Cleaning a Turkey


preacherman

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Re: Cleaning a Turkey

I breast 'em out like preacherman. Wild turkey legs are to tough for me and I'm not patient enough to cook 'em right anyway.

The first thing I do is take my tail, beard and spurs. Then I peel back the skin, feathers and all, from the beard hole down past the juncture of the breast and the body cavity. I use a real sharp fillet knife and I cut down the length of each breast right against the breast bone trying to keep all the meat.

If you start at the top near the neck, be careful with the birds' crop. This is a baggy area at the base of the neck above the breast. It is often full of acorns, bugs and any other crap the bird scratched up. I've seen the crop full as a hardball. If you cut around the breast bone without puncturing the bag you keep all the crop stuff from spilling out onto the meat and your hands. Not really a big deal but it can be messy. The whole process takes about 3 minutes.

No guts, little blood and really no mess.

I thank the bird for the future meal then give it the 'ol Barney Road whip, (dirt road next to the ranch), and he's coyote bait.

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