Well, He-Who-Must-Eat-Meat, butchered ducks this weekend and we decided to try a test turkey. One of the bronzes had weak legs (walked like a sumo wrestler, thus the name). It dressed out beautifully (anything plucks better than a duck) I knew it wouldn't fit in any pan I had, so we decided to cut it up and freeze it that way. Before we did, we weighed it. 30 pounds! Oh Lordy, that wasn't even the BIG one! We planned on waiting till December to do the big one (Turkzilla) as that is when I have to make dinner for 60 at his Moronic Lodge. I don't think we should wait. Even that oven is only so big. I figure I'll have to cut him in half to fit him in. I guess I won't need a really big ham to supliment the turkey for the dinner.
He-Who-Must-Eat-Meat better like turkey. Between the turkeys and all the stinking rabbits, our colesterol will be great.
Sumo Turkey hits the pot.
moronic lodge! My DH wastes about 2 weeks in vacation days for his ML (LOL) and its sister lodge. You come up with the best nick names. I am hoping my turkzilla comes in under 30 so he fits in my sisters oven! The hens didn't grow like the boys. The Zillas grab my sweet lil silkies by the top knot and try to toss them out of their way when I give them treats they LOVE.
The 30 pounder WAS a hen! HWMEM is taking care of Turkzilla right now. I'll let you know how much he weighs. All I know right now is that he is hooking up a block and tackle like he uses for deer.
OH MY! How old are/were they?
We got them in May. Turkzilla weighed 41 pounds, dressed and dried. Ever tried to stuff 41 pounds of turkey in a baggie?
OM you have to cut him in half to cook him, wow, mine are all doing the waddle thing, only one hen is still pretty quick on her feet, mine are gettin done the sunday before thanksgiving, I will post the weights.
Congrats again!
LoraK,
I have 2 turkeys across the driveway from my yard. The hen is about 40 lbs and the tom is about 55 lbs. We too named the big guy Turkzilla (coincidence). I feed them regularly for my neighbor who is gone half of every month all year long. His 7 tom turkeys dressed out last winter at about 50 lbs each. We ate one hen for T-day last year .... weighed 43 lbs with all the pin feathers removed. They are not kind to the chickens when eating. We have had horses in the pasture with the turkeys. Once we caught the horses rolling the turkeys like basketballs when we were not paying close attention. We had to let the turkeys out of the pasture and wander in our yards till we got the horses back to their owner. It wasn't funny but kinda freaky to think the horses were just playing with them. The huge turkeys can fit in good sized ovens without having to be cut in half. I think I removed the upper heating element not used for baking and put the bottom rack on 4 clay spacers just above the bottom heat element. We found that BIG turkeys are kinda dry texture (not at all like a butterball). My wife hated the size ... which will perpetually remind me of Mr Bean's dreadfully funny experience with his enormous turkey.
Gosh Photographer. You outdid me again.
he always does............
LoraK & jylgaskin, You two make it sound like I'm competing. Those turkeys aren't even mine. All I do is feed them some of the time. My neighbor Mike feeds them too much and I feed them too little (trying to compensate). 2 lbs of turkey meat isn't much difference. The turkeys next door are also 2 yrs older than yours so it is normal for them to be heavier by now. They waddle something awful. I'd bet quite a bit that if you were to allow your Bronze turkeys live to be 1.5 yrs or older they'd be at least 5-10 lbs heavier than they were. The hen just finished moulting about 2 weeks ago ..... a month later than the tom. She was an awful sight last month. She must have been close to 80% pin feathers and shivering at night I'm sure.
Well, I cooked one of the sumo-thighs for dinner last night. He-who-must-eat-meat was pretty impressed. The texture was more like steak, than turkey and the flavor was so much diffrent than the standard corn fed birds. It must be all the poop and bugs they eat. One thigh fed two and there was still a bit left over. It gave me an idea of how loooooong I will have to cook Turkzilla. He is in the bottom of my son's freezer and he showed everyone at his Halloween party the "body bag". He actually had one gir convinced that it was the crabby short guy down the road.
I am still trying to fathom a bird that large. LOL I've weighed some of my chickens in at the 5 pound mark just for giggles. I don't think those turkeys would fit on my postal scale even if it does go to 50 pounds!
Are all turkeys kinda tough?
This message was edited Nov 2, 2007 1:54 PM
The comercial turkey's are much more tender, because they don't get any exersize, but you sacrifice tenderness for flavor. Nutrition for fat. Much of the flavor of poultry is from mature muscle mass and connective tissue. Many French dishes that the sauce depends on depth of flavor request a chicken at least one year old.If you compaired a 30 pound commercial turkey to a 30 pound farm turkey, you would find a much diffrent fat ratio. A farm turley or chicken tends to be leaner and that's why they are better brined or baisted.
Hey ... FYI .... I've read of back yard chicken folks selling their home grown turkeys around this time of year for close to $3/lb ....... worth considering perhaps.
mmmmmmmmmmmm turkey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I m just trying to picture the horses rolling the turkeys around lolololol what a sight. poor turkeys.
the farmer market here . chickens that are pastured are $5. lb this is just one person, but shesh.
i usually stick butter under the skin of my turkeys i get from a local farmer
i m learing so much from all yo u folks
sue
I found out that if you brine farm turkey, it really helps. I use salt, sugar, fresh herbs ans white wine. That way it is moister, without adding extra fat. Sumo was fat enough. We removed a couple of pounds of fat from each bird when we butchered.
I can't imagine paying 5 bucks a pound for ANY meat!
taynors,
Butchering is not rocket science. One would have to be a close to a moron to ruin the meat of any poultry during a butchering process. Just use some commonsense and wash it thoroughly and get it in the freezer or in the pot. Room temps are what ruin meat and allow bacteria the environment to multiply. I found that skinning the bird is far less work than plucking the feathers. Breasting out is the smart way of doing a duck, pheasant, quail, dove. A sharp knife and a few quick cut. The rest of the bird is NOT worth messing with (in my opinion). Given the choice between Tysons boneless chicken breasts @ $2/lb ..... the farm raised chickens and guineas are only fit to be skinned and dropped into a slow cooker (my favorite choice).
Ok have to ask what is FIL? DAAAAA father in law!
This message was edited Nov 8, 2007 5:25 PM
We scald and pluck all our poultry. If you are not expecting "store meat", you will love the flavor and texture of farm raised poultry. It really is worth the extra effort to pluck and does not take very long at all. I am loath to waste any meat. I figure that the animal deserves to be utilized to the fullest extent. When we cut up the sumos, I took the back, brest bones and wing tips and made turkey soup. It was amazing, unlike any turkey soup I had ever had in the past.
We utilize the whole duck. If nothing else it's simple economics. You pay to feed the whole bird. USE the whole bird. When we get rid of old hens, we skin them remove the brest meat and then make the best chicken stock available to can for the rest of the year. I cook the breast meat just like any other when we need it. The cooked meat from the stock gets picked over and frozen in patties for dog treats.
My husband never butchered anything other than squirells and rabbits before we started with chickens. We looked up diffrent methods of scalding and cleaning on the net and away we went. We found that the secret with ducks is timing. You only want to butcher at certain ages so you don't have to deal with so many pin feathers.
I am comfortable with the knowledge that I am feeding my family the very best meat possible and know exactly what goes into them. I also know that they have been given quality lives and been respectifully and mercifully butchered. I like that.
jylgaskin i m sooo with you on that. Yes soup is the best when used with real meat and produce. I actually got some caned soup for my kids cuz i just can't make the spider man noodles lol :) so i caved in and said yes.
My kids didn't like it !!!! they ate the noodles but not the broth. ahahahha go firgure.
Lorak your to funny
i rmember when i coulnd't figure out ROTFLMAO ahahhaa. it took me 3 months to finaly get the courage up to aske someone
My DH is in china and he was telling me about the chicken is served iwth the feet stil on and the neck. He gets a litte grossed out. lol :0
sue
jylgaskin, My Swedish Blue ducks and the rest of my poultry for that matter are pretty much off limits. The only butchering I'll be doing is wild duck, pheasant & quail. The wild game have a bit less meat than the domesticated poultry and I'm not really willing to work to eat meat. The breasting cuts are quick and easy with a great blade for duck, pheasant & quail.