Do I have to rest turkey to be ground?

[PittyLova]

I just had to dispatch an older BB turkey hen that had become mean to all of the other birds and has been limping around (she was almost 4yo...pretty good life for a BB).

Where she's older and I already have 2 whole turkeys and lots of shredded and Turkey soup in the freezer I decided I'm just going to grind all of the meat as we use lots of ground meat when cooking. If you plan on grinding everything do you still need to let the meat rest? I cant picture tough ground meat

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I have not yet let any of our ground meat rest purposefully, and do think that's a great use... I use mine like ground beef though some will use it for sausage, I haven't done that yet and not sure what impact resting before grinding may have... but it would be worth testing the difference for sharing purposes.

Hopefully some more folks will reply.

 

[PittyLova]

You just grind them up straight away? I feel like it wouldnt make much difference where it's such thin strands of meat. Right after dispatching just cut her into chunks as I went along skinning. I liked not having to be neat about it! I have the meat sitting in the fridge now because I was unsure. But it will definitely be helpful for future harvests! I forsee a lot of grinding in our future for sausage and recipes calling for ground beef.

 

[blackandtan]

I too killed a 4 yr old hen this summer , I didn’t rest or age the carcass at all, I braised the whole breast, (well both actually, bone in), and cooked low and slow. She was SO JUICY and tender, not at all what I expected.
The only problem with grinding turkey is that it has no internal fat, and you’ll probably trim off all the fat on the outside of the meat so it could end up very dry, which would make it seem tough to chew. I’d research recipes online for ground turkey before you cook it, there’s a ton of them and they’ll tell you exactly how to cook it and or what to mix the pure ground turkey with for best results. I wouldn’t worry about resting it at all.

 

[blackandtan]

And it’s not a straight substitute for ground beef, which has enough fat to keep it juicy and tender

 

[PittyLova]

And it’s not a straight substitute for ground beef, which has enough fat to keep it juicy and tender

Thanks! I know I didnt rest my first chicken and regretted it! I'm too lazy to grind it up tonight but it's great to know for the future. And we use ground turkey 99% of the time instead of beef as it is...just this time we wont have to get it from the grocery store. Or for at least 30 meals! This is A LOT of meat from 1 bird. No wonder she had such a hard time getting around!

 

[blackandtan]

Well let us know how it works out, I’ve never ground my turks, they’re just too tasty steaked for the grill!