What is Honey Turkey?
Turkey roasted with a glaze of honey, mustard, garlic and seasonings. It has a juicy, tender texture and a savory taste with a touch of sweetness. It can be sliced thinly and used as cold cuts.
Ingredients
Turkey is a poultry and popular in North America. This bird has both white and dark meat. The white meat is in the breast and the dark meat is in the legs. The texture is similar to chicken, but more dry. White turkey meat is considered lean, due to its lower fat content. Turkey must be cooked and should never be eaten raw. The whole bird can be roasted. The flavor is bland and slightly gamey. The skin will be crisped and flavorful. Much can be done to boost the flavor, such as brining, smoking and seasoning the bird.
Vegetable oil is obtained by extracting oil from seeds. Types of vegetable oil include canola, sunflower, corn, and safflower. Light and with a neutral taste, vegetable oils are used to fry foods, or can be used to lightly coat meats and vegetables before roasting. Vegetable oils are also used as ingredients in salad dressings and sauces.
Dijon is a French city from which this popular mustard originated. In the Middle Ages this area of France was known for mustard making. Dijon is now produced in many countries and has a muted yellowy/beige color. It is a smooth textured mustard, without whole mustard seeds and has a robust flavor that is strong, with a good heat and a hint of pungency. Mustard is spread onto sandwiches, used in sauces and has a number of delicious applications.
Honey is made by the honey bee. The bees collect flower nectar and then deposit it into the honeycombs in the beehive. Once inside the honeycomb, the nectar breaks down into simple sugars. Evaporation via the fanning of the bees wings and the shape of the honeycomb helps excess liquid to evaporate, creating the sweet syrup that is used around the world. Honey is an amber color that can vary from pale yellow to dark brown. The texture is of an extra thick syrup. All honey is sweet, but the flavor can change considerably from floral to herbal and even nutty, depending on the flowers that the bees collected honey from. Honey is used in both sweet and savory dishes, as well as in tea as a sweetener.
Rosemary is a woody herb and grows on a plant that looks like a small bush. The dense stalks are reminiscent of a Christmas tree, with the many skinny rosemary leaves situated much like fir needles. However, rosemary is a soft leaf and has a very strong aromatic smell. This smell is sharp, yet pleasing and refreshingly green. Dried rosemary smells similar and is dried using air or mild heat. The leaves remain fairly intact and are added to potatoes and meat. The flavor has a quality that could be considered distantly like mint, but sharper and with a hint of bitterness.
Onion powder is made from the bulb vegetable, onion. Onions are round with a thin, papery skin covering their many layers of juicy and crunchy flesh. This flesh, which is white, yellow or red is made by taking dehydrated onion pieces and then grinding them into an extremely fine powder. The powder is a pale golden/tan color. Onion powder has a flavor that is milder than fresh onions, but highly flavorful in a richer and more concentrated way. It tastes both sweet and mellow, with a spicy edge. Onion powder is used as a seasoning for savory dishes.
Salt is a mineral composed mostly of sodium chloride. It is the main flavoring used in food and is naturally occurring in certain foods, such as cheese, beets, meat and celery, plus many others. Salt is white and has finer granules than sugar. Many commercial salts include iodide, while others exclude it. Most salts are white, while some are naturally pale pink with minerals. Salt brings out the flavor of something and can create a tangy mouthfeel, if used in excess.
Garlic powder is made from dehydrated garlic cloves that have been ground into a super fine powder. This powder is a pale yellow/golden color and is used to flavor foods. It works well in a pinch and can be used in many of the same ways that fresh garlic is used. The flavor is milder than raw or cooked garlic and is spicy, pungent and nutty. Garlic granules are another form of dehydrated garlic, but rather than powder it is coarser and has the same function. It is often used on top of fresh pizza, as a light dusting.
The peppercorn plant grows in tropical climate and produces tiny black fruit. The fruit is dried and become hard. At this point it is ground into a textured powder comprised of black and grey dots. It has a flavor that is spicy, pungent and sharp. Pepper is an extremely popular spice, especially in Western cuisines and lends a gentle heat to dishes. There are different varieties of black pepper and the flavor changes subtly because of this.
