Brown Turkey Neck Stew

Brown Turkey Neck Stew is a Caribbean style stew packed with bold flavors which creates rich savory dish.  

A few weeks back I share a picture of Instagram of my brown turkey neck stew and I had quite a bit of interest and recipe requests.  I first heard of stewing turkey neck from my sister who had it at a friend’s house many years ago.  She said it was good and mimicked oxtails, I’ve been intrigued ever since.

I like to call brown turkey neck stew the poor man’s oxtails because it looks similar to oxtails when stewed and it is fairly inexpensive.  Like oxtail, turkey necks should be cooked low and slow in order to tenderize it.  Does it taste like oxtail?  No, because oxtail is beef and turkey is poultry but it does make a tasty stew.  The meat of the turkey neck is dark meat so it has a lot more than other parts.  It does need to be slow cooked; if you’re pressed for time you can use a pressure cooker to shorten cook time.

Turkey neck comes whole, so you have to cut it into the segments to resemble oxtail; I cut them into 2 inch pieces.   Since I’m making brown stew I seasoned it well with herbs and spices such as thyme, ginger and black pepper.  I then let it marinate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight to get the maximum amount of flavor from the seasonings.

I start the stew in the same manner as other brown stews like oxtail or chicken stew by caramelizing sugar until its dark brown – this gives the stew a rich deep color and flavor.  If you’re interesting in seeing how to caramelize the sugar take a look at this video to see how I do it.

The turkey neck is browned and cooked in its own juices before adding water and the remaining ingredients.  I slow cook it for at least an hour; it may take longer depending on the size of the pieces.  Once it’s done, I serve the brown turkey neck stew with white rice or rice and peas!

Get the Recipe BROWN TURKEY NECK STEW

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Leave a Review

Ingredients

 

• Brown Turkey Neck Stew
• 3 lbs Turkey neck, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 4 cloves garlic
• ½ tsp ginger
• 2 tsp thyme leaves
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tsp Worcestershire
• 3 tbsp oil
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 hot pepper
• 6 Jamaican pimento berries
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 carrots, sliced
• Water
• Butter beans
• scallion

Instructions

 

• Season turkey neck with crush garlic, ginger, thyme, onion, black pepper, salt, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and marinate for at least 4 hours.
• In a large heavy bottom pot, preferable cast iron, add oil and sugar over medium heat. Allow sugar to melt and turn dark brown then add seasoned turkey neck.
• Stir to coat and allow turkey to cook and brown for about 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir to combine and to cook for another 5 minutes.
• Add water to cover, hot pepper, Jamaican pimento, bay leaf, sliced carrots and butter beans. Bring to a boil and lower the heat a simmer, cover pot and cook until turkey neck is tender, about an hour to a hour and a half.
• When the meat is tender, turn of the fire and add chopped scallions. Enjoy with white rice or rice and peas.

Author: Jehan Powell