I had read for years about some guys using the legs and thighs of turkeys as well as the breasts. I thought that would be cool, but never fretted over it since I knew that when I took the breast and tossed the carcass, the critters were using it so it wasn`t wasted.
Eventually I read an article online written by Jim Zumbo about how he used the legs and thighs, and I was seriously intrigued. I ended up trading multiple emails with Jim, getting advice on how to go about using the legs and thighs, but still just never followed thru.
Finally, this turkey season, I took the legs and thighs along with the breast, and I`m so glad that I did.
I put the legs and thighs in a crockpot with a lot of Swanson chicken broth, on low, and figured it would be 12-14 hours, but it just wasn`t happening. I figured it was never going to happen, getting the meat tender and falling off the many bones, but eventually, at around 28 hours, everything seemed to be tender and mostly off the bones, so I started the process. I later was told by Zumbo that I should have had the crockpot on hi.
I scooped everything out from the chicken broth, so I could separate all the meat from the bones. It took a little time, but I finally got all the small bones and bone fragments separated from the meat. I then had to separate any fatty/grisly meat from the good stuff. I went about it this way-anything I saw that I felt would be offensive in my mouth, I threw out. If I were going to err, I wanted to err on the side of caution.
Once the turkey meat was ready, I boiled some Reames noodles in fresh chicken broth per the package instructions, and partway through, I added the cooked turkey meat. I cooked then on low until everything was heated through. The results were as delicious as they were satisfying.
Eventually I read an article online written by Jim Zumbo about how he used the legs and thighs, and I was seriously intrigued. I ended up trading multiple emails with Jim, getting advice on how to go about using the legs and thighs, but still just never followed thru.
Finally, this turkey season, I took the legs and thighs along with the breast, and I`m so glad that I did.
I put the legs and thighs in a crockpot with a lot of Swanson chicken broth, on low, and figured it would be 12-14 hours, but it just wasn`t happening. I figured it was never going to happen, getting the meat tender and falling off the many bones, but eventually, at around 28 hours, everything seemed to be tender and mostly off the bones, so I started the process. I later was told by Zumbo that I should have had the crockpot on hi.
I scooped everything out from the chicken broth, so I could separate all the meat from the bones. It took a little time, but I finally got all the small bones and bone fragments separated from the meat. I then had to separate any fatty/grisly meat from the good stuff. I went about it this way-anything I saw that I felt would be offensive in my mouth, I threw out. If I were going to err, I wanted to err on the side of caution.
Once the turkey meat was ready, I boiled some Reames noodles in fresh chicken broth per the package instructions, and partway through, I added the cooked turkey meat. I cooked then on low until everything was heated through. The results were as delicious as they were satisfying.
