Just killed my first wild turkey this morning. 9 inch beard! I was going to skin it but it plucked so easily we plucked and gutted it. It weighs 16 lbs dresses. Wife can’t make up her mind how to cook it. Thinking of roasting for 15 minutes and then to the pressure cooker. Any professional gobbler chefs out there?. HELP

I brined (per the brine recipe on morton kosher salt box) and then smoked my boys breast filets, then sliced thin. Made great sandwiches. The thin ends dried out, I'll treat them different next time.

The legs and thighs I slow cooked in beef stock (what we had on hand) for 12 hours, meat pulled off bone with zero effort. Going to use that for turkey and noodles, turkey pot pie, turkey salad sandwiches.

more details and pics in the food forum-

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...4/smoked-wild-turkey-breast#Post15967984

Baking in a Reynolds baking bag helps keep them from drying out.

I like to brine the whole breast in a trash bag and smoke it. The thighs and legs make great turkey and noodles of dumplings.

I've always just taken the breasts and upper thigh meat, cubed it all into mouth sized cubes, dunk it in Cajun fish batter and deep fried them.

I cut mine into chunks and make speidies out of it. Only way I can eat them. They ain't gonna eat like a butterball regardless.

This.

I thought Wild Turkey was for drinkin'

I only eat the breasts, I'm not interested in converting the legs/wings of a working bird into something edible. But that's just me.

I am the same way. I breast them, cut into strips which I wrap around a slice of hot pepper then wrap a thick cut piece of bacon around it all then hold with a toothpick and throw it on the grill. I have tried to cook the whole bird and it wasn't all that good. I have ground some of the lesser parts into burger which was OK.

Truth.

But do you add ice?

don't bother with the legs and wings. just put the carcass in a cooking bag with a little S&P and chicken broth and bake it. or you could do some sort of dish with the breast meat in chunks. i always use the bag.

Slice the breast to 3/8"-1/2" thick strips. Chicken fry in peanut oil or even better, real lard. This keeps a dry piece of meat moist. A good cream gravy for dipping is a must have. My dad would boil the legs in a chicken or beef broth with onions, peppers and assorted seasonings. When tender, he would chop finely and make a sandwich spread. Pecans, mayo, pimentos and some other things I can't remember. A lot of work I was never willing to do, but it was good.

BP...

Congratulations!!
Let's see a pic !
Did you get him with the .410?

Cheesy has it right above. I brine overnight. Then rinse and dry. Since you've gone to the trouble of plucking you'll want to roast that bird. I'd like to suggest something that maintains a lot of moisture in the cavity... Onions apple celery herbs, etc
I like to roast mine with the lid on and some wine in the bottom of the roasting pan. They are very lean so you'll need to add a bit of butter to the skin on top.

The legs and thighs are fantastic eating. After roasting them I either eat the rhighs or throw them and the cooked legs into a saucepan and simmer that very low overnight. All the meat will fall off the tendons and bone. This meat then you can spice with cumin etc and make the best tacos you've ever had.

My niece shot one on Sunday. Said they made tacos from the thighs and loved it. She is a super picky eater, but maybe less so if she kills it.

Last one I tried I was unsuccessful even after brining.

I use the bags too and use a thermometer. I put probes in breast and legs.
Don’t over cook

Crock pot

Fry a breast for nuggets.

Slice other into steaks and pound out. Olive oil and italian seasoning. Grill. Put on hoagie roll for a sammich.

Legs and thighs into the instapot for osso bucco. Recipe too complicated but a quick internet search will turn it up.

It is possible to just bake it, but that's the toughest way to do it.

I've found wild turkeys need to be broken down into pieces. Trying to cook them whole doesn't work well.

Breast- bone in, smoked. Or fried

Thighs and legs - braise in crockpot or oven. too many tendons for high heat applications. Pick meat off.

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.

Woodchucks are better eating. Too bad turkeys ain't got antlers. Fuggin spurs and beards ain't much of a "trophy".

The fan is.

Make jerky out of the breasts........



Smoke the legs using hickory or oak, then put em' in the pot and make Turkey Leg Vegetable Soup.

Ya!

GWB

I don't want turkeys ass feathers on my walls. They take up more deer antler room than they're worth.

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Garage. 😂

Garage walls are for rakes, shovels, picks, axes, hoses.... And deer antlers.

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OK then throw it all in a ditch. Not two fuggs given either way.

Buddy of mine slices the breasts into steaks. Pounds them with a tenderizing mallet. Seasons and soaks in egg and milk wash. Dredges in seasoned flour.
And fries slow in an electric skillet in Butter flavored Crisco. Not a healthy choice but really tender and tastes great.

Similar.........



Chicken fried Turkey Nuggets

Wild Turkey breasts.

Soak in Negra Modelo for a couple hours.

In the mean time take a rolling pin and crush up tortillia chips. Add chips to peppered gravy mix along with more black pepper, garlic powder and Tony Chacheries'.

Dredge/coat turkey nuggets.

Deep fry.!

ya!

GWB