Forcemeat recipes

[Ling]

For one of the turkeys we're doing for Thanksgiving, I've decided to bone it out entirely and use part of the meat as the forcemeat. (BTW--should I stuff the dark meat, or puree the dark meat and roll up the breast? I think the latter option would give a neater presentation, but I am leaning towards using the breast as the stuffing as the dark meat is moister and doesn't necessarily need the cream/butter/animal fat that goes into the forcemeat. Opinions?)

Madeleine Kauman suggests using something like:

2 pounds of meat

3/4 pounds fatback

5 eggs

2-3 tsp. salt

1 1/4 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. Quatre-Epices

However, I often see chefs making forcemeat in the food processor by grinding the meat and adding heavy cream, eggs, seasoning, and sometimes breadcrumbs (or bread soaked in milk). Which should I use--cream, or fatback? If I use fatback, should I also use breadcrumbs?

I also plan on adding some fortified wine or spirits to the forcemeat...is sherry the best choice?

[Vadouvan]

You could make a forcemeat out of either breast or dark meat however from a technical perspective, I would stuff the breast as opposed to boning out and stuffing both thighs, at best there will be tons of forcemeat left over.

It is preferable to grind and not puree the meat, grinding gives you a mousse-sy texture which I find horrible unless it is actual german frankfurters in germany.

For whatever reason you do decide to puree the meat, make sure it is nearly frozen before you do so. The chill protects texture and prevents the fat from seperating which dries it out during cooking.

EVEN if you are adding fatback, chill it well.

Eggs are fine as a binder, cream will heavily dilute the flavor and texture, breadcrumbs make it too dense.

Cream Or Fatback ?

Cream and fatback add different qualities.

Fatback adjusts the lean to fat ratio which affects the delicious mouthfeel of the stuffing.

Think of it as a ground beef ratio for hamburger, a 70/30 (lean to fat) ratio burger will be more tasty than a 90/10 assuming similar cooking.

Bread soaked in milk (panade) make the forcemeat moister and softer post cooking, a definite plus. You basically want to get cheap white supermarket bread, cut off the edges, soak it in milk, squeeze all the milk out and add that paste.

Dont be tempted to use any fancy silly breads........cheap sliced whitebread like kids use for sandwiches.

I would use Fatback

Skip the cream

Panade for sure

Slightly undercaramelized onions are good.

Picked fresh herbs like thyme or/and sage.

Season with salt/pep/spices.

Before you stuff your birdie, it is advised to saute a tiny bit of that forcemeat to check it's flavor so you can adjust seasoning.

As for liquor...............Reduced Madiera is best, something like a Paul Masson which cost $6 or if you want to splurge, an inexpensive rainwater madiera.

Put booze in pan, gently bring to a boil, flame it till alchohol burns off, reduce by half, cool completely before using......

[Ling]

Thanks for all your help--I'll go with the fatback and the panade.