Is it necessary to age wild turkeys

[Pinetar]

I do the same. I age for 4 days in fridge, not sure it matters. Cut breasts into 1in strips then roll in crushed Ritz cracker crumbs and cook hot in olive oil.

Or go with RadSav's recipe below. Only thing I did different was add Original Sweet Teriyaki to the mix because I didn't have the apple sauce. Sandwiches the next day are killer!

Well, last night I made a breakthrough.  The wife liked this so much she not only ate it for dinner, but had it fried for breakfast and nuked for lunch.  Looks like it is going to be a winner!  Wish I had taken better pictures before she wiped it out.  Maybe I will make it again in the next few weeks and post some better pictures then.

The idea started when Chase Fulcher sent me a gift package of Meacham peppered bacon.  I took two whole turkeys and ground all legs, breast and 1# of Chase's bacon together with a course grind.  Then I switched to a fine grind disk and ran it through the grinder again making sure to really mix the bacon, light and dark meat together evenly.  Kitchen Aide did a great job!

I then took half an onion that had been in the fridge for a week, chopped it fine and cooked it is some butter for about 10 minutes until it started to look translucent.  Next time I'll probably use a purple onion...just because I like them better with fowl.  Then it was all about mixing all the ingredients well and cooking in a 350 oven for 50 minutes.  The glaze went on after that and cooked for another ten minutes.  Probed internal temp was about 150-160F

1.5# of ground turkey (w/bacon)
1/2 cup half & half
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 onion (chopped fine and cooked to translucent in butter)
2 Tablespoons chopped Parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried Thyme (I would probably use more if I'd had fresh)
1-1/8 teaspoon Himalayan Pink salt (just because I hate white table salt)
1/8 + teaspoon freshly ground Tellicherry pepper (more flavor)
1/2 cup plain Progresso bread crumbs

I suppose if you wanted to you could add an egg or two.  However, I do not usually use egg in my meatloaf if I have added applesauce and half & half.  It was plenty firm last night and firm enough to make sandwiches after five hours in the fridge.  I was worried about the turkey maybe being too dry and not holding firm without the egg but I shouldn't have been.  IMO it was absolutely perfect without it!

I used the same glaze I use for all my meat loaves.  I found it almost 30 years ago in the same Better Homes & Garden cookbook as the Leak and Barley soup.

GLAZE:
1/4 cup catsup
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon Colman's dry mustard (the only dry mustard I will use)

[Russ McDonald]

Like any wild game you have to watch how long you cook them.   I have baked the breasts,  or did jalapeno turkey poppers on the Traeger.  Wife loves eating wild turkey hates butter balls ore site bought turkeys.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[DOUBLELUNG]

The only bad wild turkey I've had was the one I roasted whole.  I didn't overcook so the breast was great but the legs, thighs and wings were incredibly tough.  A day in the crock pot fixed that.

Since then I've done at least a dozen that all came out great.  I cut off the breast meat, cut into 3/4-1" steaks, marinate overnight in 1 cup cider vinegar or wine, 1/2 cup olive oil, 4 cloves of garlic sliced, a thumb-sized piece of ginger sliced, 1 tbsp sea salt, 1 tsp black pepper and 1/4c brown sugar or honey.  2minutes per side on a very hot grill or in a greased smoking hot cast iron frying pan.  Tender and delicious.

Leg quarters go in a crock pot barely covered with water or stock on low for 12-24 hours.  Drain, pick out bones, cartilage, tendons etc.  Shred meat by hand or with a fork, add 16 oz of your favorite barbeque sauce, and back on low for at least 4 hours, no more than 8.  Serve on buns like a barbeque beef sandwich, also delicious.

[ian_padron]

Braise the legs and wings. Use the stock for soups.

Grind the breasts with fruit and spices and make breakfast sausage. Or deep fry into turkey nuggets.

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk

[rasbo]

Brine and smoke they come out great

[LipRipper!]

My wife is an extremely picky eater, especially when it comes to wild game.  I shot a big ol' tom and I divided the bird in two.  I made enchiladas out of one half and my wife made turkey pot pies out of the other half.  They were both outstanding, she even "gave me permission" to shoot more because she liked it so much.  We just cut them into small chunks and added them to our normal enchilada and pot pie recipes. Like other people have said, roasting a whole bird is not very good.