How to prepare and cook a wild turkey
Dennis L. Clay photo Cooked wild turkey legs: The meat from two wild turkey legs are on the plate, along with the first section of the wings, plus a portion of the back, surrounded by the bones. Some hunters throw the turkey legs away, but there is ample meat available to make a variety of dishes, such as sandwich spread, soup or stew.
Dennis L. Clay Uncooked turkey meat: The meat from two wild turkeys include: Top row, left to right, first section of the wing, a complete breast, another wing section. Same on the right with the second turkey. Second row: Two thighs, one on the left and one the right, outside of the breast. Bottom row: Two legs, from the first turkey, part of the back and two more legs, from the second turkey.
Two tagged turkeys were in back of the Ram, now what? My wild turkeys are skinned after a successful hunting trip. This year the procedure was changed a bit.
A knife was used to separate the ribs on both sides of the backbone. It was then easy to pull the guts out from the back after removing the backbone.
Empty water bottles are refilled and frozen for cooling of lunches and such, instead of buying cubed ice. Such a bottle was placed in each body cavity to further cool the meat.
Once home, the skin is easily removed. The pieces of meat from each turkey include the breast, two thighs and legs, plus the first section of each wing. If the bird is large, each side of the breast will make a meal, but the entire breast is left intact on smaller birds.
The first section of the wing is not usually salvaged, but, after checking it this time, there was enough meat to keep both.
The breast will be placed in a slow cooker with some type of liquid. Cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup works for me, but chicken broth or just water will also work.
A friend placed a turkey breast in a brine for several hours. Next he placed it in the oven to roast. He deemed it dry and tough. This was predictable, because these turkeys have very little fat.
These aren’t the typical Thanksgiving bird. In fact, they resemble a pheasant without skin, with steep sloping breasts, only larger. The Thanksgiving turkey has a rounded breast and comes with skin in place. Some people place butter under the skin for more moisture when cooking.
This friend next cubed the thigh meat and made a stew. This he said was good eating.
The legs, wing meat and back meat provide an interesting situation. Wild turkey legs are similar to pheasant legs, only larger.
My solution is to place the legs, wing and back meat in a slow cooker with water and cooked for several hours, perhaps overnight. The meat is then allowed to cool.
The meat is then picked off the bones. The pile of boned meat can provide several different meals. My favorite is to grind the meat or dice it fine and make a sandwich spread, with diced onion, pickle, mayonnaise and any other items desired. But the meat can also make a super soup or stew.
Wild turkeys are good eating, with many ways to prepare the meat.