So the wife wants me to make Turkey Sausage (Help?)

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smokin - k

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Apr 22, 2011
239
15
Portland, OR
I guess all the pork I've been processing lately is getting to my wife... She wants something that's a little more lean and has asked for Turkey Sausages. I thought the whole idea about sausage was a good fat to meat ratio 70/30... My question is two fold. Would you recomend buying a whole turkey and processing it yourself or go to the butcher and have them do it? Just wondering how hard it would to debone a turkey.. My second question is do I need to add some extra fat to the process so as to not have dry sausage? Any comments about this would be great! Thanks and Happy Smoking, Smokin - K
 
I made some "Turkey bacon" before and it turned out good.  I think if you're looking for 100% turkey sausages, you'll be surprised that you'll be eating just as much fat, as if you were eating sausage made from pork.  Fat Is Fat!

You can buy ground turkey

I would make a small 5# batch first and then see if you like it.

There are some pretty good chicken sausage recipes on here.  Maybe use one of them and substitute turkey.

Todd
 
My older son and I deboned a few whole turkeys he got on a fire sale last year at Walmart just before Thanksgiving to clear out older frozen turkeys at 29¢ per lb.  We snatched up probably 10 or 12 of them, unthawing 3 or 4 at a time, 20 lb'rs or so.

Depends on how much work you want to put into them to get maximum yield or to 'get the best and toss the rest'.  Or go half way, retaining the wings and drumsticks to cook separately if you like those parts, and bone out the breasts and thighs for meat:

First, take the skin off and throw away; not a hard job (see my Naked Dixee Chicks below).  Then, cut off the two wings, not much meat to trim out, save for fresh or cured. Then, break out the two legs from the backbone and separate the thigh from the drumstick.  Set the drums aside; with the ligaments, they are difficult to bone out; better off smoking up a pile of drumsticks and wings for parties either fresh or cured.

Remove the backbone from the breast, cutting down both sides of the backbone near the center.  Push down on the breast breaking out the keel bone (breastbone) and remove and cut the breast in half.  Slide your knife under the ribcage and remove from the breastmeat, plus along the wishbone into the neck of the breast.

Trim out the thigh bones from the thighs, being careful not to leave joint cartilage on the ends in the meat.

You can follow my tutorial on Cutting up a Chcken - whether a turkey or a chicken, the parts separate the same; just take it from there to bone out the breast and the thighs.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/79898/cutting-up-a-chicken-part-1
 
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Todd and Pops,

     Thank you both for the great info! I'll give it a whirl and let you know how it goes... The wife will likely have me try and get a locally grown fresh bird that has no hormones and such so it should be interesting... Might take twice as many birds to get the same amoount of meat as one pumped up with all the juice... LOL! Take Care and Happy Smoking, Smokin - K
 
Ahron, saved your recipe it looks interesting. Haven't heard of grinding up the skin tough. I'm going to be useing wild turkey for my attempt and don't have any skin. I'm thinking of just using Chicken fat as wild turkey doesn't have much for fat. I think this will work fine, what do you think?
 
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