Christmas turkey

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 3 kg turkey, approx.
• 150 g butter
• 1 tbsp salt
• possibly white wine, dry
• 150 g butter
• 1 egg(s)
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 egg whites, beaten stiffly
• 2 rolls, stale, possibly more
• 500 ml milk
• 1 almond(s) (bitter almond), grated
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 200 g chestnuts, steamed
• 100 g flour (breadcrumbs)
• 750 g red cabbage, raw
• 250 g apples
• 1 onion(s)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cloves
• 40 g lard
• Salt
• Sugar
• 185 g sour cherries from the jar
• 1 tbsp jam (cherry jam)
• 1 pinch of cinnamon
• Vinegar
• 1,200 g potatoes, preferably small
• Salt water, strong
• n. B. Caraway
• e.g. olive oil
• Sage or thyme

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

with sour cherry red cabbage and baked potatoes

Don’t be alarmed by the number of ingredients, this recipe is a hit and we make it every year! Start with the turkey, which takes the longest. It’s best to start on the afternoon of Christmas Eve and finish baking it on the morning of the holiday. It tastes really delicious that way! Salt the turkey well inside and out. Beat the butter, whole egg and egg yolks until light and fluffy, then soak the bread rolls in milk and squeeze them dry. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Add the bitter almonds, salt, sugar, finely chopped chestnuts and breadcrumbs and mix well. Fold the stiff egg whites into the stuffing and fill the neck and belly cavity with it. But be careful: the stuffing will either expand a little or the bird will shrink a little, don’t stuff it too full and it’s best to sew up the opening… Melt the butter in the saucepan and add the turkey. Brown in a preheated oven at around 190°C for about 10-15 minutes on each side, then bake at around 160-175°C until golden brown. Turn occasionally and baste with the meat juices. If desired, you can reheat the meat juices with a little dry white wine. That’s all for the turkey, now’s the red cabbage: I use fresh red cabbage, as the end product is otherwise too sweet for me. Remove the stalk from the red cabbage and shred (or finely chop) the cabbage. Peel, core, and quarter the apples, then slice them. Peel the onion and stud it with the bay leaf and cloves. Layer the apples in the pot with the onion, salt, sugar, cabbage, and lard. Drain the cherries, collect the cherry juice, and add it to the cabbage. Simmer the whole thing for about 35 minutes until tender (this time is calculated while the whole thing is cooking). Then remove the onion, stir in the jam, and add the cherries. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes over low heat. Season the red cabbage with cinnamon and vinegar. Red cabbage is a bit more complicated than turkey, so let’s get to the simplest part: the baked potatoes. Simply peel the potatoes and cook them in salted water with a little caraway. Then sauté them in olive oil with sage or thyme, and you’re done.