Turkey tips with Chef Joshua Campbell

Tips on the Turkey Preparation:
“Brine the turkey to retain moisture and if you’re not worried about whole bird presentation....have the butcher break down the bird into 4 pieces, separating the white meat from the dark meat, if you’d like, you can also have the butcher save the bones for you to make a nice stock.”

New Things To Do With a Turkey:
“I’ve been playing around with a sea-salt crusted turkey. You start with a salted dough consisting of sea salt, flour, egg whites, rosemary, thyme, garlic and water and roll out the dough large enough the cover the turkey. After cooking it the dough will become hard and brittle, then after cooking, pick off the dried dough on the bird. What happens is this amazing infusion of salt and herbs that seeps into the turkey. You can also do a lobster stuffed turkey, for some reason these flavors really work well together.”

Leftovers:
“ A turkey melt is one of the best things to do with leftovers. Get some nice bread and slap on the leftover turkey, then top with a cranberry relish, cheddar cheese and put it on a Panini press. Save the gravy as a dipping sauce. You could do also a turkey tater-tot casserole, with the stuffing, leftover turkey and gravy in a shallow dish, throw it in the oven with everything mixed together and you have a great dish.”

On Picking the Right Turkey:
“ Don’t always go for the biggest bird, try to go as organic or heirloom as possible, you should treat good turkey just as you would a filet mignon.”


CHEF BIO
Campbell, a Cincinnati native attended the Florida Culinary Institute in West Palm Beach from 1999-2001. During his culinary training, Campbell served at the Chef de Cuisine at 11th Maple Street ((listed in the Zagat survey as top restaurant in the U.S.) in West Palm Beach for 5 years.

In 2003 Campbell returned to Cincinnati for 1 year and worked as a private chef for Bohlen Veneer Corporation in Fairfield and for David Faulk at Boca.

In 2004 he returned to Florida and worked a short time as head chef at Osceola Street Café in Stuart, Florida. Later that year he was offered the Executive Chef position at The Dunmore Beach Club on Harbor Island in the Bahamas which is an Andrew Harper Hideaway Report “Best Small Resort”. During his 2-½ years at the Dunmore Beach Club he attended the Royal Thai Culinary Academy in Bang Sain, Thailand where he learned the art of creating Thai Cuisine, which he incorporates into many of his dishes.

Beginning in 2007 Campbell served as the Director of Cuisine for Graycliff in Nassau, Bahamas, which is the only 5 star restaurant and recipient of the Wine Spectator-Grand Award in the entire Caribbean. While at Graycliff, Campbell was the first chef to bring molecular gastronomy to the Bahamas.

Corey Wietmarschen is the brains behind the business. Corey graduated from Bowling Green State University with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management and with a minor in marketing. After college, he managed Blue Ash Nursing Home and Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Having had a taste of customer service and managerial experience Corey went back to Xavier to pursue his Masters degree in Sports Administration.