Grinding wild turkey

[DanimalW]

Just finished grinding my venison, and it got me thinking about grinding my next wild turkey for taco/chili meat. Anybody do this? Wondering how it is. Only thing I know for certain is that it can’t be any worse than every other wild turkey cooking experiment I’ve tried in the past.

 

[BBob]

Easy peasy just like any ground meat. Like our pigs (javelina) we tend to grind and make it into chorizo.

 

[svivian]

@Ucsdryder is the expert on the subject

 

[Danny Hoey]

I’ve ground bacon into wild Turkey to make burgers. Pretty solid.

 

[Bigboone1988]

I’ve ground my wild turkeys before. If I remember right I did 80/20 with beef fat. Turned out great for burgers and tacos

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I have done this numerous times when I lived back in MO. My favorite was to mix it 50-50 with ground pork butt and make breakfast sausage out of it.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Wild turkey burgers are effing delicious!! Don’t let the naysayers tell you different!

They’re just jealous because they’ve been choking down dried out turkey, rather than grinding them into delicious, juicy turkey burgers.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

I combined my dark meat with some pheasant, duck and maybe 10% pork belly for italian and cajun sausage. Just had it for lunch, no complaints here!

 

[Gunnersdad49]

If you haven't tried the fake Chick fil A nuggets on the Meateater website, give those a go. I did 2 birds worth for Thanksgiving and they were a big hit.

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

I have ground up turkey and made jerky. Didn’t add any fat. I used some of the meat and made a couple burgers just to try it. I added olive oil and some other spices/marinate. It wasn’t bad at all.

Another way I thought was good is I simply breasted out the turkey, cut it into strips, then I battered it in Krustiz and fried it.

 

[DanimalW]

Wild turkey burgers are effing delicious!! Don’t let the naysayers tell you different!

They’re just jealous because they’ve been choking down dried out turkey, rather than grinding them into delicious, juicy turkey burgers.

Do you mix other fat/meat? I saw one recipe online where they mixed a piece of bread and zucchini with it to add moisture and help bind it.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Do you mix other fat/meat? I saw one recipe online where they mixed a piece of bread and zucchini with it to add moisture and help bind it.

I didn’t. And it didn’t seem to need help binding.

 

[DanimalW]

If you haven't tried the fake Chick fil A nuggets on the Meateater website, give those a go. I did 2 birds worth for Thanksgiving and they were a big hit.

I like this idea. I’ve done similar before with pheasant breasts, and the kids ate it up. I like the idea of marinating in pickle juice. I also marinade pheasant breast chunks in pickled jalapeño juice before baking those and pepper slices wrapped in bacon, and I definitely think the marinade makes it better.

 

[bbassi]

Ive ground a lot of them but never added anything to them. We usually use it in red beans and rice, Gumbo or even chili.

 

[TylerTheTerrible]

Wild turkey is one of my favorite meats. I personally wouldn't grind, way too much work to debone the legs, better to slow cook those. The breast meat certainly will retain more moisture if cooked as a whole piece.

 

[pirogue]

Wild turkey is one of my favorite meats. I personally wouldn't grind, way too much work to debone the legs, better to slow cook those. The breast meat certainly will retain more moisture if cooked as a whole piece.

X2. Doesn’t get much better than a smoked turkey breast. And I sure ain’t contaminating it with anything else.

 

[Roadrunner1]

I usually bone them out and the wife uses the meat for soups, stews and casseroles.

 

[Sudsy]

I usually bone them out and the wife uses the meat for soups, stews and casseroles.

How does the meat react to low and slow ??

 

[4090Sharps]

How does the meat react to low and slow ??

Great. I treat turkey legs, wings, and thighs like I do domestic duck and cook it confit. It shreds nicely and makes amazing sandwiches.

 

[NorCal Mixed bag]

As a fat substitute, we use a very high quality EVOO. Cut breasts into roughly 1x2” strips (or whatever fits best into your particular grinder feed chute), and roll strips around in a big bowl to coat heavily in oil. Never have measured the olive oil as a % ratio to meat, just eyeball it. Season either before of after grinding as you prefer. This weekend we’ll be making a huge batch of White “Chicken” Chili, but with ground turkey substituted - it‘s amazing!