Skin or Pluck , Grill or fry ??

[hunter49]

How does everyone do their turkeys? 

[turkeyfeathers]

Breast it out, marinate over night in Orange juice, Italian dressing and some crushed red pepper. Wrap in bacon ( tooth picked ). Onto the smoker. Devine !

[Five Seasons]

Honestly, I just breast them out.

[jjb4900]

I almost always pluck them, trick is to do it asap after shooting while the bird is still warm if you let them cool off it's pretty tough to do. It's more of a psychological thing for me, I have a tough time just cutting the breast out of them and tossing that big bird in the trash, you really don't get much off them other than the breast and maybe the legs if you make some type of stew or soup out of them..........and I roast them like a regular turkey.

Edited May 4, 2015 by jjb4900

[Culvercreek hunt club]

breasted out and into the smoker.

[ATbuckhunter]

I pluck them but sometimes I'll skin them if I'm really lazy. Just like jjb, I feel bad to leave all of that meat with the bird. My favorite part is also the legs so breasting is a no go.

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[hunter49]

I normally skin & roast the whole bird but the trick is to keep it moist, lots of shock absorbers in the legs!  I did a  skinned one in the turkey fryer once but didn't turn out to well. I think a plucked one would work in the turkey fryer but as mentioned they are a pain to pluck. I know at home we would dip poultry in boiling hot water to pluck, maybe will try that if I get one.

[Lawdwaz]

Breast and thighs ground and into turkey tetrazzini.

[alloutdoors]

Usually skin them, and have several ways to prepare them. My favorite is cut into kabobs, marinated in Wishbone Italian dressing, wrapped in bacon, and grilled on a skewer with chunks of Vidalia onion, peppers, salt potatoes, and whatever other veggies you like. Veggies should be marinated in the dressing too.

Breaded and fried turkey medallions with morel mushroom gravy is hard to beat too.

[adkbuck]

If I have time I like to pluck the bird because my family and I like the flavor of a bird roasted with the skin on.   It gives it a rich flavor that's hard to beat. Usually you can dry pluck the bird if you can get to it within an couple of hours after the kill. I cut the wings off at the first joint since there isn't much meat on them and this makes the plucking much easier.   I dress the bird right after plucking then wash him out real good with cold water.  I like to let the carcass set in a bucket cold water for 15 minutes to cool him down good.   

 

To cook the bird I use the Alton Brown method:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaKOLGIcMGE  

 

If I don't have time for plucking I take the breast and the thighs and cook them separately, I especially like marinating and grilling them, although making turkey tenders is great also! 

 

The roast turkey method using Alton Browns method comes out tender and juicy every time. It enables the dark meat to cook to a higher temperature (which it needs) without over cooking and drying out the breast meat.  The method uses a aluminum foil breast covering to avoid overcooking the breast meat after the bird is browned.  I throw some cut up onion and apple inside the body cavity and close up the front and back openings before roasting.