Cooking Wild Turkey Legs?
Turkey
In the past I’ve tried to cook turkey legs. But with all the tendons it was pretty tough to get to the meat that was on the legs.
What’s your preferred method for cooking turkey legs?
Braising until falls off the bone
Put them in the crock pot with cream of mushroom soup and a can of milk for every can of soup. Cover the legs 1/2 way then add a little water because it'll lose moisture from steam. Add salt, pepper, thyme, and sage. Crock pot on high for 7 hours. Replace liquid as needed. Serve over rice, potatoes, or noodles.
Place in a large crock pot with a large can of cream of mushroom soup (do not add water to the soup). Cook for 4-5 hrs until the meat wants to fall off the bone, etc. Take out all bones, ligaments, etc. and you end up with some very tender, tasty, dark meat. I do believe it is the best meat on the bird. Place meat over noodles, mashed potatoes, rice. Also, add, chopped carrots, celery, onions, to the mix. my best, Paul
Ike, looks like we went to the same cooking school my best, Paul
All day in a crock pot on as low as it will go, then it just falls off those tendons and makes amazing turkey salad
Throw the legs on the grill..
Use them to thump your tires..
Give them to your brother-in-law. :)
They walk for a living>!If not cooked slow they will be tough!
Or place in pressure cooker cook all the meat is falling off the bone we use in gumbo and turkey salad the tough tendons just slide right off good luck Lewis
See the recent thread on Smoked Venison Shanks. I pretty much do mine the same way. Smoked then slow cooker. Usually freeze after smoking them and use to make a great winter soyp/stew.
Just Turkey & noodles in the crock pot, served on mashed potatoes.
Cook thoroughly directly on the coals of a campfire until they are ash. Enjoy the fire and the aroma, then hit the sack. The ones I have killed in the spring ("ruttin") have been too much work for too little gain. If you kill one in the fall, then do as they suggest above.
From: oldgoat 24-Dec-17 All day in a crock pot on as low as it will go, then it just falls off those tendons and makes amazing turkey salad
That's the way I started doing them with several cans of cream of mushroom soup over them and after a number of hours like that you can just take all the tendons and bones and toss them with only the good meat that's left to eat however you prefer. I just put the works in a bowl and eat it like that with the soup and it makes several nice meals. Anyone who just throws them out is doing a great disservice to the bird because there is quite a bit of good meat on the leg/thigh area!
Sane question comes up every year. Many good responses. May way is to trim the meat off of both legs and make "turkey noodle soup". Best soup that I have ever made :) Just substitute turkey for chicken. http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-noodle-soup-198707
I always crock-pot the drumsticks/thighs in cream of mushroom soup with water. Overnight on medium until meat can be easily pulled off with a fork. Cut/shred the meat and use for turkey pot pie.
Also for pheasant legs and thighs. same o , same o.
Paul, why no water? Do you cover all of the meat with soup? I've made it twice and one was awesome, the next time way too tough.
Paul, why no water? Do you cover all of the meat with soup? I've made it twice and one was awesome, the next time way too tough.
No need for water if you cover all the meat with the soup for the moisture and heat to do it's job . No idea why one of your tries was tough unless you didn't have enough soup to cover all the meat good.
Used to throw them away, but no more. Pressure cooker with 3 cups of chicken stock and some onions. Comes right off bone and do whatever you want after that. Just made turkey pot pie. This is before I put on top crust.
Tobywon, that looks amazing my friend! I've got some legs and thighs in the freezer waiting to be made and I think I just found out what to do with em...;)
Did this for Mother's day, was a big big hit. I will say, definitely was better fresh versus the next day. Fair amount of work, but thought my kids would be more apt to eat this and i was right. Everybody loved it
stick n string, I've done that one myself and it was damn good!
Not sure Midwest, but might actually have been you that turned me onto it. I know it was someone here
Good luck Russ, hope you enjoy.
Turkey Carnitas. I use Hank Shaws recipe. It yields a ton of meat that just falls off the bone. Probably the same amount of meat as the breasts. Maybe more. I use them for tacos and burritos
That's the recipe that stick n string just linked. I pretty much ate it every night until it was gone. Just toss some in the fry pan and crisp up, eat on a whole wheat tortilla with toppings of your choice. Avacado or quac works well along with some fresh pico and a little cheese.
Yup. Thats the recipe. It's delicious. We even had turkey tacos on our horseback elk hunt this season!
I use a pressure cooker. Works great. I also will just cut the meat off the bone and grind up some turkey burger.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! My GF cooked the legs and thighs in the crockpot and it was very good. I was surprised how much meat was on there.
I made one heck of a pot of soup last week with 4 legs
Here is a good recipe for turkey/rice soup
IN a crock pot. place in pot two legs/thighs of turkey. Add two containers of Chicken broth. (add water now or later) Cook on med to high heat (6-7 hours) until you can "fall" the meat off the bone. Remove all bones, etc from pot. Dice meat into small cubes and place back into broth. Add two cups of water, Season salt, diced carrots, celery , onions, mushrooms, and one cup of white or wild rice. Cook on med temp until rice is done and vegetables should be slightly crisp. Blend all ingredience and enjoy.
I've done crock pot with mushroom soup was excellent, do that with all "runners" and it's good. Jackrabbit fronts are the same.
I've just recently got an Instant Pot (pressure cooks as well) and I have to say it would be the ticket. I've done a few things so far in the Instant Pot and you can't beat it. I much prefer the moistness/texture of meat from the Instant Pot/Pressure cooker variety as opposed to a slow cooker/crock pot type deal. It tastes more "normal" coming from a pressure cooker. I'm sure if you sauteed them then did em for 20-30 mins cook time in an Instant pot they'd be coming apart easily and mighty tasty. I just did some tough free range beef cuts given to me yesterday right from frozen with a 16 minute cook time and it was awesome with a really good gravy.
Wild Turkey Leg Soup - my favorite soup. And it's simple to make.
Simmer a leg or 2 depending on size of leg/pot. Cook until meat falls off the bone. A Jake will take about an hour. A big Tom took 14 hours a while back. So maybe start early in the day. Remove meat/bones and discard. Add Onion (2 parts), carrots (1 part), celery (1 part), s&p and a bay leaf or 2.
You can add chicken base or stock if you want, I don't. Or you can add your favorite chicken/turkey seasoning. You can put some chopped leg meat back or cut up some breast to put in. I did a couple of times. I don't now.
A few years ago my buddy stopped by to put something in my garage. The smell coming from my kitchen made him go see what was cooking. He couldn't believe it when I told him it was just a turkey leg simmering.
My mom did a 3 year old yard egg laying hen they have running around in the Instant Pot right from frozen. Cooked it for like an hour or something and it fell apart. Would be similar to a wild turkey for toughness.
once you go pressure cooker you will never go back... works great for all tougher cuts of meat, most recently - goose legs and thighs, some of the best meat you will ever eat
"once you go pressure cooker you will never go back"....a very true statement, I cant believe how much better it has been using a pressure cooker.
Will turkey legs fit in a 6-qt. Instant Pot?
Save all the legs over the course of the season and then run them all through your grinder. I make meatballs and smoke them. Best part of the turkey.
Similar to most, simmer in well-seasoned water with onions, celery and carrots for a few hours. Peel the tendons and bone away. The stock makes an excellent starter for gumbo or turkey and noodles.
You could take road killed possum and do all that to it and it would taste good. How good is it if you have to disguise its taste with all sorts of marinade and soups
1boonr what would you rather do with then? Throw it out? A pressure cooker also disguises nothing.
Yep, slow cook or pressure cooker. Best meat on the bird. I take any that others won't use. It would be a shame to waist it.
Any of you use the new insta pots with turkey legs? Just got my wife one a few weeks back. Wanna do up a couple legs but not sure how long to cook em for it to be fall off the bone tender. Got some deer stock i made this winter to put in with it
Gonna try this year. If it ever stops snowing in the Midwest may get out and hunt.
Just wanted to throw out that I tried this last Sunday.
Crockpot with one leg/thigh quarter from this year's bird. Can of cream of mushroom, can of cream of chicken and one can of chicken broth. One large onion, two large carrots and two large stalks of celery.
9.5 hours later it was falling off the bone goodness in a tasty gravy. Served it over buttered egg noodles and man was it killer.
I will never breast out a turkey again, thanks for the tips and pointers guys!!
