cooking advice - wild turkey (not the hootch)

alafairnadia

I'll be in ecuador for t-giving. the turkeys run around like chickens, which is great and everything. however, no one really eats them and think of them as a novelty item for stupid americans because they're tough little mothers (and like half the size of turkeys here). now, I know how to cook a turkey here - even the wildesque, anti-body/hormone free turkeys are relatively easy.

but how do you make a tough, wild bird that even locals have trouble figuring out how to cook taste (and have the texture) of something vaguely resembling not-teh-suck?

thanks!

the psycho-ologist

When cooking game meat you need to remember two things:

1) They are very lean (they have almost no fat so that they can run away
from other wild things that will want to eat it )

2) Their taste may be very strong (since they don't eat innocuous corn
feed like farm animals and instead may eat plants/other animals that
will flavor their flesh with a "distinctly gamey" flavor)

You need a pressure cooker, lots of high quality oil/fat, good quality spices, and a potato or apple (an apple is better) which is good for putting inside the cavity of the animal to take out the "gamey taste"

THE FIRST STEP IS TO MARINADE IT IN YOUR SPICE SOLUTION FOR AT LEAST 2 DAYS IN THE FRIDGE. include an apple and some salt. Salt breaks down those tough muscle fibers

If you plan to bake or roast the turkey, AFTER YOU MARINADE IT you will need to par boil it in a pressure cooker with a spice solution consisting of your spices, the apple and a large amount of oil, so that you can soften the meat and flavor it before you roast it. Otherwise you will be eating the toughest driest thing on earth.

I said pressure cooker since regular boiling WILL NOT do the trick unless you boil it for hours ..thus making it stringy. Pressure cookers get to extremely high temps and can infuse the toughest meat with the spice & oil solution you are using to make it tasty

Most cooks will caution you against baking/roasting a wild animal especially if you are an amateur. If you notice in most non industrialized countries where people eat game, they prepare it in a stew form. That's the best way for making it palatable.

pitu

I'd brine it. For at least 24 hours, in a salt solution with some sugar, bay leaf, black peppercorns, maybe sage and a chili. I concur with Miss Piggy above who suggests liberal use of additional fats. Are you keen to make it taste like American turkey? Bring sage, or whatever your stuff choice is...and if it's cornbread, bring your own corn meal. Unslaked with lime like the kind in latin america.

And I'd post a request on the home cooking board of chowhound, to narrow this down for street bird. Here's old threads on regular old brining...
http://www.chow.com/search?search[query]=brine+turkey&Search.x=0&Search.y=0

In Mexico, those birds are stewed into delicious mole negro. Mmmmmmm.

alafairnadia

heh. I'm not into making a stew, but also not into making a generic american turkey. I'd already thought of brining so thanks for confirming that. hadn't even considered the pressure cooker. thankfully, sent myself a pressure cooker, an ice cream machine and an electronic rice cooker that will totally make me congee while I ignore it. so. while the latter two are ignorable in this situation, I am thankful about the confirmation of brining, the apple suggestion and the pressure cooker idea.

this is so exciting. watch me totally fuck up t'giving!

arlette

I suggest brining it in vinegar salt andlots of lemon. Vinegar will make it tender later when you bake itand lemons will get rid of gamey taste and smell . just like it does for meats like lamb,goat,etc. After at least a couple of hours or if you are brining it for one day, rinse and season with onion powder and your other seasonings including pepper,little garlic,salt and little thyme.I would take some brown n bags and bake it in there with chopped celery, green peppers and onions in the bag to make gravy with the juice from the bird.Also put a few pats of butter under the skin by the breast area or melt a half stick of butter and pour over the bird after you season it and stuff it and right before you bag it. Cook on 400 for first half hour and then lower degrees to 350 for the remainder. In a brown and bag a 20 lb turkey takes 2 to 21/2 hours to cook .Juicy and tender.

alafairnadia

thanks, arlette!