I’m curled up with one of my favorite cookbooks of the year, “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts” by writer Crystal Wilkinson.
Wilkinson is former poet laureate from Kentucky and a member of the Affrilachian Poets collective who has helped shift perceptions of Appalachian culture and rural Black America. Her writing about the food she grew up with in Indian Creek, Ky., is moving and eye-opening and leaves me with a longing for a place I’d never even known. (Spoiler alert: “Praisesong” is on our list of best cookbooks of the year, which is set to publish Monday.)
I flip to her recipe for turkey hash, simple and comforting — exactly what I want post-Thanksgiving, when maybe for at least a few moments I can just sit still with a warm bowl of creamy potatoes and roast turkey — less Thanksgiving redux than it is its own kind of nourishment.
“Here’s the ultimate holiday leftover dish,” Wilkinson writes. “I make it the way my grandmother did, although it’s not like traditional hashes I’ve seen.”
I haven’t seen any hash like this either, a creamy almost-stew or a potato-y porridge, made with turkey, onion and Yukon Golds that cook down in a sauce of chicken (or turkey) broth and a milk-and-flour slurry with salt and pepper. That’s it. It’s a way to use up your leftover turkey but doesn’t require a lot of other ingredients, only what you probably already have on hand.
“Spooned over biscuits, it is the breakfast of sorghum kings and water witches,” Wilkinson continues. “This is my favorite meal to make with holiday leftovers.”
Now it’s mine too.
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Turkey Hash
This easy turkey hash bubbles on the stove — a mixture of diced leftover roast turkey, cubed potatoes and onions — with chicken or turkey broth. Once the potatoes are tender, add the milk-and-flour slurry mixed with a little of the hot broth into the pot. If you’ve got biscuits, this is a biscuits-and-gravy-like moment.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 45 minutes. Serves 8.
Here are a few other favorite recipes for using up your Thanksgiving leftovers:
Leftover Turkey Collard Greens
Collard’s smooth, thick leaves develop a silky texture after a long simmer, along with an earthy sweetness. Even without turkey, this pot of greens from former L.A. Times Cooking editor Genevieve Ko develops complex flavors from sauteed onion and garlic, tangy vinegar and hot sauce.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 45 minutes. Serves 8.
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Turkey Pot Pie
“Making pot pie after serving turkey for a holiday is a relaxed affair,” says former L.A. Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila. She makes Bradley Ogden’s recipe for chicken pot pie made with turkey instead of chicken — her family tradition. “I like the way he cuts the meat into 1- to 1 1/2 -inch chunks so you get a real bite of [turkey], the way he poaches the vegetables in the stock so the broth picks up even more flavor. Even more important, he manages to arrive at a gravy just thick enough to cloak the vegetables and poultry without being either watery or thick as wallpaper paste.” And the crust? It’s buttery and flaky and flecked with fresh herbs.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 2 hours. Serves 8 to 10.
Turkey Bone Gumbo
The star of this recipe from former New Orleanian Sara Roahen — who learned how to make gumbo from a chef at NOLA’s Brigtsen’s Restaurant — is the roux, which you can make in advance. She starts it on the stove then cooks it in the oven, stirring occasionally, until it’s a deep brown. “The darker the roux, the thinner the gumbo,” says Roahen, “but what you lose in thickening power, you gain in flavor.” It’s an annual Thanksgiving tradition to make this gumbo with leftover turkey, stock made from the roasted carcass, and andouille sausage.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 5 hours, mostly unattended. Serves 8.
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