We stayed at home for the holidays this year, so we thought it would be a perfect time to do some experimenting with the traditional Christmas dinner. Since turkey is the local Christmas dish of choice, why not combine it with another Mexican favorite of ours—tequila! In fact, why not inject the turkey with tequila so it oozed agave from its juicy meat? Why not.
We came across a great recipe for this very special Christmas bird: “Apricot and Tequila Glazed Turkey,” which you can see here at the Food Network site.
What makes this recipe so special is that not only are you infusing the bird with a tequila-butter-chicken-broth cocktail so it is literally bursting with juicy goodness, it also features a delectable chile-apricot glaze—the perfect marriage of savory and sweet.
When we carved into this baby Grover was blown away at how tender it was, and the aroma of tequila in the kitchen further escalated our appetites. The verdict: an amazing Christmas bird that’s good enough to share at your next family gathering.
Here are a few modifications we made to the recipe:
– More tequila in the infusion (3 Tbsp is clearly not enough). We used a reposado, but an añejo would serve as well.
– About a ¼ cup more apricot jam for the glaze – the chiles are powerful and the glaze turned out much more savory than sweet, so if you have a sweet tooth add even more jam than we did.
– More butter! Also, before we got fancy with the recipe we massaged the bird with butter, leaving generous pats underneath the skin. Don’t be shy with the butter—this isn’t a diet meal.
– Make a trip to the drug store. We didn’t have a professional “flavor injector” so we used a syringe we bought at the local pharmacy.
Overall, this was an easy recipe to make, with delicious results. Give it a try and let us know what you think!
ummm….how much tequila did you use???
Enough to make it interesting. :-)