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Issue Date: November 12, 2006
The $10,000 Turkey
iMuy delicioso! Find out why our judges awarded this bird the huge grand prize -- and how you can make it, too. Plus, check out recipes from four runners-up.
By Frappa Stout
Anel Schmidt's Thanksgiving turkey has no stuffing, but it is full of history. "It's drenched in flavors my family has passed down in Cuba for generations," says Schmidt, whose parents fled the country around 1959, when Fidel Castro took power. "When they began celebrating Thanksgiving in America, they automatically used those seasonings for the turkey. I've never known turkey any other way." That's a good thing, because the first-time food contestant took top honors -- and the $10,000 grand prize -- in America's Top Recipe Contest 2006 for her mother's holiday bird.
Schmidt, 35, who lives in Phoenix with husband Daniel, a real estate trainer and supervisor, daughter Ariela, 9, and son Daniel, 2, read about the contest on Allrecipes.com. She named the dish Turkey Mercedes after her mother, who died when Schmidt was 19. "I thought if I named it after her and I won, it would be a great way to have her memory and her name somewhere lasting," Schmidt says.
When it came time to cook her first turkey, Schmidt asked her stepdad for her mother's recipe. "He told me the seasonings she used, but he didn't know the amounts or how she did it," she says. "I had to put two and two together, using what my grandmother taught me about Cuban cooking. But I don't have time for the mortar and pestle and all that, so I do it the quick way. I use a juicer for the lemons, use orange juice concentrate and throw it all in the blender with the seasonings -- and voilà, we've got our turkey."
The judges were smitten with the Cuban-accented bird, which won in the "holiday family favorites" category. "What pushed Turkey Mercedes to the top was that it combined great flavor and succulence with attractive presentation, and, to me, represented a creative, meaningful take on a traditional American holiday favorite," says Allrecipes.com food editor Carl Hanson. USA WEEKEND's Pam Anderson admits she was surprised when she tasted it. "I read the recipe, and I really didn't think it looked extraordinary," she says. "But with all the garlic, lemon juice, oregano, cumin and the orange juice to make it stick together, I thought, 'Wow, I sure would like to eat that on Thanksgiving!' "
For side dishes, Schmidt keeps it traditionally Cuban: rice ("it's to Cubans like potatoes are to Americans") topped with soupy black beans, chicken croquettes and boiled yucca. "That's what I grew up with, and now the smells alone take me back," she says. "I want my kids to have those memories, too."
The judges said that the winning recipe, Turkey Mercedes, is a creative take on a traditional favorite that combines great flavor and attractive presentation.
Winning turkey tips
Grand prize winner Anel Schmidt, of Phoenix, above, offers the following advice for making a perfect Turkey Mercedes:
Stick with a brand you know and trust.
Schmidt buys Butterball turkeys because, she says, "I know I'm getting a good turkey, and it won't be skin and bones."
Ramp up your turkey marinade.
A typical brine of salted water is pretty good and produces a juicy turkey. But this garlicky, citrusy, Cuban-inspired concoction takes it up a bunch of notches. "Push the garlic pieces into the holes in the turkey to really get the flavor through the meat," Schmidt says.
Deploy the turkey baster.
By frequently sucking up the juices and redistributing them to all parts of the bird, you get a tender dish. "The turkey will absorb the seasonings," Schmidt says, "and it won't get mushy at the bottom."
America's Top Recipe Contest 2006
Last spring, USA WEEKEND and Allrecipes.com invited you to enter our contest. By early summer, 9,004 recipes arrived, and the Allrecipes.com staff got busy reading and cooking to determine 25 finalists in five categories. This fall, the judges -- Allrecipes.com food editor Carl Hanson, USA WEEKEND's Pam Anderson, Seattle restaurateur Tom Douglas, Health magazine's Frances Largeman-Roth, R.D., and Taste of Home's Diane Werner -- chose the grand prize winner from the five category winners (all five winners received a complete set of Allrecipes.com Tried and True cookbooks). See all 25 finalists' recipes online at Allrecipes.com.
Go to top
Grand Prize Winner
The holiday bird gets a Caribbean makeover
Turkey Mercedes
1 16-pound turkey
3 heads garlic, peeled
1 Tb. black pepper
1 Tb. ground cumin
1 Tb. dried oregano
2 Tbs. salt (or to taste)
2 cups fresh lemon juicefrom about 10 lemons
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 of a 12-ounce can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
Wash turkey, discard innards and pat bird dry. Place in roasting pan.
Crush peeled garlic cloves with the side of a heavy knife and put in a large bowl. Add the pepper, cumin, oregano and salt. Whisk in the lemon juice, wine and orange juice concentrate until well-mixed.
Using a sharp paring knife, pierce the turkey breast, thighs, legs and underside, creating many holes for the marinade to penetrate. Pour the marinade over turkey and into the holes. Finally, stuff as many garlic pieces from the marinade into the holes as possible. Cover turkey well with foil, refrigerate and let marinate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 325 F.
Remove foil and place turkey in middle of oven. Roast until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh measures 180 F, about 5 hours. Baste the turkey with the pan liquids every 30 to 45 minutes using a turkey baster. Be careful not to let the juices puddle in the bottom of the pan or the lower part of the turkey will get soggy. (Use baster to suck up extra juices and transfer them to a large bowl to use for basting.) Cover turkey breast with foil the last hour of cooking so it won't burn.
Let the turkey rest at least 20 minutes before carving.
Serves 20
Per serving: 587 calories, 75g protein, 9g carbohydrates, 26g fat (8g saturated), 215mg cholesterol, 1g fiber, 879mg sodium
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