Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Turkey .. Ten Ways

Turkey sandwich meat .. photo by Mrs. Mac
I'm getting the hang of cooking from scratch.  Making as much from my little kitchen laboratory as possible.  With the food budget money this month I splurged and bought a 18 pound minimally processed .. small farm .. turkey.  It was expensive at $56 .. the price you pay for having plain turkey without all the additives.  This turkey was dissected and made into TEN different turkey products packaged for quick use from the fridge and freezer.

Cajun (spicy) style roasted turkey breast ... photo by Mrs. Mac
Some of the broth, meat & gravy .. photo by Mrs. Mac
  1. Cajun style breast meat roasted .. sliced thin for SANDWICHES ... 3 pounds
  2. 6 quarts stock for SOUPS
  3. 2 half pints of rich pan drippings for GRAVY
  4. 3 quarts meat for use in CASSEROLES
  5.  and TURKEY SALAD
  6. Legs and wings baked TERIYAKI style for dinner and lunch (8 pieces)
  7. Leftover teriyaki chopped for use in FRIED RICE
  8. neck bones, heart, liver pressure CANNED as a nutritional supplement for our dog
  9. Bones boiled second time to make BROTH to serve over my dog's dinner
  10. Leftover by-parts/products .. from second batch of broth used to make a gallon of DOG FOOD
teriyaki turkey .. photo by Mrs. Mac
 About two or three pounds of bones is all that got tossed out.  If it wasn't the middle winter with two feet of snow on the ground, I'd have added the bones to the fire pit and used later on the garden.  Maybe next time I'll freeze the bones and do just that.

8 comments:

Maria Stahl said...

Cool! I'm very impressed!

How do you do your teriyaki turkey? Do you mind sharing? That sounds yummy.

I have at least one turkey in the freezer.

Maria Stahl said...

Also, do you run the bones through a grinder before you give them to the Dawg? After that much cooking, I figure they'd be pretty softened up and would grind pretty easily.

Mrs. Mac said...

Maria .. here's the recipe for the teriyaki turkey .. It's a recipe we often use for chicken wings .. I cut the sauce recipe in about half and it turned out fine:

http://cooking-previews.blogspot.com/2006/11/sticky-chicken-wings.html

I was canning chili meat the same day and had enough room for 2 extra pint jars .. the bones and meat in broth cooked about an hour and fifteen minutes. They were pretty soft .. but a good run through the grinder is necessary ..

Linda said...

This looks so yummy!
Hope you are well.
Blessings

Lynda said...

Ok...I just called my neighbor for one of her turkeys...you got my juices flowing! Thanks for the post!

Dani said...

Did you toss the bones into the trash or the snow? Any chance the dog could find the bones in the snow - then they won't be wasted :-)

I'm very impressed with how many meals you produced from one turkey! Teriyaki sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

LynnS said...

Beautiful job, Mrs. Mac!! The turkey breast looks like something from a glossy food magazine and I bet it tasted so good, too.

Bless you for cooking up some extra for your dog. That's so sweet of you to do that!

Wendy said...

a lucky dog to get all those treats too! I bet he was right with you while you were working.