Turkey legs

[brancher147]

What do you guys do with wild turkey thighs and drumsticks? I have done slow cooker bbq and it’s ok. Any other ideas?

I thought about cutting meat off the bone for ground meat…mix with some breast meat and pork butt.

 

[Poser]

The Hank Shaw barbecoa recipe is the best use I've found. Because the legs are so spindely, you most likely have no braise them in order to separate the connective tissue. I think if you try to debone them for the grinder, you are going to end up with too much inedible connective tissue to get a decent amount of meat off the bone.

I have also cooked the carcass down for stock and used that stock to then make gumbo.

 

[Exterra]

My favorite use for the legs is turkey tacos. I've found that braising or the slow cooker are the most effective methods to get all the meat off.

 

[TreeDux]

I do a few different things, but generally speaking I throw the legs, thighs, wings, gizzard, heart, liver, and neck into a large pot of water. After slow boiling that for a few hours, I pour off the stock and pressure can it in jars. If I have time, I will batter and fry the gizzard, heart and liver.
The legs certainly pose a chore, but after they boiled down, it’s not all that hard remove all of those “shin bones“ and pull off all the meat. I’ll also remove all the meat from the thighs and neck. You can use it at that point for any variation of a chopped poultry dish, from chicken salad to tacos, etc. You can also take those boiled thighs, slather on some barbecue sauce and cook them on low heat for a little while.
If my efforts yield more meat than I need at the time, I will vacuum seal the shredded meat with some turkey stock to have turkey and gravy at a later time.

 

[Derekc6713]

Get the Hank Shaw Cookbook
“Pheasant Quail Cottontail” lots of good recipes in that one. Personally for legs I like his carnitas recipe. Basically braise it till the meat falls off the bone, shred it, and then fry it in a bit of lard. Real good.

 

[Poser]

Get the Hank Shaw Cookbook
Personally for legs I like his carnitas recipe. Basically braise it till the meat falls off the bone, shred it, and then fry it in a bit of lard. Real good.

That's the one I was thinking of when I said "barbacoa" above. I have another cookbook that has a barbacoa recipe for elk/deer shanks that I always make that is quite a bit similar and do the same thing -crisp them up in a pan before serving as tacos.

 

[LongWayAround]

I like to slow cook and shred the thighs for tacos.

Drumsticks get the crockpot with just water. I debone them and feed the meat and broth to my dog.

 

[judders87]

Pressure cook it until it falls off the bones. Use as shredded chicken is used. I've enjoyed turkey leg salad and adding it to ramen more recently.

 

[brancher147]

The Hank Shaw barbecoa recipe is the best use I've found. Because the legs are so spindely, you most likely have no braise them in order to separate the connective tissue. I think if you try to debone them for the grinder, you are going to end up with too much inedible connective tissue to get a decent amount of meat off the bone.

I have also cooked the carcass down for stock and used that stock to then make gumbo.

I think with drumsticks it would be a challenge to debone to grind but it shouldn’t be a problem with thighs.

I have done barbacoa and bbq and yea it is good but not really something my family or young kids eat much. Which is why I wanted to try grinding and I have a surplus of legs I would like to process all at once. Ground meat we will definitely eat up quick. I will probably give it a try and see. I still have vacuum sealed turkey leg bbq and barbacoa from last year also.

 

[voltage]

I separate the legs and thighs for space, and then put them in an instant pot with 4 cups of water for 90 minutes with a natural release. After that, I let them cool and separate the meat from things that aren’t fun to eat such as tendons and bones. From there, the options are endless…tacos, chili, burritos, turkey tetrazzini, turkey salad, turkey noodle soup, etc.. Super easy.

 

[wowzers]

Hanks’s carnitas is the best with turkey legs. The meat falls right off the numerous tendons.