Waste Not

Turkey innards and teeth marks. Turkey giblet mousseline.

That stuff in the turkey carcass is good for more than just gravy, but finding good instructions that utilize the liver, heart, and gizzards isn't easy. I checked the archives, and found something to work off of in a typoed, quasi-misindexed (but otherwise seemingly excellent) Forgotten Skills of Cooking recipe. Still, there was much improvisation.

To begin, I soaked the giblets in milk over night. The next day I dried them and started the cooking by softening some shallots in butter. Once that was going I added the trimmed and very roughly chopped gizzards. After the gizzards were about med rare I added the trimmed and very roughly chopped heart. Then in went the trimmed liver. Things were salted and peppered as they were added to the pan.

Once the liver was warmed through the whole mess into a little food processor. The pan had some remaining butter and fond, and I deglazed with some amarone grappa (2 or 3 tbs) and threw in a sprig of thyme. I flamed the grappa, and after nearly setting the house on fire the grappa got poured into the processor with the giblets. A little allspice, a little nutmeg, and then everything got pureed until smooth. Once smooth about 3/4 a stick of cubed butter got buzzed in.

The mixture got put into jars that were topped with about 1/8" of melted duck fat (you can see some of that fat on the lower right side of the pictured cracker), and by the next day the mousseline really came into its own. Nothing was off because of the heart and gizzard. There was no need for copious amounts of heavy cream (although I wasn't exactly shy with the butter). This is was what the chopped liver of my youth could have been if wasn't for Deuteronomy.

Turkey from Fresh Fork Market.