Whats the rundown on cooking Wild Turkey?

180ls1

180ls1

Well-Known Member
Since you all were so helpful on my other question regarding elk/deer I figured who better to ask regarding Turkey?

I have a couple breasted out birds that I want to cook (probably starting with 1 breast). The last one I smoked. It was marinated in a salt water and lemon brine came out pretty good. My absolute favorite was a whole bird we cooked over coals for 12hrs in Glamis about 4' deep under sand. It was covered in butter then wrapped in leaves and burlap but I dont have the yard space.

What should I try? I have 4 breasts.
 
Last Thanksgiving I did wild turkey breasts in the smoker. I injected them with a seasoned butter mixture and slathered with mayo and seasonings and into the smoker at 250 for a couple hours. Turned out awesome. The legs I do separately and usually do as tacos, braised or in the pressure cooker then pulled. My favorite are the heart, gizzards, and liver which get fried up the morning of the hunt with eggs and toast!
 
As this requires 24 hours in brine it will be useless for this thanksgiving. 1gal. veg. broth, 1 cup sea salt 1 tables spoon each ground sage( I use more than recipe calls for), rosemary, thyme, savory and really what ever else you like. Bring it all to a boil to dissolve salt. Let it cool to room temp before adding bird, if there is not enough broth to cover bird go ahead and add water and give it a stir. I use a 5 Gal. bucket with food grade liners, cover and put in frig. overnight. After brining, remove bird and rinse real good. Give it a light coat of veg. oil and salt and pepper as you like. I do mine on a weber. I start with 25 coals per side, you want indirect cooking. I use soaked hickory wood for smoking, each hour I add 8 coals per side until bird is ready. Let it sit for 15 mins before carving. I think brining the bird is the best way to do them, which ever recipe you use, it adds lots of moisture, especially to the white meat which can tend to be dry.
 
QuailSlayer said:
Always looking for quality game recipes. Have you tried his and is it good? Mountain Dew, mustard, and rub...I don't know!
Click to expand...

Know I haven't....Just sounded good to to me....Since, I love Mountain Dew & mustard.......... :joy:

Here's some recipes from NWTF

www.nwtf-wi.com

Wild Game Recipes

Tender Wild Turkey Legs I met with USA Today reporter Dan Higgins and talked him through cooking turkey legs . This recipe can be adapted to goose, duck, or pheasant legs as well. The trick is be...
www.nwtf-wi.com
 
Today along with the traditional meal OF smoked turkey and fixins, I made a large batch of elk chili. Not sure how much turkey I'll be having. :)
 
No help here...this is all that's left...
 

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