I know of many turkey hunters that breast out the bird, cut off the legs just at the knee for the spurs and chop the tail fan off. If you don't already have this bad habit or are looking to change your ways, here is a simple way to prepare those tough as rubber legs and thighs for a variation of meals.
Place the drumstick and thigh in a slow cooker and cover with water. Add a half of an onion, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
Set your cooker on low and let it sit overnight for at least 12 hours. During this time the juices will seep into the muscle tissue and break it down slowly. An Instapot will not work! It takes time cooking low and slow to break down muscle that has been running for its life since birth.
The next morning, pull the cover off the slow cooker and fork test the meat, if it appears easy to pull away, its ready, otherwise, give it a little longer. If it pulls away easy, turn the slow cooker off and let the meat and broth cool to a temperature you can handle with your fingers.
Shredded Turkey Meat
Ingredients:
1 Wild Turkey Leg and Thigh
1/2 Onion (I used red)
4 to 5 cloves Minced Garlic
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Spring Water or Well Water (no city stuff)
When you can handle the meat, pull it out and place it on a large bowl or plate with an empty bowl or plate next to it. Begin pulling chucks of meat off the bone and shredding it while separating it from tendons and other connective joint tissue. It will look like pulled pork.
Work all the meat of the bone until you have plate full of shredded turkey on one side and a bowl full of bones and tendons in the other.
Turkey Broth
You are not done yet! Now you can take the liquid that has the onion, garlic and fat in it and preserve a broth.
Using a cheese cloth strainer or coffee filters you can strain all the solid items out of the broth and have a beautiful golden wild turkey broth for soups, stews and other meals. If you are using a coffee filter, it is best to try and reduce the large chunks as it will be slow going and require multiple filters.
If you want to preserve it for a long time, freeze it in freezer bags or pressure can it by following this process. Canning Wild Game Bone Broth
First Meal - Wild Turkey Salad Sandwich
Since you have done this overnight and it could very will be Saturday or Sunday at lunchtime when you have this shredded turkey meat done, make a Wild Turkey Salad Sandwich.
Place some shredded wild turkey meat in a bowl, mix in mayonnaise, chopped pickles, salt and pepper and mix it all together. You pick the quantities based on your own tastes. When it is thoroughly mixed, place the mix between two pieces of bread along with any other condiments you enjoy, top it with a spring mix of lettuce, tomato or whatever and enjoy your reward.
You can also put this meat over rice with some gravy made with flour and the broth or add some BBQ sauce to it and place it on a bun.
Place the drumstick and thigh in a slow cooker and cover with water. Add a half of an onion, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
Set your cooker on low and let it sit overnight for at least 12 hours. During this time the juices will seep into the muscle tissue and break it down slowly. An Instapot will not work! It takes time cooking low and slow to break down muscle that has been running for its life since birth.
The next morning, pull the cover off the slow cooker and fork test the meat, if it appears easy to pull away, its ready, otherwise, give it a little longer. If it pulls away easy, turn the slow cooker off and let the meat and broth cool to a temperature you can handle with your fingers.
Shredded Turkey Meat
Ingredients:
1 Wild Turkey Leg and Thigh
1/2 Onion (I used red)
4 to 5 cloves Minced Garlic
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Spring Water or Well Water (no city stuff)
When you can handle the meat, pull it out and place it on a large bowl or plate with an empty bowl or plate next to it. Begin pulling chucks of meat off the bone and shredding it while separating it from tendons and other connective joint tissue. It will look like pulled pork.
Work all the meat of the bone until you have plate full of shredded turkey on one side and a bowl full of bones and tendons in the other.
Turkey Broth
You are not done yet! Now you can take the liquid that has the onion, garlic and fat in it and preserve a broth.
Using a cheese cloth strainer or coffee filters you can strain all the solid items out of the broth and have a beautiful golden wild turkey broth for soups, stews and other meals. If you are using a coffee filter, it is best to try and reduce the large chunks as it will be slow going and require multiple filters.
If you want to preserve it for a long time, freeze it in freezer bags or pressure can it by following this process. Canning Wild Game Bone Broth
First Meal - Wild Turkey Salad Sandwich
Since you have done this overnight and it could very will be Saturday or Sunday at lunchtime when you have this shredded turkey meat done, make a Wild Turkey Salad Sandwich.
Place some shredded wild turkey meat in a bowl, mix in mayonnaise, chopped pickles, salt and pepper and mix it all together. You pick the quantities based on your own tastes. When it is thoroughly mixed, place the mix between two pieces of bread along with any other condiments you enjoy, top it with a spring mix of lettuce, tomato or whatever and enjoy your reward.
You can also put this meat over rice with some gravy made with flour and the broth or add some BBQ sauce to it and place it on a bun.
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