Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cooking Wild Turkey

I’ve tried baking the breast . Smothering it down in gravy . Even making soup out of the breast . As others have said, cut the breast into strips season with Tony ‘s creole seasoning , dip in egg and pet milk wash , roll in seasoned flour and deep fry . Throw the legs away . I’ve tried to slow cook them in gravy but you’ll need a chain saw to cut them up. At least that’s been my experience .

Brined per Steven rinella’s recipe for at least 12hrs and cooked in a pellet grill at 250deg until 165 deg internal temp. Fairly simple rub of choice and I’d spray canola oil on the skin periodically to make a nice crisp skin. For a whole bird cook that is.

Breast only I’d cut it in strips and dip it in egg/milk then flour with seasoned salt and black pepper, back in egg/milk then back in flour mixture then fried.

Last one I killed, we sliced and fried the breast, slow-cookered the legs and thighs. Now with the insta-pot, we can brown and then pressure-cook the running gear. If it can make deer shanks tender, it can whip a turkey leg into shape. Gonna do domestic drumsticks tomorrow into turkey soup with homemade noodles. Wild legs will require some cooperation from the turkeys.

Made fajitas out of the the breast meat before, be sure to add a good bit of olive oil when marinading. I've done the thigh and legs in the crockpot and made shredded turkey, add some spice of your choosing, some liquid and cook on low all day. Eat as is or add bbq sauce if you're so inclined. You can cook the rest of the carcass down to make soup stock as well. Not taking and utilizing the thigh and leg meat is a total waste, they're perfectly good eating, even if the legs are a bit of work to separate the tendons from the meat.

There a bunch of ways to make ALL the parts of even an old gobbler very chewable and tasty. I get very weary of hearing how only the breasts are edible.

One of the basic methods many hunters never try is to age the field-dressed bird for at least a week in a refrigerator. They're usually better plucked, rather than skinned, and pluck easiest right after being killed, or after at least a week of fridge-aging.

You might try the field-care, meat-prep and recipes in Eileen Clarke's cookbook UPLAND BIRD COOKERY, www.riflesandrecipes.com.

This beats them all.

Look up Crockpot Crack Chicken recipes and substitute with turkey breasts. Its fantastic. Here's an example.


https://www.themagicalslowcooker.com/slow-cooker-crack-chicken/

Or, soak them in diesel fuel for a day.
Won't make them any worse

I've found the best way to keep them moist when cooking the whole bird is to pluck and then submerge in my deep fryer. They still don't have good flavor as far as I'm concerned which is why I prefer to make them into speidies. Or just go buy a Butterball.

inject the breast with tender quick salt,brown,sugar 1/4 cup each,add garlic powder 1 table spoon,2 table spoons of bacon fat all deluded in a quart jar half full of very hot water,stir then inject ,put turkey beast before injecting in a large bowl ,once injected cover and put in fridge for 3 to 4 days then just bake in oven or smoke tell done slowly never over 300, done when breast temp is 175. let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

JMHO but those who say the won’t use legs, thighs and wings from a turkey are just lazy. I’ll post recipes for wild rice & turkey soup and turkey noodle. Both use what many others waste. These soups result in a rich and robust soup stew that is amazing in its complexity. The last thing I would do with these more labor intensive parts is discard them. That’s just wrong in my opinion. I killed a game bird with quite desirable parts and I use them to create simple but unique soups from parts deserving of use. I’d post them now but.......I’m turkey hunting .
Later. Check back Monday or Tuesday.

Geeze, will all that cover up the taste or will you still have to lick an ass hole for a couple hours after you eat it ?

This thread is making me hungry....and its after 11 pm here.

I've got three birds in the freezer and its a good thing they take time to thaw.

Made jerky with the last one. Will do that again.

After trying for years to cook them in everyway imaginable this is how I ended up enjoyed wild turkey the best.

I cook wild turkey like I do a goose...............put turkey in large pot, add seasoning, along with an old shoe. Cook until done, then throw turkey out, and eat shoe.

On a more serious note, I cut the breast off a turkey, and that's all. Cut into small pieces and deep fry. Only way I like it.

The three way I really like mine are
1) cut them into nuggets, season batter and fry them
2) brine and put them in the crock pot with apple butter BBQ sauce and a little apple juice. Cook till internal temp of 165.
3) brine, smoke them for about 45 min. Put them in a alum. pan with Whittaker's BBQ sauce, cover and cook till 165 temp is reached.

These are in no order, I like all of them equal.

I like the OP idea of a pressure cooker if plucked and cooking whole. Have tried them deep fried, roasted, smoked and grilled. Not my preference.

We have butchered a lot of wild turkeys and have never had one roasted that was exceptional, edible yes, but not great.

The best ways I have found are to cube them and make soup or I grind them into burger. When ground into burger, it is very flexible.

Burgers, chili, soup, jerky, sausage....the list goes on. Can get very creative.

Fried wild turkey, biscuits and gravy is awesome!!!

Peanut butter and scuppernong jelly on dollar general white bread

On Sundays too


Gawd take spurs and beard, toss em a ditch. Same as woodchucks.

Tried them a lot of ways. Cut the breast into strips, flour and fry is the best. Legs get boned and ground. They are really lean and dry out easily. Always found frying them was not only the best way but very tasty. Way more flavor then a tame turkey. Roasting or deep frying always turned out way too dry and sometimes like cardboard.