Ways to Make a Wild Turkey Taste Not So Wild

I have roasted a lot of turkeys, but never one that I turned the lights off on personally. I knew that my wild turkey was going to be a challenge to cook. I wanted it to be moist and not taste like the stale grains and bugs that it had been chowing down on during its lifetime hike through the great outdoors.

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My first priority was to seal in its juices as fast as possible, that ruled out any kind of roasting option. I dug out the deep fryer pot, stuck him with some liquid injectables I found at the grocery store, gave the bird a nice rub down with some cajun spices and followed through with a nice soak in bubbling peanut oil until it reached it’s optimal temperature.

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That was meal number one. Meal number two was hot open faced turkey sandwiches drowned in gravy, obviously. Meal number three was a little more creative, a combination of random things in my refrigerator (tater tots, scallions, sour cream, bacon, cheddar cheese) and subbing wild turkey for the protein ingredient. It was easily the tastiest casserole I had ever eaten, which could be due in part to the rewarding feeling you get when you provide your family with a dinner that you vouch for harvesting personally. Meal number four was something you could picture simmering in a huge crock hanging over the fire place on an episode of Little House on the Prairie. Somewhat of a soup and stew hybrid, and definitely a perfect way to put some moisture back into the turkey thats days old just hanging out in your fridge without much hope left.

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I had a conversation before I decided to start getting into and learning about hunting that as little as possible of my kills would go to waste. So it was exciting and fun to conjure up unconventional ways to use up all the meat from this first bird. From the forest to my table, each part had its own reward. Even our chickens enjoyed picking off the last little scraps from the carcass for a few days. The super easy and fast recipes I used are below.