Wild Turkey Recipies

[carnaby]

Well, I'm going turkey hunting for the first time this weekend.

So how do you cook a wild turkey anyway? Same as a domestic bird? Roast it in the oven, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes? Does wild Turkey give good gravy? I'm hoping that's how it works out, but if not, what do you do with one?

Thanks!

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

My aunt is the game cook in my family. She bones out the breast, slices it into cutlets and fries it like chicken. I have no idea what she did with the rest of the bird. I love going to her house for Thanksgiving. Now I am hungry! Here is a link that might help http://www.wildturkeyzone.com/misc/recipes.htm

I like that other Wild Turkey straight up or in a Coca-Cola.

 

[bowfin]

Just had "Sesame Turkey" made from the birds we came back with last weekend. That is just cubed turkey breast substituted for chicken for Chinese Sesame chicken.

The legs on a mature tom can be nigh on to inedible if you roast the bird conventionally. A cooking bag might help with the toughness, but the feather bones can be daunting to chew around. Best bet for the legs are turkey and noodle soup, or some recipe that will slow cook the meat right off the bones.

I have always skinned my birds, mainly because the three guys I hunt with never take a bird home, and I am stuck cleaning 3-5 birds every year after a long hunt. The breast can be filleted off the breast bone, and then used in the same way as any domestic turkey.

By the way, I always freeze a couple of water bottles for each turkey permit and put them in a cooler. After field dressing the bird, shove the frozen bottle inside the body cavity, (it will fit great) and four hours later, if you are still not where you can cool off the bird, remove the now melted water bottle and put in a second frozen one. That is the best way to suck the heat out of the bird, and it doesn't get the inside of the bird wet.

Tip #2: To figure out the bird's live weight after it is field dressed. The Nebraska Game & Parks has discovered that a field dressed bird will weigh in at 88% of its live weight. So weigh it field dressed, then mulitiply that weight by 100 and then divide by 88, and you will be within an ounce or two of the live weight. I usually carry a Rapala digital scale, just to keep everybody honest.

 

[ChiBears]

Just did this with the one I shot over the last weekend...

Breast the bird out and slice into about 3 inch pieces...you can vary thickness.
Let it marinate in Italian dressing.
Spread cream cheese over the breast pieces and wrap them in bacon.
You'll have to hold everything together with toothpicks.
Put the pieces on the grill and eat...absolutely mouth watering!

As a matter of fact...that sounds good for supper tonight!

 

[Guyon]

I cooked my last bird two ways. Both were excellent.

Method 1
--------
Portions about the size of a chicken boneless breast.
Made a marinade out of BBQ sauce and water and then used a meat injector
(basically a giant syringe and needle) to infuse the marinade into the
meat. Grilled it while continually basting the meat with BBQ sauce.

Method 2
--------
Portions about the size of chicken nuggets.
Marinated the nuggets for several hours in honey and just a little
Tabasco. Dipped them in egg, battered them with flour, and then deep fried
them to a golden brown. Drizzled them with honey while hot.

 

[Ned Flangers]

Never overlook the deep fryer! Mmmmm.

Awesome idea bowfin. I'm always carrying bottled water while hunting, but had never thought of freezing it for game preservation.

 

[koja48]

<Drooling> . . . also, thighs & legs boiled-up & sauce thickened make great turkey & noodles (on my way to buy 2nd tag, now . . . you made me hungry!).

 

[skers69]

1. Cube up breasts into mcnugget size portions. Put in glass container with itilaian dressing for 24 hours. Season with lowerlys, salt, pepper. Egg wash, flour. Then deep fat fryer.

2. Cut breast into pattys. (size of your choice). Cook up some instant rice. (several brands out there. I like the cheddar and broccoli). Get a glass baking pan. I then pre-cook turkey in some butter and garlic sause in a regular frying pan. Just enough to brown up both sides.
With the glass baking pan add trukey, rice, cream of mushroom soup, spices of your choice and cook hour and 1/2 in the oven.

 

[kellyj00]

for tougher fowl, I'd suggest brining then smoking.

Get out a stock pot and boil together a couple gallons of water and some onions, carrots, peppercorns and a bunch of salt. If you like, you can just use salt water, some fellas will make a brine that's like runny bbq sauce. let the brine cool, then refridgerate. Add the bird. let sit at least 8 hours, 48 at most.

Fire up your smoker, keep it at the low end (225 or so) add the bird. Use a marinade injector to put some leftover brine into the dark meat in the first few hours of cooking. Takes about, oh, 30-45 minutes per pound. After the first few hours you can bring it back into the house, encase in foil and put in oven at 225 degrees until done, will have less smoky flavor.