Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Frankenstein Turkey

We bought a turkey from a friend. It will be a wonderful turkey, just like last year's, only it is 32 pounds. In order to fit it into the oven I had to debone it. First piece of advice. Debone the turkey while it is fresh! Dealing with semi-frozen meat as well as bones was a challenge. But now it is done and ready for me to stuff and put in the oven at 5 am Christmas morning so we can eat at a reasonable time. We have another one in the freezer, but I will be sure to let it defrost completely before doing that one.

Merry Christmas to all! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

What do you use to stuff a 32 pound turkey? A front end loader.

BCR

This past Thanksgiving, my brother supplied the fresh turkey for the family dinner.....all 36 lbs of it! My Mom decided that it was too big to roast in the traditional manner, so she had it cut in half, and she did one half in her oven, and I did the other half here and took it up to dinner with us. It was actually a very interesting dinner, as she roasted hers in her traditional way, while we chose to season and roast our half with a different set of spices. Diners could choose which to plate with, and all commented on how different but delicious they were. Plus it cut way down on the cooking time as the heat could get to it better. Sure was a big sucker, biggest we have ever had. Hope yours comes out great!

I used to raise a few turkeys. I'd let them get up to about 30 lb. When I killed them, I split them and froze them in halves. They were much easier to handle that way and kept the leftovers to a manageable level.

Dick

Yep, here's another vote for cutting the sucker in half instead of boning it out before you cook it. That is the way we do it with home raised birds. If you have the tools to gut and skin a deer, you should have no problem cutting a turkey in half. It is easier than splitting a deer's breast bone. I use a fillet knife to remove the breast bone from one side.

They cook quite nicely and very quickly when halved with the skin side up. Momma sticks a meat thermometer in the breast meat and it works as well as the tempy timer.

I have a memory-picture of my guide in Alberta a few years ago. Mrs Guide took a HUGE turkey out of the freezer on "American Thanksgiving" and was going to prepare a treat for Chub and me.

It was pretty apparent that the monster was not going to thaw out any time soon, so the guide, Philip, brings a chainsaw that he had oiled with vegetable oil for whacking the horns off mooses into the kitchen of his trailer. He got the chainsaw ROARING and proceeded to split the turkey on the small dining table (burying the chain in it !!!!!)

There were turkey chips, turkey meat and bone, on the ceiling, splattered on the view window and on the floor. Heck, we were finding splintered, and eventually rotting, turkey pieces EVERYWHERE within a twenty foot radius of the event.

I do not think I have ever laughed so hard in my life. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I came oh-so close to pissing myself.

The turkey was great, but whacking it with a chainsaw was a disaster. Mrs. Guide was totally not amused, by the way, and the entire event went into here "All Men Are Animals" notebook. Hmmmmm, she might be right.

Steve

Reminds me of the local store that stocked up on really big turkeys a few years back. The suckers wouldn't fit in any of the roasting pans they sold and customers were coming back complaining that their ovens couldn't handle the 30+ pound monsters. They eventually discounted them to 9 cents a pound whole or two bits a pound cut in half. I bought two and we ate really well for Thanksgiving, Christmas and a looong time after. Ward