Wild Turkey

[OnAFly]

A botched opening fishing trip turned into a successful (and first ever!) turkey hunting trip for me this weekend.

I've got no experience in cooking wild turkeys so I'm looking for advice. What are some good recipes preferably for the grill or smoker.

[ducksnbucks]

I also got my first Turkey this weekend and will be looking to cook it up. Thinking about smoking it....anybody have a brine recipe and how long to brine it for? Thanks!

[Farley]

A full turkey I would brine overnight at least, I think it depends on how much of the brine flavor you want in the bird. What I would do is make a little extra brine, and set it aside so you can inject the turkey during the smoking process. Results in a very moist bird. I've done 1 wild turkey in the smoker and I dont remember how long it took to smoke a 18-20 lb bird, but I know it was at least 8 hours, I want to say I went 10 hours and probably could have went and hour or so longer. Stick a temp probe (one that is made to stay in the meat during the cooking process) deep in the breast meat and go by that, take it out around 175 I think, might want to research final temps, I'm not 100% on that.

[pureinsanity]

Smoked turkey is the bomb!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Smoked, Deep Fry.. or just oven.. its all good... I suggest a brine..Wild turnkey tends to be slightly dryer.. the brine will help.

[OnAFly]

Gotcha. I split the breasts up into two bags, so I'll have two separate chances to screw it up

I think one will be smoked and one will be sliced, skewered and grilled.

I'll brine the first one in my chicken smoking brine and marinade the second one in something else. I haven't figured that part out yet.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I have tried these and all were good.

Ingredients

2 gallons water

1 1/2 cups canning salt

3 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup brown sugar

Directions

In a large bucket or container large enough to hold your turkey, mix together the water, salt, garlic, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Store in a refrigerator, and soak turkey for 2 days before smoking or roasting.

Ingredients

1 cup salt

1 lemon, cut into wedges

1 orange, cut into wedges

1 medium onion, cut into wedges

3 cloves garlic

4 bay leaves

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 1/2 gallons cold water

Directions

Rub salt onto your turkey, and place remaining salt, lemons, oranges, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and pepper into a large pot. Place the turkey in the pot, and fill with water. Refrigerate overnight. Discard brine after removing turkey.

[ducksnbucks]

Thanks for the recipies! I will be giving it a shot this weekend and will report afterward! D&B

[LABS4ME]

For truley great smoked wild turkey, you need to pluck the breast and remove it witht the bone in place.

Holds much more moisture and I think flavor. It is actually pretty simple to boot. Pluck breast, seperate bone at shoulder (wing) joint, and then foloow down rib cage to tip of breast bone.

If they are skinned, I've had luck with wrapping the meat in prosciutto to hold in moisture. It is not as strong as bacon and lends itself well to turkey meat.

Good Luck!

Ken

[OnAFly]

Mine are skinned and boned, so I might have to take your advice on the proscuitto.

[LABS4ME]

and the thighs go into an amazing wild turkey soup...

[Deitz Dittrich]

I did 4 breasts(no bone) for thanksgiving last year.. Smoked for 6 hours and then finished on a rotissery.. I brined them for 2 days before hand.. Family said it was the best turkey they have ever had.. these were not wild though.. was store bought.

[Dark Cloud]

Heres what we do with our birds anymore...

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1610107/1

[eyeguy 54]

Legs are going in the crock pot. 1/2 breast will be marrinated and cook on the grill, other have ground up for mesquite flavroed jerky that hits the dehydrator in the morning. I'll pst a pic. The smoker is for tame turkeys for me. :>)

[eyeguy 54]

smells good in here.

[OnAFly]

Turkey jerky sounds fantastic! I might have to try that one out.

[hockeybc69]

I recently made pheasant jerky.

The sky is the limit on jerky!!!

Looks good Royce!

[eyeguy 54]

tastes better than it looks, ;>) mmmmmmmmmmmm