Broken Down Turkey?

[Jolly]

Let us know how it turns out...

[Jolly]

Several years ago, my friend needed to feed about 50 people at his workplace. Being Thanksgiving week, everybody wanted turkey, but he just didn't have access to what it would take to bake that many turkeys. He though about trying to smoke several, but that just took a bit too much time.

What they finally decided to do, was cut the turkeys into pieces about the size of a chicken nugget, season and bread the pieces, then they fried them. They served them with sweet potato casseroles, green beans, rolls and various pies for dessert.

The bunch liked them enough, it became kind of a running joke and from then on, they had turkey "nuggets" for Thanksgiving each year.

[George K]

Yup. It was fabulous. I didn't follow the recipe 100% - but it was relatively easy to prepare and done in no time whatsoever. The hardest part was spending all day on Thursday cooking down the stock for gravy. The gravy was wonderful as well - it might be because I threw a splash of rum (!) into it.

[LuFins Dad]

Ahhh, but how was it on day 2 & 3? My smoked turkey was okay, a little dry on day 1. When I got it out of the fridge last evening, I nibbled a bit of colt turkey while I prepped the rest to be reheated, and it was wonderful…

[Mik]

At the very least you should spatchcock your turkey. It cooks much more evenly. I still prefer it broken down.

[Jolly]

Looks good to me!

Hey, if you ain't tinkerin' with the recipe, you ain't cookin'...

[George K]

@LuFins-Dad said in Broken Down Turkey?:

Ahhh, but how was it on day 2 & 3?

Ask me on Tuesday. This was on Friday.

[LuFins Dad]

Today’s day 2…

[Mik]

Yes, and it's 8:20 AM George time. Bit early for turkey.

[LuFins Dad]

@Mik said in Broken Down Turkey?:

Yes, and it's 8:20 AM George time. Bit early for turkey.

Not at all, I Have heard that @George-K enjoys a little wild turkey as early as 7AM,

[Mik]

George? Day drinking? Perish the thought.

[LuFins Dad]

Drinking?! Perish the thought.

[Mik]

Only when he was working.

[Copper]

Really? Whisky for breakfast?

I'm pretty sure I haven't done that for maybe 50 years.

It sounds like a good idea.

[George K]

By the way, I made the stock the day before.

After making the roux yesterday, and adding the stock, it was "OK," but needed a little something more. So I did two things:

1. I threw in a splash of rum (!) for some sweetness
2. For more umami, I slowly added "Better than Bouillon" - ended up being about a teaspoon. That really worked well.