Turcracon

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Mix ground turkey with 1 tablespoon each sage, garlic powder, salt, pepper.

Refrigerate 2-3 hours.

Using 10 slices of bacon, weave a square lattice like that on top of a pie: first, place 5 bacon slices side by side on a large sheet of aluminum foil, parallel to one another, sides touching. Place another strip of bacon on one end, perpendicular to the other strips.

Fold first, third and fifth bacon strips back over this new strip, then place another strip next to it, parallel to it.

Unfold first, third and fifth strips; fold back second and fourth strips. Repeat with remaining bacon until all 10 strips are tightly woven.

(The instructions are a lot more complicated that the actual process!)

Sprinkle with some of the rub.

Preheat oven to 225 degrees or light a fire in an outdoor smoker.

Sautee onion, celery, minced garlic, and mushroom in butter until wilted but still crisp, drain.

Toss with breadcrumbs and a little additional salt and pepper, press and cool. You want the mixture to still be fairly dry.

Evenly spread ground turkey on top of the bacon lattice, pressing to within 1/2 inch of the outer edges of the bacon. Sprinkle with rub.

Spread a thin layer of stuffing mixture over the ground turkey, pressing to 1/2 inch of the outer edges of the turkey.

Very carefully separate front edge of sausage layer from bacon weave and begin rolling sausage away from you, rolling the stuffing into the center. Bacon weave should stay where it was, flat. Press turkey roll to remove any air pockets and pinch together the seams and ends to seal.

Roll turkey toward you, this time with bacon weave, until it is completely wrapped. Turn it so seam faces down. Roll should be about 2 to 3 inches thick.

Place roll on a baking sheet in oven or in smoker. Cook until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 1 hour for each inch of thickness.

When about 30 minutes from done, glaze the roll with sauce.

To serve, slice into 1/4- to- 1/2-inch rounds.

Serve on potato rolls with a side of warmed cranberry barbeque sauce.

Garlic mashed potatoes and turkey gravy make a nice Thanksgiving accompaniment.

Chef's Note & Story

The sweet/tangy cranberry bbq has just a hint if heat from the pepper, and lends itself very nicely to the mild turkey. I think it would be a very nice glaze for chicken as well.

This dish is much lighter (both in flavor and density) than the traditional bacon explosion, and isn’t the “gut bomb” that the Italian sausage/bacon combo can be.

The stuffing at the center was firm, but moist, having lent a lot of flavor to the ground turkey, while soaking up the juices of the cooking meat. I’m glad I didn’t add any additional liquid to the stuffing, even though it seemed very dry. Definitely would have led to soggy dressing.

Bacon, of course, makes everything better, and this was no exception, and the soft potato rolls were the perfect compliment to the rounds of turkey.

Last note, if you serve additional cranberry barbeque sauce on the side, go sparingly. It’s very rich, and too much will quickly overpower the flavor of the sandwich.

Just a scrape across the bottom bun was enough for me.