish for your holiday table.

We like to keep it simple, too.  We stuff the turkey with a Vidalia onion and apple slices. (Don’t peel the apples!)  The flavors sort of seep up through the turkey and make the whole bird taste absolutely wonderful.

Now, this next step is the one that will give your turkey a truly unique flavor this year: put your hand in a baggie and wipe Texas Pepper Jelly all over the turkey.  Put some INSIDE the turkey, too, with the onions and apples. Use a lot. We like all the flavors, but any flavor of Texas Pepper Jelly will work.  Put your stuffed and covered turkey in the roasting bag, fasten the ends, put a few venting holes in the bag, put it in your oven, and go put the green beans on your stovetop. Green beans are delicious that have been simmering almost all day, with a piece or two of raw bacon, a diced onion, and a little salt.

When your turkey is done, remove it from the oven and let it “set” for about a half-hour.  Then remove it from the bag, put some more pepper jelly on it, and get a volunteer to “pick it.” That’s how we like to serve it in Texas.  Mmm, delicious.