cooking skinless turkeys

[69beers]

The two jakes I shot a couple weeks ago were covered with those pin feathers under the skin. They wouldn't come out, only smear when I tried with tweezers, knives, ect. I also tore up the skin too, but this was my first time plucking anything.

 

Anyway, I'm cooking them whole without the skin. I've heard deep frying them skinless is no problem at a high temp. I was also thinking of wrapping a whole bird in bacon (a new skin with more flavor if you will) and smoking it.

 

While we're on the subject, I suggest starting a new area for wild game recipes along with the hunting photos section mentioned before.

[tucker301]

I never pluck wild turkeys, or any other wild game bird.

We cook the turkeys in those oven bags and they're always plenty moist and tender.

The bacon sounds like a good idea too though.

Good luck on the weekend trip!

[tucker301]

Almost forgot.

Regarding the pin feathers. My elders used to scald the turkey with hot water before plucking it.

Presumably, this makes the feathers release.

They've also used a flame to burn them off. Not the sort of thing you'd want to do indoors

[69beers]

Yeah, I scalded both of them. One a little longer than the other, which made the faethers come out easier. The pin feathers are almost like ticks under the skin. They are small black lumps and when you try to dig them out they just kind of smear. The hairs sticking out came off just fine with a little flame. Apparently these pin feathers are common for young birds in the late fall. And apparently it is not very popular to pluck young birds in the late fall!!!!

 

I just got a new smoker and am dying to try it out. Hopefully a goose or six will grace it very soon.