Just curious on your method of cleaning your trophy gobbler. Do you simply breast them out with the legs also, or do you pluck and singe or maybe even boil the complete bird ?
I debone em (breast, legs, thighs) and dad plucks em like a Foster Farms turkey :funnyturkey:
I've always breasted mine out, after cutting off the beard, legs, and tail fan. Never even fooled with the legs.
I skin them back to get the breast, legs and thighs. I will pluck one on occasion to deep fry. Breasts get the Jamaican jerk recipe and legs and thighs in the crock pot for bbq or turkey salad.
I usually skin and slice out the breast and remove the legs/thighs. I don't mess with plucking and gutting anymore.
Quote from: stinkpickle on March 13, 2014, 01:16:34 PM
I usually skin and slice out the breast and remove the legs/thighs. I don't mess with plucking and gutting anymore.
+1. So much quicker and you still get 95% of the meat.
Just filet the breast right off the bone. Bust the thigh and legs off and boil for the cats and dogs.
The rest...buzzards gotta eat too
Gman
Anyone know of an instructional video or website that shows how to do all this? If by some miracle I kill one this year, I'd like to keep the fan and beard. :cowboy:
Keeping the fan and beard, is no issue when cleaning a bird. My preferred method of taking the beard off, is tightly gripping it close to where it attaches and firmly jerking it out (no jokes please). No meat to rot on the end of the beard, and it comes out intact... took me many years of cutting beards off, before someone showed me that trick.
For saving the fan, just begin cutting from the backside, just above is cloaca (craphole), and skin him back towards the body until your far enough down to cut it off. Shave the excess meat, put borax or salt on the exposed skin/meat and then pin him to some carboard with the fan fully open. You may can find a video, but I promise it's not very hard at all. I save most of my fans. I just leave them up in the attic drying for a few weeks before I will put them on display.
I cut the beard,spurs and tail off leaving some meat on them and salt them down good. I only bone out the breast meat the rest is not worth messing with there is nothing but muscles and bone on the legs on the Florida birds.
Quote from: stinkpickle on March 13, 2014, 01:16:34 PM
I usually skin and slice out the breast and remove the legs/thighs. I don't mess with plucking and gutting anymore.
^^^This
I usually just give it to my wife or one of my kids, that's how I clean my turkeys. :TooFunny:
Quote from: NC_10 on March 13, 2014, 10:58:30 AM
Just curious on your method of cleaning your trophy gobbler. Do you simply breast them out with the legs also, or do you pluck and singe or maybe even boil the complete bird ?
Quote from: stinkpickle on March 13, 2014, 01:16:34 PM
I usually skin and slice out the breast and remove the legs/thighs. I don't mess with plucking and gutting anymore.
That's how I do mine. I like to soak the breast strips in Dale's Marinate(Low Sodium) and then grill them slow. Legs and thighs go in a boiling bag/oven cooked with spices and vegi's.
Quote from: bamagtrdude on March 13, 2014, 01:01:56 PM
I've always breasted mine out, after cutting off the beard, legs, and tail fan. Never even fooled with the legs.
THIS^^^
cut the beard off, cut the legs off, and the fan. then I just breast them.
Just breast them out and get beard and fan. Legs and thighs are tough as chinese arithmetic on these southern birds.
I always gut mine love the heart, gizzard, liver and nuts, then skin them for the breast, leg and thigh meat. I send all my feet to Kip at ferocious calls and I have Zuni friends and customers where I take all the feathers and everything else which they use for their ceremonies, nothing goes to waste.
I simply cut the breast out as well.
My dog absolutely loves poultry for some reason. I was thinking about making the breast and other pieces of my next bird into dog food, not sure if this can be done though. I usually just breast out the Osceola's.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wVZ3aOMO0Mc