Just in time for Thanksgiving, we bring you a great Cuban turkey recipe!
Probably the most popular "Cubanized" version of roast turkey in Miami is the one stuffed with moros y cristianos. This turkey combines the traditional American-style turkey with moros, a classic Cuban dish.
Cuban Stuffed Turkey
MARINADE
- 1 (12- to 14-pound) turkey
8 cloves garlic, mashed with 1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1⁄2 cup sour orange juice (or substitute 1⁄3 cup sweet orange juice with 1 tablespoon white vinegar added)
1⁄2 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped white onion
Stuffing
2 cups dried black beans
4 cups water
3 cups parboiled rice
6 strips bacon, chopped
21⁄2 cups diced white onion
21⁄2 cups chopped green bell peppers
1⁄4 cup olive oil for sautéing
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1⁄4 cup tomato paste
11⁄2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons white vinegar
5 cups turkey stock (see step 1 below)
1 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
1⁄2 pound thick-sliced bacon
1⁄2 cup white wine
Mix together all of the marinade ingredients. Rub the turkey inside and out with the marinade.Place the turkey in a very large plastic bag.We use a clean white kitchen trash bag. It’s important to keep the marinade away from any metallic surface—like your turkey roasting pan. Place the (bagged) turkey in a roasting pan and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
Cover the dry beans with about 4 cups water in a 2-quart saucepan. Don’t add any salt yet. Bring to a boil, and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it stand, covered overnight.
The next morning, drain and rinse the beans. Add enough water to cover once again and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover and cook until tender, about 35 to 50 minutes. Drain. Rinse the rice with cold water until the water runs clear.
Use a large, 8-quart covered stockpot. Sauté the bacon, onion, and green pepper in the olive oil until tender.
Add the garlic and sauté another minute or two. Add the tomato paste, black beans, oregano, cumin, bay leaf, and vinegar. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring gently.
Add the turkey stock and the rinsed rice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until rice is fully cooked.
Finally, adjust the seasonings by adding salt and pepper to taste. Remove the bay leaf.
Stuff the turkey with the moros—the rice and beans you made in the previous step. Cover the turkey with bacon slices and pour wine over the top of the turkey.
For best results, follow the cooking instructions that come with the turkey. In general, roast the turkey at 325 degrees F until fully cooked. (Check with a meat thermometer—poultry setting).
Do not overcook.
Remove the bacon during the last 30 minutes to allow the skin to brown.
Serves:
That’s a good question. The experts tell you to allow 1⁄3 pound of turkey per person. These “experts” have obviously never heard of the concept of leftovers. Our thinking? A 12-pound bird is going to serve no more than 10 people.
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The ham, more properly called a jamón ibérico de bellota, (there are other types of ibérico ham, but this is the best) is made from the ibérico pig. The pigs are allowed to range free and, several weeks before slaughter, the pigs roam the nearby oak forests where they gorge themselves on fallen acorns.
This diet and a dry curing process that the locals have used for generations produce this gold standard of hams.
It’s almost hard to describe the experience. The ham is rich with fat, much of which is monounsaturated and therefore healthy, like olive oil. Sliced paper thin, it is only moderately chewy and the fat dissolves on the tongue like butter.
No matter how you slice it, it’s all about the flavor. Salty yet not overly “hammy” like most American hams, the ibérico has a subtle nutty taste.
- Jamón Ibérico
Put the curdled milk in a large pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered.
After simmering about one hour, remove one cup of the liquid only from the pan. (Meanwhile let the milk and curds continue to simmer.)
Put five whole eggs into a blender and mix at high speed. Gradually add the hot liquid, a little at a time and very SLOWLY, to the eggs and continue blending until the eggs are frothy.
Add this egg mixture back into the simmering milk, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until well blended.
At two hours, stir in the sugar and a pinch of salt. Continue simmering on low heat until most of the liquid evaporates. This takes several more hours on low heat.
The finished product should look a little like cottage cheese soaked in caramel.
It is very easy to let this burn, so you have to use low heat, stir occasionally, and watch it carefully and constantly!
- Recipe by Ignacio Enrique Hernandez of Hemet, CA
- Submitted by his daughter, Marbel Ordonez
- 2 gallons of milk
- 5 eggs
- 8 pieces of lemon peel
- 2 cups or sugar - 3 cups if you dare!
- 1 pinch of salt
- 5 eggs
Open: Daily, noon to 11:00 p.m.
Price: Moderate to expensive
Dress: Casual
- 1698 Coral Way
- Coral Gables, Florida 33145
- 305-854-0039
- Coral Gables, Florida 33145
