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Who saves and eats the legs and thighs? Lot’s of my friends toss them. I feel you should keep and eat the “reasonable parts. I’m not eating the gizzards or lips. Just asking. If you do eat them what is your favorite recipe using the dark meat?
Last edited by bamagun01; 04/20/20.
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I save them every year. Usually I kill 2 birds and a few friends will donate theirs. I make a big pot of wild turkey and wild rice soup with them. I simmer them on medium low heat for a several hours until theybget somewhat tender. Then pull the meat off the bones, separate any tendons and cartilage, cut the meat into 1/4”-1/2” cubes, and simmer diced celery, carrots, and onions with a few cloves of garlic until tender. Then add in the turkey cubes, and the wild rice that was cooked in a separate pot. Add spices to flavor, i.e. chicken bouillon, black pepper, bay leaves, parsley, oregano, etc. I skipped making it for our camp meeting one year and about got banned from the joint!
Oh, and believe it or not, deer bite. Fairly hard.
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Crockpot with broth for 6-8hrs Separate meat from bones and tendons Shred the meat and season with salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne Cover in bbq sauce and mix Sammiches
When I die I hope I don't start voting democrat.
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I do as well. Similar process as Borden. It’s actually very good that way. Just don’t try to smoke them. Tougher than a Michelin tire. Lol
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Crockpot with broth for 6-8hrs Separate meat from bones and tendons Shred the meat and season with salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne Cover in bbq sauce and mix Sammiches
Bingo! It's a total waste to throw them away, lots of good eating and not that much more work.
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I use turkey legs/thighs the same as I do pheasants, slow cooked until they'll pull/shred easily. Then can go into noodles/dumplings/pot pie/enchiladas, etc.
Not using them is a total waste.
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Throw them away?! He77 no, best part of the bird. Simmer til meat falls away from tendons and bone. Fry the spiced meat as carnitas and make tacos, or use the meat in soups, mole' enchiladas, or etc etc.
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Crockpot with broth for 6-8hrs Separate meat from bones and tendons Shred the meat and season with salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne Cover in bbq sauce and mix Sammiches
I do this same thing for the legs. For the thighs, I layer the bottom of a crockpot with carrots cut in 1/2 long ways. Put a layer of celery perpendicular to that. Lay 4-6 thighs on top. One can Cream of Mushroom, one can Cream of Chicken, splash of white wine, 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms and whatever spices you like. In 4-6 hours, when meat is tender, spoon over rice, noodles or mashed potatoes.
My heart's in the mountains, my heart is not here. My heart's in the mountains, chasing the deer.
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I use them for Gumbo's or Stews. Hank Shaw had a good recipe for wings. It is a great addition for sausage and Rytek Kutas In "Sausage Making" had a good heart healthy turkey sausage recipe. They make good tacos too, anything that calls for shredded chicken will be better with the slow cooked turkey.
I have made jerky but decided it isn't worth it unless you like the ground type which I don't. Also have made turkey tettrazini when I had left over ham and turkey.
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My thoughts exactly!!
I slow cooked 4 legs & thighs and now I’m using them in different recipes. Tacos tonight burritos tomorrow. I froze some for later. I can’t believe how many people do not use the legs and thighs. I’ve asked my friends to give me ALL of their unwanted turkey meat.
Last edited by bamagun01; 04/21/20.
"If I couldn't laugh I would go insane." JB
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Consomme made of everything and anything other than the breast meat. Boneless turkey thigh meat in coconut milk and curry. Spent enough time in Japan and the Indian sub-continent to appreciate the more flavoursome parts of game animals.
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We make soup out of them as others note. That recipe that Borden811 mentions sounds really good.
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I fry the thighs and the legs are soup. Tried smoking legs, like eatting a rock.
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I'd rather eat the gizzard, heart and nuts than wild turkey legs. Actually the nuts are the best part!
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Put them in an InstaPot for 64 minutes and then pull the meat off the bones. Makes great soup and turkey pot pie
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I save the thighs but not the drum sticks.
Go ahead and pop the heart, gizzard and liver out. Those 3 beat the hell out of any turkey drummie.
The last time that bear ate a lawyer he had the runs for 33 days!
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Have used the crockpot for such in the past, but the instapot has relegated that to the dustbin.
For a long, long time I've made turkey soup with the legs and thighs of domestic or wild birds, celery, onion, carrots, broth, and Uncle Bens Long Grain and Wild Rice mix. Works well with chicken too. Good stuff, and very filling.
What fresh Hell is this?
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I save the breasts and thighs. Grind them up together and freeze in 1 lb packages. Used for tacos, chili, enchiladas.....
Brian
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I have tried them in crock pot and smoking them. I have never been able to get them tender. Buddy has a instapot and I’ve been giving them to him. He says they are good cooking it in
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Like eating a bowl of rubber bands as far as I'm concerned! Lol!
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Cook them in a crock pot about 7-8 hrs put thighs & Legs in pot fill with Mt. Dew! you will Thanks Me Later!
Deer Camp! about as good as it gets!
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Dean I'm with you on the rubber bands. New guy at moose camp brought turkey soup had it for lunch one day we came in. Two days later we were all walking around like we'd smoked roll yer own smokes. Pit, pit, pit. Like ya had tobbaco between every tooth in yer head. I only save the breast meat for us now, dog likes the leg meat though so it is getting used. Bill out. 🐾👣🇨🇦
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Legs are for soup. Thighs,wings and everything I can trim off the carcass gets ground. Need to mix it with something fatty like hamburger or ground pork but the turkey sure adds an excellent flavor. Meat loaf out of wild turkey venison and touch of pork with some morel mushroom gravy, to die for.
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I've not eaten wild turkey, but have had goose legs/thighs that were browned on the grill and flopped into a crock pot with red wine, salt, pepper and celery for 8 hrs. They were great. I can see this working for turkey as well.
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Not that anyone is interested but the old people in the southeast had a story about turkey legs.
The little box turtle (luksibashka) was a hunter. And one day he was trying to get a turkey (fakit was the turkey) He shot all his little arrows into the turkey’s legs hence that’s how all the little slivers of tendons and such got in the turkeys legs. Least that is what the old people say.
On the subject the muskoegeon word many of that linguistic groups used for turkey was "fakit”. Until the christian missionaries arrived and were offended by the use of that word. So they pretty much tried to get the locals to use the term "akanka cheto” or big chicken instead.
Just usless stuff I remember.
Good luck hunting!!!
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"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
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Put them in an InstaPot for 64 minutes Wow. I was wondering how long in the InstaPot, but never guessed that long. I don't think I've ever cooked anything near that long. lol
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Here's my favorite use for wild turkey dark meat - smoked turkey carnitas tacos. It's a lot of effort, so I like to do it when I have 2 birds worth of thighs/drums, but the results are pretty amazing. Sprinkle well with unseasoned bromelain or papain based meat tenderizer (which usually include salt) and let sit in a sealed ziplock at least a few hours in the fridge in order to let the tenderizer penetrate. Cold smoke with oak and/or mesquite for as long as you can keep the internal temp under 140F, keeping the humidity up, then rest in the fridge overnight in a sealed ziplock bag. After breakfast the next day put some chicken stock, one small can of tomato sauce, some garlic powder or granulated garlic, and a small can of chipoltle peppers in Adobo sauce through a blender until smooth, then pour over the smoked turkey in a crock pot set on low and cover with more chicken stock until the meat is mostly submerged. Cook all day until 30m before dinnertime. At this point the meat should shred off the bone pretty easy and the tendons should be easy to find and remove while you shred the meat with a fork. While you're shredding, heat a cast iron pan on medium-high with some oil. Once the pan is hot, add shredded turkey in single taco size portions and cook until crisp on one side only, then it goes directly into the tortilla. Garnish as desired - I like chopped cilantro, chopped spinach, diced red onion, queso fresco crumbles, and fresh salsa. *edited to add that the liquid leftover from the crock pot makes an incredible Posole base - just add cooked diced pork, hominy, minced garlic, a little cumin and Mexican oregano and there you have it.
Last edited by BruinPoint; 05/16/20.
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