Need help with heritage turkey cooking

[jopheso]

So we have been raising Narragansett and midget white turkeys for about year(mostly Nari). In the time we have processed two of them. One at about 4 months old and one at about 9 months old. Both had EXCELLENT flavor, but both were very chewy. I did salt water brine them over night, but still way to chewy. I now have people that want to buy turkeys from us for thanksgiving and I dont want them to get discouraged by the texture. There must be a way to address this issue and Im looking to my BYC peeps for advice.

Thank you in advance

PS we did grind up most of the meat from the second bird and it was just amazing as turkey burgers/chilli and everything else

 

[R2elk]

So we have been raising Narragansett and midget white turkeys for about year(mostly Nari). In the time we have processed two of them. One at about 4 months old and one at about 9 months old. Both had EXCELLENT flavor, but both were very chewy. I did salt water brine them over night, but still way to chewy. I now have people that want to buy turkeys from us for thanksgiving and I dont want them to get discouraged by the texture. There must be a way to address this issue and Im looking to my BYC peeps for advice.

Thank you in advance

PS we did grind up most of the meat from the second bird and it was just amazing as turkey burgers/chilli and everything else

There has been plenty of information on this subject posted in the Meat Birds ETC forum.

The first question that comes to mind is Did you let the processed bird "rest" before cooking?

Turkeys at those ages should have been very tender but if you don't allow the processed bird to "rest" in the refrigerator for around 3 days, it would be very chewy. The bigger the bird is the longer rest period it needs to completely pass through the rigor mortis stage.

 

[jopheso]

It rested for a matter of hours only...perhaps that was the issue!! I will check out the link TY

 

[R2elk]

It rested for a matter of hours only...perhaps that was the issue!! I will check out the link TY

I soak freshly processed turkeys in a bucket of salt water for approximately 8 hours and then let them rest in the refrigerator for 3 days before cooking. I haven't had any tough turkeys.

 

[Molpet]

I rest them for 3 to 5 days, cook low and slow 325f until internal of 140F

 

[jopheso]

what about frozen turkeys? if you rest them before freezing, do you need to rest them again after thaw? what about resting them in an ice chest..I bet that would work right?

 

[Molpet]

I have frozen them after resting and once they thaw out they are fine.. I used a cooler in the 65f basement. I change ice jugs every 8 hrs for 3-5 days
resting is so the muscles relax from rigamortus.

 

[featherhead007]

I "rest" my chickens at least 2 years in pasture before WE eat them. I figure they did their laying duty, and deserve the rest before becoming dinner

 

[Chef JimmyJ]

The 2-3 day rest MUST come before freezing or they will be what is called "Green" meat that will not get tender short of a long bath in a Crock Pot or Pressure Cooker. Any method of keeping the birds <40°F for the rest time will keep the meat safe from bacterial growth and spoiling...JJ

 

[jopheso]

AWESOME! Thank you so much fro the information...this issue has been my biggest concern about the birds