Wild Turkey Bone Stock:
With turkey season in full swing nation wide lets look beyond the normal recipes and talk about the so called discarded parts of this amazing game bird. I was watching a hunting program this morning and the host, a big name hunter showed you how to “Breast out” your turkey. He then took the rest of the bird and tossed it into the trash. To me this is such a waste. Not only did he not pay the animal respect but he threw at least four dinners in the trash. One reason people get upset with hunters is for this simple display of waste. So lets talk about what you can do with the left over parts with little to no effort.
Bones and Scarps
Most hunters simple discard the bones and scraps from the animals they harvest & butcher, if they butcher at all. Here before you is 144 ounces of homemade turkey stock. Slowly roasted and simmered for hours with herbs from the garden and root vegetables.
It freezes beautifully for use later in soups, gravy and broths! Don’t discard those bones, 90% of the Animals flavors are sitting in those bones that most throw away!
I took this 18 pound turkey and broke it down in to quarters. Next I took the legs, thighs and wings and cut away every piece of meat. I took and breasted out both breast. I added all the wing, thigh and leg meat plus one breast to the grinder and got 4.5 pounds of fresh ground turkey. I then took the other breast and sliced it for turkey jerky. But lets talk about that 6 pounds of bones and scraps.
Wild Turkey Stock:
Ingredients;
Bones from Turkey
3 stalks of celery sliced
3 large carrots sliced
1 large onion sliced
6 springs thyme
6 springs parsley
2 tablespoons whole pepper corns
6 cloves garlic diced
4 springs rosemary
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Add bones, celery, carrots and onions to roasting pan or Dutch oven. Heat uncovered for 30-40 minutes until bones began to darken. Careful not to burn or your stock will taste burnt.
Remove from oven, add bones and veggies to stock pot if not using Dutch oven. Cover with cold water and add remaining herbs and garlic.
Bring to a boil
Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 3-4 hours.
Skim fat every hour
Remove from heat and discard all large bones and vegetables
Pour stock through a strainer into large bowl.
Discard leftovers in strainer and repeat two more times
Chill and enjoy
*stock can be frozen for future use
I love your blog and the pics of you post of your meals. I really like the idea of harvesting your own meat and living a not so conventional life when it comes to food. I know you live in southern California like I do. I am working towards getting my son and into bow hunting and am curious where there are some good places to hunt in So Cal. Your meal pics look so good it makes me hungry.
Thanks man, so cal hunting is very difficult and it mainly consists of birds and upland game. Deer can be found in the mountains but you’ll be competing with the other 3500 guys who got the tags also. It can be done and I have done it, just difficult. Start putting in for tags and earning those preference points even if you don’t get drawn.
A great out of state cheap hunt is Wyoming. At 48 bucks per doe deer or Doe antelope tag it’s cheap and fun. Every year I head there and harvest 2-3 animals to fill my freezer.
Is there better odds on hunting for boar locally? I didn’t grow up hunting and never really took an interest until about a couple years ago. My oldest son is 13 and I want to take that step and make a special father/son thing out of it. So having some success will be important. I know there are ranches locally, but it’s usually an expensive deal to hunt on those properties.
Don’t mean to bother you or over step by asking, but I want to be successful at hunting. If guys like yourself that have found success at it, those are the guys that I feel can offer the some good info to help newbies like me.
Why don’t ya email me bowlfrogg@gmail.com