Amusement Park Turkey Legs


 
WOW, I've got to say those were pretty tasty and I'll definitely do them again. I think I over cooked them just a tad but they were very good. Sweet and spicy. It's a keeper

Bryan, the fatty was awesome! Straight Monterey Jack in this one. The sausage was a roasted pepper and caramelized onion. Damn it was good.
 
My first thought while reading the recipe was
gee I bet this guy par boils his ribs too. But
Larry's pictures do make them look good. And
turkey legs are pretty cheap. And I really like
turkey legs. OK I gotta try em!
 
Larry,
Everything looks great. Now I guess I have to give that a try. Great color on the bird as well. Your fatty is the bomb brother, made me hungry. How's your head today?
 
Jeff, I used two pretty good size chunks of cherry and it looks as if I only burned through 1 1/2. Perfect amount of smoke for us. Personally I wouldn't use hickory on Turkey, it's a bit strong for me.

Ed, I'm back to normal today but I was hurting yesterday. I'm amazed I was able to do all that turkey, but I did it dragging. Had a good time Sat. night though so I guess it was worth it.
 
Wow. My turkey legs yesterday turned out fantastic.

I was very low on cherry, and hadn't received the apple wood I ordered (it came today), so I went ahead and used two chunks of Alder and one of Hickory.

I made my own variation of the recipe posted by Rita (from Smoke and Spice), but using no sugar. I'm just not a fan of using sugar when cooking unless I really have to. For my rub I used a combination of Goya Adobo and Kirkland Organic Poultry Rub.

I filled the cooker about 1/2 way full of charcoal and used minion with a full water pan. It only took a short while for the temp to shoot up to 200, then I backed it off until it held steady at 210.

After 3 1/2 hours I took my first peek and mopped with the white vinegar/oil/Worcestershire Sauce mixture, which I reapplied two more times. After four hours I took them off and let them sit for a while.

My daughter first asked "Do I have to finish a whole one," when he looked with some skepticism at the big brown turkey leg. Soon, after she finished his first, she wanted to know if she could have some more!

Good eating! I'll be doing this again.

Jeff
 
Doing a batch of these this weekend along with some turkey thighs and a breast (split). Only turkey legs will be going Amusement Park style though. Looking forward to these, if you haven't tried them give them a shot, great game day fare.
 
Someone asked about where to get turkey legs. Around the Chicago area, they're pretty common. Grocery stores have them, we have many multiethnic fresh markets, and you can always go to your butcher.
I'm not a big leg guy - I like wings.
Couple of years ago, for a Canadian Thanksgiving party, I had my butcher get & split 30 whole wings. I smoked with cherry, crisped the skin on the grill, and finished with a classic Buffalo wing sauce. I even took a few down to my local Hooter's - they loved them but I haven't seen them pop up yet on their menu.
 
So I love the looks of that whole turkey cook!! That whole plating looked fantastic.

But back to the original topic of the legs. So I've had Smoke & Spice and use it often as a starter then modify to my liking.

For this recipe, how does the skin finish at these low temps? My guess is that it gets tossed.

I think I would need to give the legs a trip into an very high heat environment for a bit to make that work.

Slow cook is fine, boiling I'm not going to do that, I'll buttermilk brine instead. Just me, don't mean to insult.

In the end though if I'm doing just turkey legs, thighs or wings I want the skin "right".
 
Slow cook is fine, boiling I'm not going to do that, I'll buttermilk brine instead. Just me, don't mean to insult.
Ray, no "insult" taken. Trust me, when I saw that recipe I laughed, boiling in sprite, come on. I was very pleasantly surprised (must have been as I'm still doing them) and glad I stepped a bit outside my comfort-zone and tried it. Think I'll try buttermilk brine sometime too as that sounds good.

Regarding the skin, we don't typically eat skin so we just peeled it back/off and enjoy the meat. I'll post some pictures of today's cook too.
 
Hey Larry, so my assumption was correct that the skin was secondary AFA the recipe/cook under discussion. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Done plenty where the skin gets tossed.

I'm not thrown off by the Sprite, it's just the boiling part. I try not to do that as to me it pulls too much flavor out, especially with agribusiness commercial pork and poultry. So little flavor that loosing it to the "bath water" can pretty much eliminate it. Then the rest of the recipe ought to be about how to get flavor back in
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Sprite as in citrus notes/sugar might very well do that and also help with the texture.

But then again I make chicken pot pies and I often start with boiling a whole chicken to pull the meat, roast the bones, make stock and that meat goes in the pies.

I'll go outside the box and it's often worth it as you note.

Your cooks here look great. I wouldn't have any trouble eating my share
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That said subbing in brining (buttermilk base or standard salt water) might be a good substitute for boiling. Maybe work a brine that has Sprite in it - curious what that would do. Sub the sprite for the water.

Boiling is usually for efficiency or quicker IMHO brining takes longer and introduces a significant time delay vs boiling, but usually is better IME as far as injecting flavor, tenderizing and holding in moisture.

With dark meat as I think about it - it may be less of an issue perhaps.
 

 

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