Processing Question

[Debbi]

Thanks Scott, just what I was looking for! Good idea with the salted ice water too. And yes, SOUP!! The dogs love to see me get out the big soup pot! Some for the pot, some for them, bones for the barn cats, nothing goes to waste! I can taste those turkeys now, and my mouth is watering!

Ooo-Rah Marine! Pics of the processing in stages would be of great help!

 

[ScottnLydia]

OH YES, SOUP !!! We use my old Grans recipe. Take the (not too closely picked) carcass and bones, cut the carcass a little with a cleaver to get it to fit, and put it into the pressure cooker. Add water to the fill line (about 2/3), bring to pressure and cook for app. 30 min. Let the pressure release naturally, when you can open the cooker and remove the bones, let them cool enough to pick off all the meat and discard (to the dog or cat perhaps) the skin.

Saute about 1/2 onion, 2 or 3 diced carrots, and 1 or 2 diced ribs of celery until slightly soft, and add them to the stock. Add 1/2 cup of barley (NOT INSTANT BARLEY), and cook as long as the box says. Taste the barley for cheweyness, when it's the way you like it, put the turkey meat in and adjust the seasoning.

Should make about 3 to 4 quarts, freezes perfectly. Just ain't nuthin' warms the bones better on a cold winters evening than that, I tell ya!

Lydia says if you don't have a pressure cooker you can do it in a stock pot, it just will take longer, but really consider getting a pressure cooker and a good cook book like "Pressure Perfect". There are just so many things you can do with them!

~S

 

[Celie]

If you do not have a large enough pot, I use an old ice chest and the water from my water heater and if a cold day a stock pot of boiling water added to the chest before dipping the bird to pluck. After plucking and gutting and cleaning, I put into cold water with ice to make sure it is well bled, for a couple of hours and then into a brine with a lot of sea salt(wash off after the taken from the brine), sugar or an acidic juice like pineapple, or apple cider to tenderize and seasoning, for flavor (bay leaf, onion,garlic,sage,etc.) then 3 days in the frige. Make sure the bird is submerged in the brine. If you are cooking the bird in a slow cooker or pressure cooked, you can skip the brine.