Post-holiday pastimes with your bird.

A timely fall recipe which meets three important requirements:

• Efficiently preserves your leftover turkey.

• Tastes delicious.

• Helps you preserve food so you’ll have something to eat & barter with after the rapture.

We are experiencing the bounty that comes when each of your guests brings a potluck dish that serves at least 6 people, they each are just the one, so the math is….18 people x 6 servings = so many leftovers that we have stashed certain durable items near the back door, grouped right there around the door in the cold air, so we can just reach out & grab them without spending much time there in the cold ourselves. Some clever guests slipped away without taking their fair share of leftovers. That’s where a downstairs freezer comes in handy; they’ll be seeing those leftovers next time they come for dinner. That’s what they get for sliding out unnoticed.

And so I give you… turkey jerky! This is the first time I’ve dried cooked meat & I am so impressed by the result. Please let me share this simple but highly useful & satisfying recipe with you.

First you will need a food dehydrator. I recommend the Excalibur, the true queen of the food-drying world. I know your leftover turkey has been in the fridge for a couple of days now, so you’ll want to act fast. Overnight shipping will be steep, especially for something so bulky, but you’ll come out of it with a really great dehydrator.

Pull pieces of meat into strips about as wide as your finger. You want pieces, not hunks. Put them in a bowl & sprinkle with salt, brown sugar. Gosh, that looks dry, you’ll think. So squeeze a couple of limes of their precious bodily fluids. Mix it around with your hand. You should have added enough lime juice to create just the tiniest bit of juice in the bottom of the bowl that you can’t quite manage to work into the meat. Spread on one of your new dryer sheets & dry for about 6-8 hours. Do this in the daytime. You want to be able to check on the progress. Overnight is too long.  Might I add that when I am clumping up the basement stairs with a tray of turkey jerky balanced on one hand, my dog Tippy stands at the top of the stairs with her front paws on the first stair down. This means her nose is well forward & ideally positioned to snuffle the tray, & also means that I must bribe my way past her. So. Excellent dog treats for whatever you will inevitably over-dry, despite my warnings. Snack on, put in lunchboxes, take camping, break up & add to soup. Enjoy! -Susan