Smoked Turkey Rillettes

Name: Smoked Turkey Rillettes
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: Nearly 2 cups
Cuisine: french
Ingredients: 1 smoked turkey drumstick (roasted turkey drumstick can be substituted); 3/4 cup chicken or duck fat; 2 bay leaves; 8 sprigs fresh thyme; 4 cloves garlic, sliced; 2 1/2 cups chicken stock, approximately; Freshly ground black pepper; Salt, optional; Toasted baguette slices; cornichons for serving

By Florence Fabricant

Total Time: 1½ hours
Rating: 4(9)
Notes: Read community notes

Featured in: Gathering at the Table, Bottles in Hand

or to save this recipe.
Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
Subscribe
Share
Print Options
Include recipe photo

Ingredients

Yield:Nearly 2 cups

1smoked turkey drumstick (roasted turkey drumstick can be substituted)
¾cup chicken or duck fat
2bay leaves
8sprigs fresh thyme
4cloves garlic, sliced
2½cups chicken stock, approximately
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt, optional
Toasted baguette slices
cornichons for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Peel skin from turkey and reserve. Cut turkey in large chunks, discarding cartilage, membrane and bones. Melt fat in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan. Add turkey and skin, bay leaves, thyme and garlic. Add enough stock to barely cover turkey. Bring to a brisk simmer and cook about 1 hour, until most of stock has evaporated (surface will no longer look foamy or bubbly). Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
Step 2
Discard skin, bay leaf and thyme. Remove turkey with a slotted spoon, draining well. Cut turkey in 1-inch pieces and place in food processor. Add fat from saucepan. Pulse quickly about 15 times until mixture looks finely shredded. Season with pepper; adding salt only if not using smoked turkey. Pack in a crock, cover and refrigerate overnight or longer (it is best after a couple of days). Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving with toast rounds and cornichons.

Ratings

4 out of 5

9 user ratings

Have you cooked this?

Private Notes

Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.

Cooking Notes

There aren’t any notes yet. Be the first to leave one.

kyla1 year ago

I substituted 4 large smoked Turkey necks for the leg - the meat is much more tender and easily shredded by hand. Also, I added more vegetables and herbs to unsalted stock used for simmering (2 carrots, 1/2 onion, 2 celery stalks with leaves, 6 stalks parsley) and seasoned the shredded cooked turkey to taste with smoked salt. I chose to mix the duck fat with the warm, shredded Turkey rather than adding it to the simmer pot where too much of it would be lost on discarded herbs and vegetables.

JT3 years ago

Delicious, easy version of classic rillettes and perfect for t-day leftovers. My suggestion is to only add SOME of the cooled liquid to the processor as my gut told me to do, as I ended up with more liquid than needed. More importantly, that was after I used not only a leg, but also an entire wing AND a bit of breast meat. It'd be helpful if the author gave some idea of weight/volume of meat needed. Also, with all that fat, it did need salt despite my turkey being smoked and brined.

Private notes are only visible to you.