All Turkeys are the same

[tonybluegoat]

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Quanza, etc.

As someone who has slaughtered many birds - chickens and turkeys let me say it... all turkeys are the same.   The "free" turkey with $50 purchase of groceries is the same turkey as the Butterball. Turkey is turkey.  All the same chicks go to all the same grow-out houses. They are fed all the same feed.  That feed turns into meat. The turkeys are then slaughtered and shrink wrapped in plastic.  What color that plastic is, and what name is on the plastic makes no difference.

The difference is in how you cook it, not how you grow it.

The absolute best turkey possible is smoked over an open fire for about 5 hours.  The 2nd best is a turkey that has been smoked in a smoker. But if you have a chance to just stick a turkey on a spit (any stick will do) hang outside and drink beer with the guys, and smoke that bad boy... you'll have a truly Merry Christmas.

So, take the money you thought was being useful in buying the "good" turkey and spend it on beer. Make a campfire (Frito style) and smoke a bird.

Just my opinion

[Skinhead]

I might add, And don't rush things while smoking that bird over an open fire.  You should probably have a few cold ones as you get things organized prior to throwing Tom on the fire, and while cooking, remember:Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.  You need to replenish liquids boiled out of you by sitting around said fire.  It is also important to enjoys a beverage or two during the cool down period after cooking is completed.

[scooperhsd]

There are many excellent ways to cook a bird that will have good flavor.

One that I like to do is to deepfry it - this has 2 plusses - quick - actual frying time is about 3-3.5 minutes per pound, second - it produces a bird that is not all dried out. I will fully acknowledge that this can also be a dangerous thing to do if not done correctly - the bird cannot be frozen when put in the boiling oil, and it can create an out of control fire if not watched and performed correctly (starting with putting the correct amount of oil in the pot - too much and it can spill out / catch fire).

[Moonshot_1]

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Quanza, etc.

As someone who has slaughtered many birds - chickens and turkeys let me say it... all turkeys are the same.   The "free" turkey with $50 purchase of groceries is the same turkey as the Butterball. Turkey is turkey.  All the same chicks go to all the same grow-out houses. They are fed all the same feed.  That feed turns into meat. The turkeys are then slaughtered and shrink wrapped in plastic.  What color that plastic is, and what name is on the plastic makes no difference.

The difference is in how you cook it, not how you grow it.

The absolute best turkey possible is smoked over an open fire for about 5 hours.  The 2nd best is a turkey that has been smoked in a smoker. But if you have a chance to just stick a turkey on a spit (any stick will do) hang outside and drink beer with the guys, and smoke that bad boy... you'll have a truly Merry Christmas.

So, take the money you thought was being useful in buying the "good" turkey and spend it on beer. Make a campfire (Frito style) and smoke a bird.

Just my opinion

Nope, not quite. Most turkeys are raised and processed the same. Many even processed at the same facility with different labels for the various markets.

However, there are differences in Turkeys and Butterballs are a case in point. The Butterball is a self basting turkey. They are different than the "free" store and generic turkey in that there is a basting solution injected into them. You can see this when you saw (band saw) a whole Butterball in half. There is what looks like margarine layered within the turkey. You don't see this after cooking because it melts away. I used to cut meat in a retail store and cut turkeys in half often. 

So the point is there are differences in Turkeys. Some of them are subtle. Some substantive. Cooking is the biggest factor in quality of a turkey dinner. Even the best Turkey can't survive 3 hours in a 400 degree deep fat fryer or be edible after 40 min. in the oven at 250.

But aside from that they are pretty much the same.

[hubcapsc]

The absolute best turkey possible is smoked

blegghhh...

Just my opinion

-Mike "me too...  "

[The emperor has no clothes]

Butterballs ain't got no butter.  My favorite turkey cooking story ; Brenda's very first Thanksgiving dinner for the whole family. She left the plastic bag of giblets in the turkey to cook. It wasn't pretty.


Most turkeys were created equal. 

[msb]

My favorite turkey cooking story ; Brenda's very first Thanksgiving dinner for the whole family. She left the plastic bag of giblets in the turkey to cook. It wasn't pretty.

lol....the Mrs did the exact same thing many years ago at a family Christmas dinner. She's always been a fantastic cook and very meticulous when it comes to cleanliness and getting everything just right. Too long ago now for me to remember the exact  circumstances of that particular mishap , but in the back of my mind I'm guessing that it was my fault somehow... 

[Jess from VA]

I did that with my first whole turkey too.

The bag was still intact, and got pulled out.

It was probably carcinogenic, but it smelled OK and we ate it anyway (not the bag).

I didn't know you had to do a gynecological on the bird before cooking.   

[Steve K (IA)]

For those who smoke turkeys, which end do you light?   

[cookiedough]

I will stick to Lasagna..... thank you very much.

agree though for the most part a turkey is a turkey how you cook it matters more so

I never had a deep fried turkey in an outside deep fry oil cooker, would like to try that sometime I would think better than in an oven if done right

[da prez]

Weber grill , stuffed and roasted breast down. Juiciest white meat and fall apart tender. Been on this kick for about 50 years.

                        da prez

[Rams]

While everyone will have their own opinion, I just can't eat turkey or chicken.

To me, it's just fowl.

Rams   

[tonybluegoat]

 

For those who smoke turkeys, which end do you light?   

[signart]

Forget all that.    How do you get the #*/!@ plasgit off that turkey?

[Black Pearl's Captain]

The best turkey we ever ate was a wild turkey I shot in south Texas near Del Rio. The entire bird had a dark meat and tasted great.

The worst turkey we ever tasted (couldn't eat it) was a wild turkey shot in Texas near Abilene. This bird came from a sage plant area and was terrible.

Now's time for someone to claim dry old grass fed Brahman beef is the best ever versus a year of grain finished feed lot Black Angus.

[RDAbull]

We used to hunt turkeys on my Grandfather's place a couple miles south of Medina.  He would split them in two and put them on a wood fired spit.  He had a sage rub that he would rub in and let it sit for a bit before cooking.  After he passed I ask my Uncle for the rub ingredient mix.  Seems as though Grandpa never wrote it down or told anyone for that matter, just went into the kitchen cupboard and threw stuff into a mixing bowl.   I have tried but I never been able to replicate that rub.         

If anyone has a good one, Please let me know.   

[Rams]

Now's time for someone to claim dry old grass fed Brahman beef is the best ever versus a year of grain finished feed lot Black Angus.

I'm told feral hog can be both tasty and repugnant, I'm thinking it's all in the way it's cooked but having never eaten feral hog, can't say for sure.

What I do know believe is depending on how it's cooked, any meat can be great or putrid.    
Reminds me of some rattlesnake I had in Oklahoma once.   Tasted like chicken.   Yuck.

Rams

[cookiedough]

The best turkey we ever ate was a wild turkey I shot in south Texas near Del Rio. The entire bird had a dark meat and tasted great.

The worst turkey we ever tasted (couldn't eat it) was a wild turkey shot in Texas near Abilene. This bird came from a sage plant area and was terrible.

Now's time for someone to claim dry old grass fed Brahman beef is the best ever versus a year of grain finished feed lot Black Angus.

good point as well,  depending on where the animal comes from and their environment and what it eats,  even a turkey can taste bad.  I know catfish and northern pike which is normally o.k. to eat I have caught both and both I had to throw away the meat was disgusting in terms of color, smell, and taste no matter how you cooked it.   I know once the dozen or so pike we caught in a backwater slough where the water was chocolate milk color ice fishing made the meat inside very dark in color, the taste was horrible.  Imagine what turkeys, etc. eat as well in their environment can affect meat taste as well.

[Rams]

The best turkey we ever ate was a wild turkey I shot in south Texas near Del Rio. The entire bird had a dark meat and tasted great.

The worst turkey we ever tasted (couldn't eat it) was a wild turkey shot in Texas near Abilene. This bird came from a sage plant area and was terrible.

Now's time for someone to claim dry old grass fed Brahman beef is the best ever versus a year of grain finished feed lot Black Angus.

good point as well,  depending on where the animal comes from and their environment and what it eats,  even a turkey can taste bad.  I know catfish and northern pike which is normally o.k. to eat I have caught both and both I had to throw away the meat was disgusting in terms of color, smell, and taste no matter how you cooked it.   I know once the dozen or so pike we caught in a backwater slough where the water was chocolate milk color ice fishing made the meat inside very dark in color, the taste was horrible.  Imagine what turkeys, etc. eat as well in their environment can affect meat taste as well.

Well, I could be wrong about any meat.   We always raised our own beef and swine.   It was always tasty.   Whole hog sausage is or was wonderful.   I guess it could be screwed up though.

Rams

[Jess from VA]

When stationed in Turkey, the Turks would hunt wild pig with machine guns from the old Hueys we gave them.

I was a volunteer (pick me, pick me), but only a couple of our guys ever got to do it with them.

I ate it, and it was a lot like roast beef.  

[Crackerborn]

We cook a wild turkey pretty much every year since I usually bag at least one every year. Some years I have been skunked and we end up with a store bird. Given a choice we will use a dry rub and put the bird on the grills rotisserie until he reaches 170* in the thigh for wild bird, center of the breast for the farm bird. The trick is to get Tom balanced on the spit which often involves creative hollow cavity stuffing with various fruits and/or veggies and tying the legs and wings to prevent flopping. Potatoes  work as fillers for no flavor and no food value (the potato will not be cooked enough to eat). Onions and apples add flavor but soften and Tom needs to be re-balanced sometimes.

Feral pork must be placed in a large hole shortly after it's demise and the large hole must be filled with dirt immediately after the boar has been placed in the hole. If a back hoe is not available coyotes, buzzards and other carrion eaters will eventually solve the the problem.There is no hope of a feral hog over 90 lbs being even slightly edible.

[tonybluegoat]

Now's time for someone to claim dry old grass fed Brahman beef is the best ever versus a year of grain finished feed lot Black Angus.

I'm told feral hog can be both tasty and repugnant, I'm thinking it's all in the way it's cooked but having never eaten feral hog, can't say for sure.

What I do know believe is depending on how it's cooked, any meat can be great or putrid.    
Reminds me of some rattlesnake I had in Oklahoma once.   Tasted like chicken.   Yuck.

Rams

I have killed an eaten a few. First, they have scent glands that will seriously effect the meat if you don't avoid them. Second, I've always soaked and aged the meat for 3 days in an ice chest before cooking, freezing or otherwise using. Some people put a little apple cider vinegar in the ice chest as well. I have never been of the opinion that wild meat is particularly better or worse than commercial meat. If I have to pay to hunt it, then I might as well buy meat at Walmart. If I can hunt it for free then it's great meat.

Curing and smoking your own boar ham is both fun and tasty. I made this one the day we killed Bin Laden. I thought it was particularly appropriate.

[tonybluegoat]

. The trick is to get Tom balanced on the spit which often involves creative hollow cavity stuffing with various fruits and/or veggies and tying the legs and wings to prevent flopping. Potatoes  work as fillers for no flavor and no food value (the potato will not be cooked enough to eat). Onions and apples add flavor but soften and Tom needs to be re-balanced sometimes.

I'll keep that in mind.

[DIGGER]

Now's time for someone to claim dry old grass fed Brahman beef is the best ever versus a year of grain finished feed lot Black Angus.

I'm told feral hog can be both tasty and repugnant, I'm thinking it's all in the way it's cooked but having never eaten feral hog, can't say for sure.

What I do know believe is depending on how it's cooked, any meat can be great or putrid.    
Reminds me of some rattlesnake I had in Oklahoma once.   Tasted like chicken.   Yuck.

Rams

We cook a lot of Feral hog .     One of the main things to do is to leave the meat in an ice chest full of water with quite a bit of ice for 3 or 4 days.   Take each piece of meat out daily and squeezable to force the blood out then drain the water and add new water.     Then after 4 days put meat in a pot of water with a solution of apples idea vinegar and lemon juice and a lot of salt .    Then put it in a flat pan and marinade over night.    I also bought a hand held tenderizer that has a bunch of small knife like blades and you push it into the meat several times.    Inject it with your marinade.   Just did a whole hind quarter 3 days ago.  Cooked in the oven....turned out great.

[Rams]

Now's time for someone to claim dry old grass fed Brahman beef is the best ever versus a year of grain finished feed lot Black Angus.

I'm told feral hog can be both tasty and repugnant, I'm thinking it's all in the way it's cooked but having never eaten feral hog, can't say for sure.

What I do know believe is depending on how it's cooked, any meat can be great or putrid.    
Reminds me of some rattlesnake I had in Oklahoma once.   Tasted like chicken.   Yuck.

Rams

We cook a lot of Feral hog .     One of the main things to do is to leave the meat in an ice chest full of water with quite a bit of ice for 3 or 4 days.   Take each piece of meat out daily and squeezable to force the blood out then drain the water and add new water.     Then after 4 days put meat in a pot of water with a solution of apples idea vinegar and lemon juice and a lot of salt .    Then put it in a flat pan and marinade over night.    I also bought a hand held tenderizer that has a bunch of small knife like blades and you push it into the meat several times.    Inject it with your marinade.   Just did a whole hind quarter 3 days ago.  Cooked in the oven....turned out great.

Digger,
You're making me hungry for pork!   

Rams 

[..]

Curing and smoking your own boar ham is both fun and tasty. I made this one the day we killed Bin Laden. I thought it was particularly appropriate.

Drooling.

[Alpha Dog]

When stationed in Turkey, the Turks would hunt wild pig with machine guns from the old Hueys we gave them.

I was a volunteer (pick me, pick me), but only a couple of our guys ever got to do it with them.

I ate it, and it was a lot like roast beef.  

Back in the 90's I read Chuck Yeager's autobiography.  While training in Wyoming, I believe, with P-51 mustangs he would strafe elk herds, seems like up to 30 elk at a time.  Then back at the base the cooks would take out the trucks and load up the elk and the base ate pretty good. 

[tonybluegoat]

Merry Hillbilly Christmas

[The emperor has no clothes]

Merry Hillbilly Christmas

Your fire sure seems close to the wood box ?