From Beard to Bones: Ideas for Whole Turkey Utilization

Alex Talbot and Aki Kamozawa of Ideas in Food break down the best uses for each part of your Thanksgiving turkey.

Legs: Remove the tendons (and reserve), and grind the meat for turkey sausage to use in stuffed turkey neck.

Neck: Bone and braise or confit the neck. Stuff the neck with turkey sausage, poach at 60°C, and fry it to crisp the skin. Coat the stuffed neck with a spicy glaze, and slice for canapé.

Thighs: Incorporate the meat into a turduckin terrine, cooked at 62°C for one and half hours. Or grind for Thanksgiving meatballs.

Breasts: Brine and roast one bone-in breast (for a couple of hours at 60°C in a CVap), and cut crosswise through the bone to make turkey t-bones. Remove one breast from the bone and cook it (in brine, turkey fat, or olive oil) to use for leftovers, like turkey salad.

Tenderloins: Bond them with transglutaminase and cook gently.

Wings: Smoke the wings with a smoking gun or in a Bradley smoker. Then cook sous vide until tender. Remove the bone from the wing, fry the meat, and lacquer with Asian spices and carrot ketchup.

Carcass: Roast the bones and scrap meat, and make a stock in a pressure cooker. Talbot re-emulsifies the turkey fat using a Soniprep homogenizer, adding xanthan gum and gum Arabic to thicken. 

Leg tendons: Add the tendons to the turkey stock to increase collagen levels.