Braised Turkey Shanks

Hey y'all, welcome back. When I left a few minutes ago, I promised you that I was going to have a

special guest in the kitchen with me today. Now, I really wanted y'all to meet my friend, Chef

Clayton, because he specializes in the use of African and Caribbean ingredients, and that is

the basis of the kind of food that I cook, Low Country Cuisine. Chef and I met..

In Birmingham. In Birmingham, Alabama, we were both invited to do a fundraiser for Hannah Holmes

Yes. Welcome, Chef. Thank you. I'm so glad you're here with me

And we're just going to walk down memory lane today. We're going to visit our heritage and the traditions that we do here in the South

So, Chef Clayton is going to teach us how to make braised turkey shanks

Why don't you tell everybody what braised means? Okay, braised is really when we saute the turkey shanks here in this braiser

And I'm browning these drumsticks in olive oil. And what we've done, we, ahead of time, we've frenched the turkey legs ahead of time just

by cutting here and just taking the skin off. Mostly for cosmetics

It looks real nice, and it's like, make it look like shanks. I'm going to get a couple of slices of ginger

This is some fresh ginger. This is the best way to do ginger. Kind of like barnyan does this

Watch this. That's it. You are kidding me. Yes. I mean, that just..

It almost minced it with that. It just pulverizes it. And then we're going to finish it off with some peanuts also

Southwest Georgia peanuts. Ground nuts. That means it's in Africa. You know, anything that grows underground

is protected from the insect. Ground nuts. Ground nuts. Not grinded up nuts but ground nuts Underground Is what you saying All right and then I get this okra ready Okay And you just kind of cutting that on the bias a little bit Yeah just cutting them on the bias

Just like you would for fried okra. Right, right. It's going in as the onions

Okay, so just kind of throw everything in. And that smoked sausage. You know that smoked sausage is really making it southern

Oh my goodness. We use this so much, Chef, in low country balls and gumbo

Yes. anything that we want a powerful, smoky flavor in. Right. This kind of sausage goes in our pot

We're adding eight ounces of sliced smoked sausage and one large onion diced

Oh, doesn't that look good? Oh, it looks fabulous. I'm going to get that sausage around

so it'll get down in that oil. Okay. Yummy. In case you're not from Alabama

and you don't know what the Hannah Home operation is, it's really a safe shelter for women that have been battered

or are addicted to drugs and alcohol. They move them into this wonderful home

They're just completing the building of this home, and it's just going to provide a safe, safe area for women and their children

It's taking in family units. It's a very, very good cause, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have been a part of it

because, like I said, I got to make a lot of new friends, but especially you, buddy

Oh, you're so sweet. Thank you. So now we'll add two tablespoons of minced ginger root

and one cup of okra. I love that okra. I do, too. I like it

Any way I can get it boiled, fried, casserole, gumboed. How about that

Now we have one cup of diced celery. Uh-huh. One cup of diced sweet potatoes

How do you like that? I thought that was carrots. Oh, man, I'll tell you. We putting sweet potatoes in there And then of course Oh I lost a tater I lost a tater That not like me to lose a tater I tell you Two tablespoons of minced garlic OK

Now, are you ready for some chicken stock? Yes, I'm ready for some stock, honey. OK

OK, three cups of chicken stock. Ooh, wow. Oh, that quietened them up there, didn't they

I'm telling you. I think I'm going to turn our heat up a little bit. OK

Now, once we get that turned up and get it started, and then we turn it down to simmer

And we let that simmer for about 20 minutes. Chef Clayton is sharing a recipe with us

called braised turkey shanks. Now tell us the history on this. All right, we have about three different cultures involved here

We have West African, which is quite naturally these groundnuts that we have, peanuts, okay

And then we have the northern, which is like Ethiopia. we have some injera bread that we're going to use

This is like a community dish, a one-dish meal. And then, of course, we added one and a half cups of cooked collard greens

I mean, this is going to make it southern along with the smoked sausage

But we have these collard greens that we cook the traditional way with the ham hocks, as my daddy used to say, hammer hocks

Hammer hocks. Hammer hocks. and we cook it the traditional way with the ham hocks and onions and hot peppers

and vinegar and a touch of sugar. So we add all of this in and we let this cook for about another 10, 15 minutes

and just let those flavors just marry. And then once we do that

and then we add one cup of toasted, unsalted peanuts. Believe it or not, it's best the next day

Oh yeah, once those flavors just marry. After the flavors marry. Yes, and it's very, very good the next day

Is it too early for me to... No, it's not too early

You know, I knew you were gonna do that. Wait a minute, I have something for you, so in case you know you always tasting people food here You use this Ah Ah And not only can you taste this food you can reach over and taste someone else Everybody has always told me

I have a boarding house reach. This is wonderful. Well, that's yours

Thank you. I can steal everybody's food off of everybody's plate and they'll never realize what I'm doing

That's right. Because I can quickly shut this back up and look

totally innocent. How cute is this? I love it. But you know what

That won't hold that juice. No, it won't. But that show will nab a turkey leg

It will nab a turkey leg. You are too cute. Out of this world

Thank you, Paula. And now what are we going to do with that bread? Well, actually, the way they do this in Ethiopia is they actually use the injera bread

And you use it as if it's a utensil. And it's a community kind of dish, and you just grab it like this and fold it up and just pop it into your mouth

Now, it's a little too much for me to pop in my mouth right now. Oh, is it? Yeah. Okay, well, you know how to do it

We also put this in the bottom, the injera bread, in the bottom of the bowl, and then pour the stew over the top

And then after everyone finished eating, that bread that's on the bottom has soaked up all of those fabulous flavors

Well, what would you recommend them using if they can't find or don't want to make this injera bread

Believe it or not, just use some flour tortillas. That's just as easy

That would be great. Just lay them in the frying pan and just heat them up

Right, and just put your stew in it. It would be great. But this is a community dish

It brings the family back home. Just where I like them. Yes, everyone just sit around the table and talk, and that's the way they do in Ethiopia

you. Well it is just out of this world. Thank you. And I'm definitely going to be making

it. Alright, thank you