The Trouble with Turkey

Forgive me if I have already talked turkey to you. I did a search and didn’t see anything resembling that but I did find this post that made me chuckle. And then cry. Those Leyland Cypress trees did grow to be big and give great backyard privacy, only to be blown down in the last 1.5 years. Road construction, tropical storms and hurricanes did a number on them, what disease hadn’t already done.

So turkey is not very troubling to me. I personally am a white meat fan. I cannot fathom why people buy smoked turkey legs to eat. On purpose. But… since I prefer white, someone else may as well prefer dark so no meat is wasted.

I know we’re nearly at Christmas where ham is more the topic of the holiday. You can actually do the same with leftover ham, if you have it. While turkey in itself is not troubling, leftover turkey to those who only eat it out of obligation is troubling. What to do with all the leftovers??

Can it, I say. And cook them bones for great broth. This past Thanksgiving we ate with my sister’s family and they had great fried turkey! I had purchased 2 turkeys that were on sale for .48/lb that averaged 13 pounds each. When I had a free Saturday (if you call a Saturday free that included washing windows and curtains!) I roasted them and then canned the meat. This is the result:

Approximately 18 pints of meat (10 white, 8 dark) and another 15 pints of broth. I actually like turkey broth better than chicken broth and after all this rich food in December, a meal of turkey broth sounds inviting! 🙂

This project is not without a bit of mess but it is so nice to have meat on the shelf to use at any given time. I got the above amount of meat for about $14. And elbow grease. And hand grease. Lots of greasy hands. Four, to be exact (my sister helped debone it.)