Cooking your bird

[KP-Skagit]

Managed my first turkey over the weekend. Plucked it and now its sitting in the fridge. Its a young tom, I imagine not going to be very tough.

My question is, how does everyone cook their birds?

Growing up my dad got a couple, we roasted them like Thanksgiving. One was a jake and was great, one was a big tom and even the gravy was tough. He got third that we fried the breast and then crock potted the remainder.

[jrebel]

We have almost exclusively made schnitzel out of ours.  We use an egg wash with panko and fry it in cast iron pans.  After it is cooked we will eat it like chicken strips or chop it up and sauce it with an orange or teriyaki sauce over a bed of rice.   It stays moist this way and everyone that eats it loves it. 

I have made turkey pot pie soup in the slow cooker and it also turned out amazing.  I don't have the recipe with me but could get it and post it if needed.  It was a recipe we found online and then we just tweaked it to our liking. 

My next venture with ours will be smoked in the traeger.  I breast all of my birds as well as cut the legs off.  I plan on wrapping the breast meat (butterflied) with the boned out thigh meat, rolled and stuffed, before smoking.  I want to stuff it with something that will help keep it moist.  I may try wrapping one with bacon to add fat.   I will post how that goes when I complete it. 

[bearpaw]

I like making turkey McNuggets with the breast, small pieces with lots of Johnny's seasoning and fried in butter, all the other parts that have any meat make pretty good homemade soup in a slow cooker.

[Dan-o]

BREASTS:   Turkey schnitzel and panko pounded turkey.

LEGS:   Braised in a wine sauce

[vandeman17]

I roast mine like thanksgiving turkey. Stuff cavity with cut up orange, lemon and apple. Rub down the outside with olive oil, salt, pepper. Turns out pretty good

[h2ofowlr]

I brine it first, that way it doesn't dry out.  Then do some Jack Daniels poultry seasoning rub.  Placed the breast and thighs on the treager for 1:45 at 325F.  Turn out pretty good.

[HAGEMANIAC]

Breasts, schnitzel in the cast iron and white wild turkey chili in the instant pot.
Legs cook in the crockpot for a long time on low, then usually turn into nachos.

[Parasite]

I brine and smoke the breasts.

[Jonathan_S]

pavo asado on a HOT grill.

[Sneaky]

schnitzel with gravy or katsu for the breasts, always good. Breasts are good on the grill but you have to really watch the temperature and brine/marinade first.


This year I made a big batch of sausage from 4 birds my buddy and I were able to harvest. Add about 40% smithfield natural pork shoulder from walmart (tastes better than most commercial bulk/cheap pork) and whatever spices you like. This year I did cajun, jalapeno, and jalapeno ranch flavors and they were all good. I use the spice packets from Northwest spices and add salt to taste. The spice packets are actually made to make dip but work great in sausage as well.

[dilleytech]

Wild turkey doesn’t lend itself well to whole baking imo. And no matter how old the turkey is those legs are going to be really tough. You can make anything out of the breasts you would make from chicken breasts but you should really slow cook the legs. And never forget the heart and liver. 👍

[Karl Blanchard]

I've cooked turkey about every way imaginable and have settled on just schnitzel with the breast meat and turkey sausage with everything else. The sausage is always good on a Sunday morning with some sour dough pancakes and let's be honest, anything breaded and cooked hot is gonna be good so schnitzel is always a winner.

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

Pluck the bird...skin it if you’d like.
Gut bird and clean out cavity well and stuff with apples, onions and carrots.
Wrap the whole bird in a thick cut bacon.
Cook at 325 for 40 minutes and baste several times with the juices and bacon grease
Remove bird from oven
Clean out apples, onions, and carrots, and wrap bacon and set aside
Eat cooked apples, onions, carrots and bacon and throw away the bird 

[MR5x5]

I've cooked turkey about every way imaginable and have settled on just schnitzel with the breast meat and turkey sausage with everything else. The sausage is always good on a Sunday morning with some sour dough pancakes and let's be honest, anything breaded and cooked hot is gonna be good so schnitzel is always a winner.

This right there is the bomb.  Myself I like to cut the breasts into 2-3 horizontal slabs, put a pounding to them, then schnitzel them up.  Fantastic. 
Legs braised and thrown in a crock pot are awfully good too.

[fowl smacker]

Pluck the bird...skin it if you’d like.
Gut bird and clean out cavity well and stuff with apples, onions and carrots.
Wrap the whole bird in a thick cut bacon.
Cook at 325 for 40 minutes and baste several times with the juices and bacon grease
Remove bird from oven
Clean out apples, onions, and carrots, and wrap bacon and set aside
Eat cooked apples, onions, carrots and bacon and throw away the bird 

That's how I feel about wild turkeys as well.  Although the schnitzel has me curious enough I think to shoot another one.