****I do not condone only cooking the breast of wild birds like turkey and goose. I feel it is wasteful. Use the rest of the bird for/in other recipes.****
Whiskey Glazed Wild Turkey Breast
Ingredients
•2 tablespoons butter
•1 turkey breast, skin on and brined
•Salt and pepper
•1 cup turkey stock
•4 tablespoons butter
•3 tablespoons honey
•6 tablespoons whiskey
•1 tablespoon grated orange rind
•2 tablespoons orange juice
•Â½ teaspoon cayenne
Start by preheating the oven to 325 degrees F, and then melting butter on the stove top in a nice heavy bottomed skillet.
Once it begins to bubble, you add the turkey meat, skin side down. Resist the temptation to move it as it browns. You want to get some nice color on there and you don't want the skin to tear.
Then you flip it over.
Now you are going to deglaze the pan with your stock and scrape up the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Once you've done that, turn off the heat and put the turkey in the oven covered in foil and let it cook for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a separate pan you melt the remaining butter.
Add the honey. From my bees!
Mix the honey in well as it begins to bubble. You want to keep the heat low so the honey doesn't over caramelize and burn.
Then add the whiskey.
Then the orange juice.
Then the cayenne.
Let it bubble as you whisk until it is thick and a nice deep orange. Brush half of the glaze onto the turkey. Until it is nice and blanketed in orange goo. Then cover it again with foil, and return it to the oven.
Then add the other half about 20 minutes later. This time, leave the foil off when you return it to the oven and turn the temperature up to 400 degrees F. 15-20 minutes later the internal temperature should read 140-150 degrees F.
Slow-Cooker Herbed Turkey Breast Rolls
Wild Turkey Breasts
peppered bacon
rosemary
oregano
parsley
kitchen twine
2/3 c. chicken stock
1/3 c. apple juice
1/3 c. rice vinegar
mushrooms
cornstarch (for gravy)
Slit a pocket in the turkey breasts, fill them with peppered bacon, rosemary, oregano, and parsley, and roll them shut, securing them with kitchen twine.
Place in the crockpot on low heat, cover them with 2/3 cup of chicken broth, 1/3 cup of apple juice and 1/3 cup of rice vinegar, mushrooms and more herbs. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Make gravy by mixing a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch with chicken stock and adding it to the liquid in the crockpot turning it on high while finishing the rest of the meal.
Thanksgiving Wild Turkey
Ingredients
•3/4 pound (375 g) fatback, salted pork, or bacon, 1/2 pound minced, 1/4 pound sliced
•1 wild turkey, 11 to13 pounds
•Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
•1 yellow onion, minced
•3 ribs celery, minced
•4 cloves garlic, minced
•4 cups (8 oz/250 g) toasted diced bread
•1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) chicken stock
•6 sprigs sage, minced
•2 sprigs rosemary, minced
•8 sprigs Italian parsley, minced
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Render half of the minced fatback slowly in a heavy-bottom saute pan. Reserve and keep warm.
Dry the turkey very well with paper towels. Using a brush, coat the exterior with some of the warm minced fatback and season well with salt and pepper inside and out.
Heat up the remaining minced fatback on medium. Add the onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the celery and cook for 5 minutes more. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the toasted bread. Moisten with stock and add the minced herbs. Taste the bread cubes and add more broth and herbs as needed they should be moist and tasty. Gently fill the cavity of the turkey with this mixture, and cover the breast with the remaining slices of fatback.
Place the turkey, breast side up, in a heavy roasting pan and put it in the oven. Roast for 1 hour. Remove the fatback, raise the oven temperature to 375F (190C), and continue roasting for 1 hour to brown the breast. Remove the turkey as soon as it registers 160F (71C) on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, away from the bones
Let the turkey rest for at least 20 to 30 minutes before carving it across the grain with a sharp knife.
Parboiled Turkey Drumsticks:
1.) Gently place the skinned drumsticks in a tall lobster pot 3/4 full of boiling water. 2.) After 90 minutes or so, you can remove the legs (use tongs), cool them and pick the meat for use in soups and stews.
Any tame turkey recipe works also just make sure of the internal temp of 160 to 175F when done.
Al
