Was a little apprehensive, never roasted a whole skinned bird before. But I brined it for 26 hours in a broth, herbs, onions, salt, sugar mix. Then used an oven bag to keep in moisture. Onions, garlic, herbs in the cavity. Looked rough, but turned out damn tasty. Gravy was fantastic. Legs and wings were a little chewy, but that meat'll get chopped and made into to turkey salad sandwiches. Stock making coming up.







That was my buddy's first bird.

Sounds good but I have yet to have a good roasted wild bird. We usually breast them now. By the way you need to trim your beard

I'll agree Keith, I'm ugly as all getout, but I put my mug out there for all to see a while back.

Done right, a plucked roast bird is a treat. Makes the commercial thing taste like a mouthful of flour. But I'd heard bad things about roasting them skinned. Searched this site for tips and found posts on a thread about the worst game meal ever. Had me worried. But this one was fine eating. Everyone had 2nds, 3rds and was getting sleepy

My bud didn't want his face out there. I'm about a foot shorter, fifty pounds lighter and three shades darker.

Yours most likely get grain. Ours eat bugs and pine needles which might explain it.

Zero grain, but a lotta acorns around here (western SC). I wonder if that makes a difference. From the spurs, it was a two year old bird. Now that I think about it, squirrels, deer, turkeys have been especially good eating since I moved down here.

Ella

i think acorn fed deer is way better eating then corn fed deer.turkey may be to.

Wish I could do a side by side taste test like the old Pepsi versus Coke commercials. Turkey, venison, hogs, bear...something else. Reckon Barnes has some flavor data?

The house has been eating turkey salad sandwiches all day....

Ella

Made the stock yesterday. Simmered the bones and some of the too tough bits for about 6 hours with a couple stalks celery and a few carrots. I find the homemade stuff much better than what you get at Krogers....

I smoked a whole, bone-in turkey breast with a rub and everyone raved about it.

Sounds tasty. Does it end up jerky or do you do something to keep it juicy?

When I smoke turkeys I use a pan of water under it and low temps, stays very moist.

your buddy has a hellava mus'stash !! lol

My smoker also has a pan of water to keep things moist. I usually just drain the turkey breast in its plastic bag, rinse and then marinate using Ken's Garlic herb marinade in the plastic bag while it defrosts in the fridge. That helps keep it moist, too. This time, though, I just put on my rub that I usually use for beef and let it sit for an hour or two to get to room temp, then smoked it with the water pan. When it was done, I wrapped it all in foil and let it sit for a half hour so the steam and juices were absorbed a bit. It came out great.