Cooking a turkey

[jdime]

I hope to get my first turkey this spring. I am just curious how people prepare their turkeys. Bake it like a turky at thanksgiving? Any gotchas I should look out for?

Thnaks.

[reinhard1]

you would get a lot of ideas in the cooking and recipie forum. do a search on it or ask the same question as a new topic. i have never prepared a wild turkey and it would be interesting to know what the best ideas are. good luck.

[AndersonOutdoors]

I brine my turkey in a five gallon bucket full of apple juice for two days and put apples and peeled oranges with it and then cook it just like thanks giving

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

Be aware when cleaning the turkey that the fatty tissue below the neck and on the top of the breast meat is called the "sponge" and should be trimmed away. Every year I read a couple of posts where a first time hunter has discarded a whole turkey because they thought the turkey had an infection or was unfit to eat because they seen this. As for how to prepare we take out the breast meat cut it into thin strips and bread then deep fry. The legs are saved for soup and the rest discarded. You will not find a typical butterball type turkey when dealing with a wild turkey. Goodluck on your first!!!

[jdime]

Thanks all. I will check the recipe forums as well.

[bustumup]

I like to deep fry my turkey. Pluck the feathers and leave the skin on, this helps to keep the moisture in. Inject the bird all over with a butter/garlic or favorite flavor. Most important thing to remember when deep frying a turkey is to pre-measure amount of oil to use by, putting turkey in pot and then fill with water to cover all of the turkey, mark the water level. Then take bird out and fill with oil to your pre-marked level. Maintain heat to 375 degrees and slowly lower turkey into pot. Water and hot oil don't get along, make sure to dry bird before lowering into oil. Should take about 45 minutes to cook. Don't do this in garage, but in the yard with a piece of plywood down. I also have dropped off a turkey at local meat market for them to smoke, cost $20 to clean and then smoke,no hassles and after a long trip is convenient way to do it. Good luck!

[mrklean]

deep fry them like chicken strips bread them and fry them

[11-87]

Breasted ours out, save the legs,thighs, threw the wings neck, liver, giz,heart and Carcass into the Cooker, cooked that down into a soup base for future use..

[11-87]

NWTF RECIPES

[Gissert]

I have have my best results by brining them in ice water, then a nice session in the smoker.

[S.D. Ice Angular]

I recently sat with some "Good O'l Boys" at the Sioux Falls NWTF banquet.

They all stated/claimed skinning the bird is the only way to go.

They all told stories of when they use to pluck them and what a waist of time.

Just passin on what I heard...

[gador2]

I got a Jake this weekend and we cooked it on the grill with some lawrys and bacon wrapped around it. Talk about juicy! It wasn't dry at all like I hear some people complain about and the bacon added smoke flavor to it.

A question I have is about the breast of a turkey. Is it normal for the bird as they get older to develop a round bone-like structure at the top part of the breast just underneath the skin. My dad got a jake as well but his wasn't like mine. His was lighter and a smaller beard so I assume he was younger than mine. That is why I assume this "thing" develops as they get older.

Thanks

[krats]

My 10 yearold shot his first yesterday, a 24.5lber, and it had that knob on the breast bone also. I was told it was from them laying on the ground.

Our is in a 5 gal bucket brine and will be in the smoker at the end of the week.

[engfish]

"the gelatinous breast sponge which serves as an energy reserve" (Missouri Conservationist)

It's one of the reasons the gobbler weighs so much in the spring. The sponge is not evident in a gobbler harvested in the fall--according to my research.

[trolloni]

Yeah the toms and jakes put on there weight thru the winter to get heavy for spring mating season ,which is amazing to me especially after the last couple a winters ! its not as prominent in the fall as spring its also there crop, make sure you cut that out asap a fillet knife works good .on cleaning breasting em out is ok especially with older birds 3 years and up you can tell em they have inch and a quater spurs on up ,best eating are jakes to two year olds i like to pluck theese and roast em in a bag .to aid in plucken i heat water in 30 gal drum till it just simmers not boiling dunk em for 30 seconds the feathers come off like an egg shells by the handfulls takes only takes a few minutes dont scald em to long as you will start to cook the meat,for those jakes you want a 15 =16 pounder they fit in the deep fryer perfect man are they good!when i breast em i inject em with garlic butter and put em on the grill lay some bacon on em to add moisture use toothpicks to hold it in place i have a hard time not overeating to much of that ,gas grill is good but charcol is more flavorfill!

[Wanderer]

A question I have is about the breast of a turkey. Is it normal for the bird as they get older to develop a round bone-like structure at the top part of the breast just underneath the skin.

Yes.

I am also one who quit plucking and started skinning. I spent 2 hours with a knife and pliers plucking every last feather off a bird once. I had nothing better to do but when I realized how much time I put into it, I quit.

These days my favorite (and easiest) way to cook a bird is to filet the breasts off, inject some marinade in and cook it on the smoker grill. Indirect heat and some wood chips go a long way. DE-lectible.

[Archerysniper]

Wanderer have you tryed scalding them first, thats what I do to mine makes plucking them easy. Of course I only shoot jakes and small Toms less feathers

[Gissert]

I like to keep the skin on, especially for smoking. I was taught a trick from an old timer that makes it an easier task to clean them up.

First, dry pluck as best as you can.

Next, heat up some water in a turkey fryer, with about a tablespoon (at most)of Dawn or a similar grease cutting dish soap.

Heat the water to 190 (no more) and dip the dry plucked bird into the water for 20 seconds or so. Then pull it out and pet vigorously with a thick leather glove and most of the feathers will release.

Once the bird is picked clean, rinse several times in cold water and prep as desired.

[Wanderer]

Thanks for the tips guys. I knew there were easier ways but I was just sitting in turkey camp with my bird while the other guys were out hunting. I had just got done catching a bunch of trout and thought I'd chill a lil while.

[Archerysniper]

I get a bunch of water to just start to boil and dump it in a 5 or 7 gallon bucket cut the wings head and feet off dunk for a few seconds and start pulling you can redunk if some of the feathers start to get tough to pull. Also don't gut it till after it's picked makes plucking easyer.