Anyone else not really care that much for turkey?


 
Bob Correll

Bob Correll

R.I.P. 3/31/2022
I know this is a heck of a topic for Turkey Talk. :)

The other day I was talking to a friend who usually cooks 2 turkeys every Thanksgiving, on his Weber grills, for the family get together.
He said this year he's just cooking 3 breasts, not whole birds, since he and his wife don't really like turkey that much and leftovers mostly go to waste.
I told him Jo and I are the same way, one yearly meal of it is about all we want.
It's not our year to host Thanksgiving, and for that I am thankful. :)

Wish we liked them more since they're dirt cheap this time of year.
I was curious about how big of oddballs we are.
 
Barb and I are just the opposite we cook turkey 5 or 6 times a year. Mostly breast's but if whole birds are on sale I'll snag those too. Even now I have two breasts in the freezer and a whole bird defrosting in the fridge.
But we have a lot of friends that only have it once a year so I don't think you guys are oddballs. I would think the normal would be one at thanksgiving and maybe Christmas.
 
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I absolutely love turkey and could have it more times a year than we cook it. I do know some that don't like it and we have other options as well usually when cooking it if they are over. Instead of turkey we have ham or other options. This xmas I will be hosting (after my father in law asked/assumed we would), so I will roast the turkey with the convention oven and I will do duck smoked in my miniWSM.
 
I like it, but I'm not a huge fan.

I love leftover turkey? Why? Because this...

~ Take a cast iron skillet and heat it up over medium high heat
~ Add bacon grease or refined coconut oil
~ Add strips/chunks of leftover turkey
~ Season it with your favorite spices (I love Reload Rub "Fully Loaded").
~ Cook until super crispy
~ EAT!

It's delicious that way. If I dry my big ol' bird out, at least the leftovers will be awesome.
 
I'll have to try that Troy, maybe for taco meat too?

Good, moist, stuffing/dressing is a whole 'nother matter, I can make a meal out of that alone.
 
I cannot understand not liking turkey dinner. I love it. We have all the fixings a few times a year. Mostly breasts but often the whole bird. I saw a bunch of rib roasts at Publix the other day. At first I did not understand, now I guess I know why. Have a great Thanksgiving folks!
 
Dwain Pannell said:
I cannot understand not liking turkey dinner. I love it. We have all the fixings a few times a year. Mostly breasts but often the whole bird. I saw a bunch of rib roasts at Publix the other day. At first I did not understand, now I guess I know why. Have a great Thanksgiving folks!
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We like a turkey dinner, once a year.

Rib roast? Now we're talkin'!!
 
I like turkey dinner, but since I've cleaned up my diet and can't really have all the fixin's, it's not as great as it used to be. Also makes you realize that it's not really the turkey that you like but everything that goes with it - especially family.
 
I love turkey but my wife doesn't. When we first got married we used to have cornish game hens, but then my parents started joining us for Thanksgiving dinner and there's only so many game hens you can buy so we started going with turkey and I'm as happy happy as could be!
 
I'm with you, Bob on the once a year thing. A long time ago we did thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys but not it's just thanksgiving.
 
I like a smoked peppery turkey breast on a sandwich. I make those at home or buy them when I go out to my local joint Armadillo Willy's BBQ. But the Thanksgiving dinner sort of turkey I only enjoy once a year. For the past couple of years, my family has taken to making just turkey breasts because few like the dark meat. This year, I'm mixing things up by smoking one 12 lb turkey for both white and dark meat (my wife enjoys the dark meat) and oven roasting another 12 lb turkey for just the white meat (and will freeze the dark for my wife to enjoy in the coming months). And my family has for many years included Honeybaked Ham in addition to turkey at the Thanksgiving table--the best of both worlds for T-Day. If only I could work some prime rib in there, too. :D
 
I've tried that turkey breast before at Willys, but what I got was dry as Death Valley...I must have got it on a bad day...I have better luck with the brisket at Willys.

Bob,

I've got an idea for you that I'm gonna do as an appetizer this year. Skirt steak pinwheels. I found a fairly simple recipe online.

http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/grilled-skirt-steak-pinwheels

In my case I'd like to be more creative and try something new, so I've asked my wife to mix up some miso, sake and mirin. My wife actually makes her own miso, it takes about 6 months to ferment, but she always has a batch going so we always have it. Mirin is a type of rice wine that is used a lot of Japanese cuisine. Anyway, what I'm going to try (I've already got her onboard to supply me with the sauce) is rub the miso sauce on the skirts, then layer some shiso in. Shiso is a Japanese type veg similar to cilantro, if you're not sure what it is. It has a quite unique flavor, also used quite a bit in Japanese cuisine.

I would like to try the above recipe though, but want to try something of my own creation on Thursday. :)

Surprisingly, my wife is not a huge meat eater, she prefers fish...but she's always game for skirts on the grill...If you can get skirts in your area Bob, it's one of our favorite cuts cooked over lump....I have 40 lbs. of hardwood lump, I'm ready for it, bring it on! LOL If you can get fresh skirts trimmed up properly, they are the shizzle...

I have one other idea for you Bob. I haven't tried this yet, but I'm going to. I call it a Gizzaki. It's a Rumaki, but instead of using a chicken liver, it uses a chicken gizzard. This is some work, as you need to cut off the middle and/or tough section of the gizzard, and they need to be smoked before hand. The Japanese also cook the chicken gizzard with yaki-tori and they prep it like that to remove the harder portion so it's not so difficult to eat. I think the way to prep it is with some sauce, get it cut up properly and smoke it in a tin with sauce like burnt ends. Thats how I do 'em anyway...;) Once the gizzards are smoked and soft, then assemble them by wrapping them with a water chestnut inside bacon (thicker the better). I think they should be mopped when cooking, using a small toothpick to hold them together, like Rumaki is done.

I'm doing a turkey this year, got it already, a 14 lb.'er. Gonna stuff salsa inside the skin...so far always a hit, makes great sandwiches, great in omelets, even works in stir fry. We've used it for tacos and burritos as well. I also recommend trying it as it's not your traditional turkey. It's a nice change...
 
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Turkey is ok. I am doing 1-2 bone-in breasts this year on the WSM along with the standard hams. I was going to spin a bird, but everyone seems to prefer the master carve hams. My parents are the only ones who really, really like turkey.
 
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