Butchering

[Deanne6234]

How is the best way to butcher and cook a turkey about 2 to 3 yrs old. They are heritage breed. I'm thinking brining then smoking then cooking slow. Thoughts.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

It's been awhile since I've done turkeys, so hopefully someone will step in who has more expertise.

With an older bird, pressure cooking is usually the best way. Other than that, anything that slow cooks. From my experience, only young birds are good enough to roast. I'm not sure how brining and smoking and then slow cooking would go. To me that is an over processed bird or at least too much work.

At 2 to 3 years of age, you've probably got a fairly good size bird. (Hopefully not as large as my friends who had to use a saws-all to cut their tom in half so they could fit the bird in the oven...or at least half of it...for Thanksgiving....ours never topped 20 pounds...but we butchered younger).

Nothing magical about butchering. Probably throat slit with cone if you can hoist them to drain out. (You can chop the head, but I always hate the spraying blood when they move and flap). If you have several to do, it might be worth renting the equipment including the tub used to roll the feathers off, otherwise, you've got to do a gentle scald and then pull feathers, which for a turkey, is a lot of work.

If you have a nice processing butcher around, they'll do the deed for you and hand you back a lovely package according to your specifications...generally at a very fair price. (My husband prefers this method...they get processed while he gets Starbucks).

Good luck with your project.
LofMc