Piri Piri Wild Turkey Steaks with Fries

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Traditionally made with chicken, this bold and flavorful Portuguese dish works great with the flavors of wild turkey

I fell in love with Portuguese food relatively early on in life. I grew up in a neighborhood with a large number of Portuguese immigrants from the Azores, including the people living next to us. Their son and I were of a similar age, so we ended up becoming friends and playing regularly. 

Quite often, I’d be invited over to lunch (eaten in the downstairs dining room, never the upstairs one!), where, as an eight-year-old, I got to try things like crab in white wine sauce, steak and eggs, fried mackerel, and spicy homemade chouriço sausages. Sure beat the jarred spaghetti and boxed taco kits I was eating at home! 

I was endlessly curious about my Portuguese neighbors. Staring through the chain-link fence, I watched my friend’s dad tend fruit trees and grape vines, hoe his garden, and make sausages and wine in the autumn. It was very different from the life my parents lived, and I found it to be immensely interesting. 

They eventually moved away, and time moved on. Early in my teenage years, my uncle took me to his favorite restaurant, a casual Portuguese Frango Churrasco joint specializing in grilled piri piri chicken. Everyone in the restaurant was Portuguese, except for us, all raptly watching a loud soccer game on the television in the corner. My parents didn’t really go to restaurants except for the odd Chinese buffet, so this was a very new experience for me. 

We ordered the chicken, which came out as half a grilled chicken on a plate, split into 5-6 pieces, with a generous serving of fries, all smothered in oily piri piri sauce that seemed to be made by combining the drippings from the chicken with hot sauce. The meal also came with lots of Portuguese bread, bowls of juicy black olives, and my uncle even ordered me a beer, which the waitstaff didn’t seem to react to. 

I was in heaven. The chicken was so juicy and flavorful, and I couldn’t get enough of the incredible sauce, which I mopped up off the plate with hunks of bread. My uncle ordered us some Calvados (apple brandy) to finish off our meal, which warmed me up from the inside out. 

I consider that day to have been amongst my most influential food experiences. 

I continued going to the restaurant, introducing my friends to Portuguese cuisine and trying out all of the other dishes they had on the menu (a dish of pork and clams? Yes, please!) and would buy their piri piri sauce to bring home. The restaurant is still there, 25 years later, and when I visit home, I always make a point to drop in for some chicken and a bottle or two of their piri piri sauce to bring back home with me. 

When I shot my first wild turkey and was wondering what kind of recipes I should make with it, my mind jumped to that first experience of deliciously greasy chicken drenched in piri piri. I wanted that with even tastier wild turkey meat. 

Wild turkey is tougher and much leaner than chicken, though, so a few steps must be taken to tenderize it, which I spell out in the recipe. 

Recipe Notes:

• Piri piri sauce is now available in most grocery stores, but the really good stuff can be found at Portuguese restaurants. Check to see if there are any where you live and give them a call asking if you can purchase their piri piri sauce directly – most places will sell it. 
  
• If you can only get it from the store, see if you can find one that looks oily rather than super-emulsified and orange. It will likely taste closer to the real deal. 

• For an even juicier end-product, brine your turkey breast overnight in a brine made of 2 tablespoons of salt for each ¼ gallon of water. 

• The way I cook French fries in this recipe may seem a bit wacky, but trust me, it works!

• Instead of blanching the fries in oil, removing them, then frying them at a higher temperature, I just do it all in one go. The results speak for themselves.