Pavo Trufado de Navidad
(Christmas Turkey with Truffles)
1 turkey of 9 pounds.
1 1/2 pounds. minced lean pork
2 1/4 pounds. minced veal
Salt and ground black pepper
3 tins (of 3 oz) truffles (mushrooms)
5 1/4 oz "jamon serrano"
7 oz belly of pork in rashers
6 eggs
For garnish...
Apple puree, Plums, Pineapple, oranges and maraschino cherries
For the stock..
Carcass and giblets of the turkey
1 pound carrots
1 pound leeks
1 pound onions
1 stick of celery
2 ham bones
1.2 oz gelatin
Eggshells
Place the turkey upside down, cut the skin along the backbone, and using the fingers, ease away the skin in one piece, first on one side of the backbone and then on the other. It is elastic and should come away easily.
Keep the breasts apart, making fillets of the thickest parts and cutting into strips. Remove the meat from the legs and wings, etc., and mince it with the pork and veal, putting it all into a bowl. Season with salt and ground black pepper, add the chopped truffles and their juice, and the ham and belly of pork in strips. Leave to marinate for 4 hours, together with the beaten eggs.
Remove the sliced truffles and the strips of ham and belly of pork, and reserve. Then knead together the filling thoroughly by hand.
Now spread out the skin of the turkey on the working surface and lay the fillets on top like the pages of a book. Cover the breasts with a layer of the minced meat and then with one of ham and belly of pork strips, breasts and slices of truffle, repeating the operation until the ingredients are used up. Using a stout needle, sew together the edges of the skin and also the holes made by the wings and legs.
Place the sew-up skin with its filling on a white napkin, roll it around and sew with large stitches, then tie it into a roll with uncolored string.
Put the roll into a large saucepan, together with the cut up carcass and cut up vegetables. Add the ham bones, the gelatin and a few egg shells. Cover with 3 liters of cold water and boil briskly for 3 hours (1 ½ hours each side), seasoning with salt and ground pepper. Make sure that it is evenly cooked, then remove the roll and leave it on a dish to drain and cool.
Remove the cloth in which it is wrapped, wring out the juice into the cooking liquid, rinse out the cloth and again wrap up the roll without sewing. Put it on a dish, place a chopping board on top, and on top of this a weight of 6 or 7 pounds. Press for 12 hours and then put into the refrigerator.
Boil the cooking liquid without a lid, reducing it to 2 pints if converting it into a jelly. If strained, this makes a magnificent soup or consomme. If required thicker, add three or four leave of gelatin. Cut the roll into slices 1/2 inch thick. Serve with puree of apples and plums and decorate with slices of fresh pineapples and orange and with maraschino cherries.