Boning a Turkey
OK, Thanksgiving is fast approaching.
And we need to be prepared, turkeys and tools. Two boning knives, my big chef's knife - which I'm finally starting to like - and ex-mother in law's cleaver - which I like a whole lot, but I've had it 36 years.
Well, not really fast but my wife wants to do this for Thanksgiving
and I've never boned a turkey in my life. I needed two for their breasts for pastrami and the legs/thighs for sausage. The wings we are deep frying and having for supper tonight.
So I can practice on them. After I get what she wants, notice legs and wings are still attached? I will simply cut them off and do my thing with all the parts. Carcass and skin will make stock (for the record 4 gallons).
First we remove the wish bone, cutting it out and pulling it out with your fingers. Hopefully whole, but that doesn't always work.
Then we disjoint the wings, first bending it to get the end out of the socket then cutting the tendons, but not removing it.
Then, having cut through the skin and what little flesh is on the back, we start gently working the breast away from the carcass. When we get there we will dis-articulate and cut the thigh tendons in the same fashion.
Then we do the same for the other side.
Victory!
That is the boned turkey, wings, thighs and legs still attached.
And that is the position it will be trussed into when stuffed, when we do this for real with a bigger bird, this as about 12 lbs.
Now we remove a wing.
And the other.
Now we work on the leg, remember the tendons have already been cut, so we are talking skin here, mostly.
Cutting the breast in to two pieces.
And skining it, it is going to be pastrami, remember?
Skining the hind quarter.
Seperating the two pieces, which makes boning them easier.
About 3.5 lbs of dark meat from the two birds, add some fat to that and we have turkey cranberry sausage. Great stuff and to be featured soon.
And we need to be prepared, turkeys and tools. Two boning knives, my big chef's knife - which I'm finally starting to like - and ex-mother in law's cleaver - which I like a whole lot, but I've had it 36 years.
Well, not really fast but my wife wants to do this for Thanksgiving
and I've never boned a turkey in my life. I needed two for their breasts for pastrami and the legs/thighs for sausage. The wings we are deep frying and having for supper tonight.
So I can practice on them. After I get what she wants, notice legs and wings are still attached? I will simply cut them off and do my thing with all the parts. Carcass and skin will make stock (for the record 4 gallons).
First we remove the wish bone, cutting it out and pulling it out with your fingers. Hopefully whole, but that doesn't always work.
Then we disjoint the wings, first bending it to get the end out of the socket then cutting the tendons, but not removing it.
Then, having cut through the skin and what little flesh is on the back, we start gently working the breast away from the carcass. When we get there we will dis-articulate and cut the thigh tendons in the same fashion.
Then we do the same for the other side.
Victory!
That is the boned turkey, wings, thighs and legs still attached.
And that is the position it will be trussed into when stuffed, when we do this for real with a bigger bird, this as about 12 lbs.
Now we remove a wing.
And the other.
Now we work on the leg, remember the tendons have already been cut, so we are talking skin here, mostly.
Cutting the breast in to two pieces.
And skining it, it is going to be pastrami, remember?
Skining the hind quarter.
Seperating the two pieces, which makes boning them easier.
About 3.5 lbs of dark meat from the two birds, add some fat to that and we have turkey cranberry sausage. Great stuff and to be featured soon.
Great post, very useful. I've never made turkey sausage, but why not, since chicken sausage is better than I thought it would be.
Now that you've mastered this step, will there be a turducken post forthcoming?
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I doubt that I will be doing a turducken in the future.
But I do see things like boned stuffed birds and galatines ( I think that is correct word).
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Yeah, Charcuterie has a couple of those, but I've always been intimidated by the boning process-these instructions are really useful.
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Time Life books put out two series of cookbooks in the 70s. Long out of print but they can be found. One series was Foods of The World, with titles such as Germany, Southern US and the like.
The other was The Good Cook with titles such as Poultry, Beef and Pates, Terrines and Galatines. The Country Pate, shown at the top of this blog, is from the latter book (note it could be Terrines, Pates and Galatines). Well worth tracking down.
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You just gave me a heart attack that T-Day is right around the corner!
But hey you are prepared.
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If I have a sense of humor it is skewed.
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What's the plan for the turkey pastrami - brine, season, smoke?
The only sausage I have made with turkey is essentially a sweet Italian sausage. Kids love it with cavatelli and broccoli.
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Off the top of my head I don't know what I do with the breasts. I'm fairly certain the recipe is from Charcuterie, but if not I've a lot of other books. I have done it before, but there is only one lunch left in the freezer.
I also have two smokers and a frige that, except for the time leading up to Thanksgiving is essentially used by me for charcuterie and stocks.
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I'm impressed. A white t shirt and no apron, and no mess afterwards! Did you change clothes for those final shots??
Honestly, you make this look easy. I like your strategy about practicing before Thanksgiving. Great idea. Thanks for the educational pictorials.
eb
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I do have aprons from CIA in the kitchen, but they seldom get used to protect jeans/shorts and t-shirt.
While 'fresh' these birds were somewhat frozen (stores don't think it is frozen until it is about 0 F) so there wasn't much to get messy with.
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Nicely done and you can never go wrong with having stock floating around. Was debating smoking a turkey so I have a wonderful smoked carcass for some stock but it fell off my radar. Thankfully you reminded me of that.
Looking forward to the turkey cranberry sausage. What you going to use for fat?
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The recipe is from Charcuterie, don't know for sure, but think it is pork fat. I may instead use cooked rice for 50% of the fat.
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Um...you do know it's not Thanksgiving, right?
This is why I love you, man. Even Martha Stewart isn't this put together.
Kim
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It's not?!
I want a good presentation in November so best to practice. It turned out to be much easier than I thought. I'll be practicing on chickens soon.
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Wow, nice job! I've been working on my deboning skills and will probably be coming back to check the photos on this post frequently.
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I can't wait to see how you do the turkey cranberry sausage. Sounds fabulous!
Thanks for the lesson!
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