That lacquered Turkey look

I have searched through my recipe books and the threads here, looking for recipes that specifically focus on glazes or rubs that produce a dark lacquered skin as I begin to plot Thanksgiving ideas. Would very much appreciate Forumite wisdom on pomegranate, maple, molasses, soy, coffee or whathaveyou as glazes, or general technical wisdom as well. Is there something like a Peking Turkey? Thanks.

Annak,

A trick I sometimes employ with turkey is to lightly spray red wine vinegar 3-4 times in the last 45 minutes of cooking, which gives the turkey a lovely red brick hue. Don't overdo it, a mist does the trick.

With BBQ I oftentimes use 'tart wash' a mix of BBQ rub, cranberry juice and olive oil, which reinforces the rub flavor along with a light shine from the oil, tart/sweet and bit of color from cranberry juice.

Another 'trick', mainly used in Chinese cooking, is to drizzle meats with maltose syrup this imparts a light sweet and sticky shiny glaze.

If a pretty color is your main objective, you can use the competition BBQ trick of rubbing a bit of cherry or strawberry kool-aid on the poultry skin.

Slow smoking with wood, apple in this case, imparts a lovely burnished hue to poultry as well.

annak wrote:I have searched through my recipe books and the threads here, looking for recipes that specifically focus on glazes or rubs that produce a dark lacquered skin as I begin to plot Thanksgiving ideas. Would very much appreciate Forumite wisdom on pomegranate, maple, molasses, soy, coffee or whathaveyou as glazes, or general technical wisdom as well. Is there something like a Peking Turkey? Thanks.

I once made a chicken that was marinated in yogurt and a few other things. The cooked chicken had a beautiful, dark red color.

Otherwise, I would recommend any of the things you mentioned, or that Gary mentioned - it really depends on what flavor you are going for, esp how sweet you want it. Almost all of these things have sugar in them, so it is really important not to put them on so early in the cooking process that the sugar burns.

Annak,

An oddball suggestion, though it seems to work, is to coat the turkey in mayo. I did a luau pig this summer for the Salvation Army and Merrill, a BBQ buddy and Capitan in the Salvation Army, brought out an industrial size jar of mayo and waxed poetic about the lovely hue it gave Mr. Piggy on a previous competition cook. The pig did look pretty and there was zero residual flavor from the mayo.

PhilW, Merrill, KennyZ, Jazzfood having way to much fun greasing up the pig.



Not sure if the service is still available at the new location, but in the past Sun Wah would take customers turkeys for Thanksgiving and cook them in the style of Chinese roast duck.

Enjoy,
Gary