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Barbecued Smoked Wild Turkey

PostPosted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 7:23 pm
by Big Guy
Turkey season Starts here on Wednesday Here is a great recipe if you score :D

Barbecued Smoked Wild Turkey


Wild Turkey about 10-12 pounds,

Liquid to be injected into bird:

1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup garlic-flavored oil
4 ounces of beer

Paste to be massaged into bird:

3-4 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon coarse pepper
Pinch of cayenne
1 tablespoon garlic-flavored oil

The night before, combine the injection ingredients in a bowl, and suck up into a kitchen syringe. Inject the ingredients deeply into the turkey in numerous places, but mostly into the breast meat. This works especially well for wild birds because it adds internal moisture. It will not make the meat greasy.

To make your own garlic-flavored oil, mince one bulb of garlic, place it in a jar, add enough oil to cover it for a couple of inches. Put a lid on the jar, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before using.

Combine paste ingredients until it becomes of a paste consistency. Add the oil after grinding the other ingredients with a mortar and pestle or by some other means. Mix well.

Rub the paste under the skin of the turkey carefully. Rub the paste also inside the cavity. Cover the bird in plastic and place in refrigerator. Next morning, take turkey out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for an hour to an hour and a half before barbecuing. Get the smoker ready. Bring the temperature up to 200 - 230 degrees F. Wrap the bird in wet cheesecloth and secure the ends.

Place turkey breast-side down in the smoker and cook for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours per pound. The internal temperature should reach 180 degrees F. Re-wet cheesecloth periodically. It must stay wet.

After the bird cooks from 6 to 10 hours, depending on its size and internal temperature, cut off the cheesecloth and discard.

Ingredients for basting:

2 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
8 ounces beer :D

PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:57 pm
by TomSak
Hey Big Guy, what's the reason for keeping the wet cheese cloth on the bird? Doesn't it keep the bird from taking on any color? I will be smoking this guy next weekend.
Image

PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:49 pm
by welsh wizard
Hi both - just a question: Have you ever eaten pheasant and if so how does wild turkey compare? How do you hunt these birds and do you shoot them with a small bore or buckshot (if my words are correct)

Cheers WW

PS I know it is a little off topic but it is of interest to me for a number of reasons - Wild Turkey in Herefordshire!

PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:59 pm
by TomSak
Wild turkey tastes just like the store bought stuff maybe just a bit more flavorful. Think of the difference between a free range chicken and a regular mass pen raised bird. We hunt them with a 12 ga. shotgun with #4 shot (like buckshot only a little smaller).

PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:16 pm
by Big Guy
The cheese cloth keeps it nice and moist, It does reduce the color some. With a wild bird you don't have the under skin fat to self-baste. If you don't keep the cloth on you'll have a dry bird, with lots of color.

Smoked Turkey Breast

PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:20 am
by Epicurohn
Anybody smoked turkey breast?
How was it?
Recipe?


David

PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:40 pm
by vinner
I too, wonder if anyone smokes just the breast. Our Rio Grande turkeys are well breasted, but the legs are stringy as can be. And it is so much easier to just breast them out.

TomSak, is that an Eastern strain of turkey?

In a few years, I want to get all four species bagged in one year!