Turkey Follow Up, and More Recipe Stuff

The turkey was nooot good. Serves me right for believing I could make a better turkey than the masses. The turkey was not very salty, tough, and did not exhibit enough carmalization on the skin.

Lessons learned:
(1) the turkey needs to be a few inches from the heat coil at the top of the oven. The "Joy of Cooking" said to lower the rack to the lowest setting. But the turkey was so small, it was too far away!

(2) No more free-range/organic turkey. It was tough.

In other recipe news, I learned how to make my Mom's Chinese turkey stew.

Ingredients:
dried shitake mushrooms soaking in water
dried wood ear mushrooms soaking in water
preserved cabbage, shredded, in a can (yellow and red can labelled "Preserved Cabbage")

Instructions:
(1) Boil the carcass in a pot. Also possible, a thigh leg. No carcass necessary
(2) Lower the soup to a simmer. In the meantime, cut the mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms into slices, taking care to remove the woody root of the wood ear. Slices can be 1/8" thick.
(3) Put 1/2-3/4 can of the preserved, salty cabbage into the soup and simmer for a few hours.
(4) Put julienned carrots into the soup. Simmer some more...
(5) The soup is done when the wood ear mushroom makes the soup gelatinous. Serve into a bowl with some Chinese black vinegar (optional).