Don't waste turkey!

[olddogrib]

I'll confess to breasting out turkeys for many years and feeling guilty for believing the old adage that turkeys legs were only good substitutes for Louisville Sluggers.  But, in my defense, every way I made them it was true.  Found a slow cooker recipe and I will never again waste turkey quarters.  Go ahead and skin the quarters out after breasting (I still won't pluck, at my age I don't have enough time left).  I put both thigh/leg quarters in a large slow cooker.  Mine is large and will hold two.  Add enough water to cover, one can Golden Mushroom soup, and two packs of onion soup mix.  I put the thing on Auto (heats up on high and switches to low) before I leave for work and it cooks all day.  This could be anywhere from 10-12 hrs., but I take the meat out and pull it off the bones, chop it and put a little McCormick's Montreal Chicken seasoning on it and throw it back in the pot.  Boil a pack of frozen dumplings for 10 mins. Drain and add them to the pot, too.  Add salt pepper to taste, stir well, serve and freeze what you can't eat.  You can go the veggie route if you want stew or soup, but turkey and dumplings is mighty good eats!

[Jackpine Boyz]

olddogrib,
I often advise my friends not to waste this meat.  Pheasnat legs get saved due to size and soup made after I get about a dozen birds.
For Turkey though, all the bones go in the pot after breasting and make soup.  Wings and legs then get meat removed after boiling then chopped up and back with broth and a few veggies.  My Jake this year fed my wife/myself and 3 young kids for 2 full meals.  Breast gets saved separately for later.

I tip to make them more manageable is to cut the end of the leg/drumstick off before cooking.  the meat then contracts as it cooks up the tendon. You can pull out just about all those annoying tendons with a gentle tug with a pair of pliers.  I do this with my thanks giving turkeys as well from the store.  (this is why  cartoons have little sock on turkey legs, it was done to cover the cut bone when presenting the bird in the "old days")

[olddogrib]

I'll have to confess, it did not occur to me to try to skin out the wings...although they did get turned into some really nice fletching!

[Mint]

I cook my in the slow cooker also, then cut into cubes and make turkey pot pies. First time I made them this way, my wife looked over at me and said I was a genius, they were that good.

[olddogrib]

Good tip, Mint.  I make  a lot of chicken pies and prefer the boneless/skinless thigh meat.  I've tried turkey breasts, but now that I've figured out how to tenderize the quarters, that would be just the ticket.

[Traditional-Archer]

       

[whiskyweasel]

It always kills me when guys leave their turkey legs in the woods. I've become a hug fan of Hank Shaw's wild game recipes and his turkey leg carnitas are unreal.

 https://honest-food.net/turkey-carnitas/

If you get a chance, peruse the rest of that website. Mr. Shaw has developed a treasure trove of recipes for all sorts of wild game and he is particularly interested in using parts of the animal usually left behind.

[Doc Pain]

I never waste any part of my turkey. I bring it home,skin and debone the meat. Then I portion it out in ziploc bags and freeze it. I then periodically thaw a bag out, cook it and feed it to my dogs. I have yet to find a way to make it edible for myself.

[wood carver 2]

I debone turkey legs and remove the tendons, then I grind them along with half their weight in bacon. They make incredible burgers.
Dave.

[Al Dente]

I think I was ground up with half my weight in bacon, I'd taste pretty good too.

[neuse]

Yesterday I cooked 4 legs with thigh attached in the slow cooker.
I now have the cooked meat and broth in the frig. Next I will find a recipe and have a couple of meals,

[Al Dente]

Thicken the broth with a roux and some heavy cream, add frozen veggies, and shredded meat.  Pour into a baking dish, top with biscuits and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

[YosemiteSam]

A carcass is a terrible thing to waste!  I'd treat them the same as an old stewing hen.  Crock pot 'till the meat falls off & put in casseroles.  Take the bones & put them back in with some water, a few stewing ingredients (water to the top, salt, pepper corns, bay leaf, a few carrots & celery stalks, quartered onion, garlic, gogi berries, turkey tail mushrooms, etc.) & run it for 15-24 hours.  Makes an unbelievable broth.  Strain & add in your favorite stew or soup ingredients & cook.  Or throw some pinto beans into the crock pot with the strained broth for some of the best beans you'll ever have.  Venison bone broth doesn't turn out as well.  But birds of all feathers (turkey most of all) are winners.

I couldn't imagine leaving a turkey carcass to rot.  Turkey soup is one of my favorites.  I wouldn't even bother hunting turkey if I couldn't make it.  For meat, younger birds are the best.  But for soup, those older birds can't be beat.

A family friend from China came over years back.  She worked as a sort of live-in postpartum nurse for Chinese families all over the world using very traditional Chinese medicine & foods.  She always had an eye on our backyard chickens and talked about how much she missed getting older birds to cook rather than the young ones we slaughter here in the US.  Seriously -- if you haven't tried stewing your turkeys for broth, you're really missing out.

[Dave Bulla]

I bone out mine and make jerky in my smoker.  I have home made racks with quarter inch square mesh screens so I can put even the small pieces on the racks and not lose them.  I make a marinade with soy sauce, salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper (like you put on pizza) and brown sugar.  Marinate for a day then smoke until desired smoke flavor is reached.  If I still have pieces that need more drying, I finish doing that in my oven on the dehydrate setting.  Many ovens don't have that feature but the option is just put it on the lowest temp setting and stick a wooden spoon in the door when you close it to hold it open a crack.  Works like a charm.

[JMartin]

Some great ideas here! My wife always bakes the carcass, gets all the meat off of it and makes a batch of turkey salad.