Cider Braised Turkey

I feel like every January, I start out with the best of intentions to menu plan for two weeks at a time in an effort to limit my supermarket trips to once a week.🛒 I don't think that's an unreasonable goal but every year my plans seem to get derailed before the end of the first month.🙃  It's not for lack of planning.  The biggest reason that my menu plan goes awry is that the grocery store doesn't have the things on my list.  

I've had this recipe for turkey thighs in my blog cue for almost a year and every time I've tried to make it, I wan't able to find turkey thighs at the store.  A few weeks ago, I was determined to make these and I searched 3 different grocery stores for the elusive turkey thighs but apparently the turkeys in Georgia, are walking around thigh-less.  I found turkey legs, turkey breasts and even turkey necks but turkey thighs were no where in sight. 🤷🏻‍♀️  Now I cant get the visual of thigh-less turkeys out of my mind. 🦃😅 ​

I was so committed to making this that I made a game time decision and swapped chicken thighs for the turkey thighs.  Radical, I know.  No one can accuse me of not being flexible.🤣   3 1/2 hours is the amount of time that it takes for these chicken (or turkey) thighs to bake and I had it scheduled for a day that I was going to be home and able to monitoring the cooking process all afternoon. 

I decided to leave the recipe as it was originally written in Cook's Illustrated (for turkey) instead of changing it to my chicken version.   I did make my adjustments in the ingredient list so what you have is a modified braised turkey/chicken thigh recipe with Amy's special changes.😅. Hope you enjoy.   

Cider Braised Turkey
8 pounds bone in turkey thighs
​1 1/2 Tablespoons salt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3" piece ginger, sliced into 1/4" rounds
3 cups apple cider
5 ounces shitake mushrooms
1 teaspoon dried sage
2 Tablespoons whole grain mustard
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar

Pat turkey dry and season with 1 T. salt.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 12-24 hours. 

Heat oil in large saucepan.  Add onion, ginger and 1 1/2 t. salt and cook 5 minutes.

Add cider, mushrooms and sage.  Bring to a boil.  

Pour into a roasting pan. Arrange turkey in roasting pan.  

Cover and place in 300 oven for 1 1/2 hours. Flip turkey pieces, re-cover and bake 1 1/2 hours longer.  ​

Transfer turkey to a platter.  Pour braising liquid through a strainer.  

Transfer strained solids and 2 c. braising liquid to blender.  Process until smooth.

Return remaining braising liquid to roasting pan.  Whisk in blended liquid, mustard and vinegar.   

Nestle turkey into pan.  Return to 400 oven and bake 20-25 minutes.   (I didn't have to bake my chicken thighs any longer because the meat was already falling off the bone.  I ended up heating the sauce on the stove with the chicken thighs nestled inside to keep them warm.  It took about 10 minutes to warm everything.). 

Transfer turkey to platter.  Season sauce with salt and extra vinegar and serve alongside turkey. 

​Ciao!

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