Fire up the Turkey...

Bear here...

Theresa and I have noticed a lot of people like our wood burning stove pages, so I have decided this blog will be about cooking a turkey in the stove. Only one slight problem. Ivy (the cat) noticed the problem before I did (kidding). (Yes, I really am kidding, we noticed at the same time.)  Anybody else notice a problem with cooking a big dang bird in a small dang stove? 
​
​What to do...  ...  ?

Time to break down the bird. (Parts is parts!) Breaking down a turkey is a lot like breaking down a chicken, only bigger (click to see instructions-scroll down the page). The breast meat (center, in the photo below) is easy to take off. The dark meat (right) tends to come off in small pieces, I have found out it is better cook it on the carcass (left).  The skin can be fried flat until crispy or used to flavor stock.

Cooking the breast meat and larger pieces of dark meat is easy as 1, 2, 3...

1.  Marinate the meat.

1.  Put meat in stove directly on small orange coals.

3. Wait with cat (while cooking meat for 1 to 3 min. on each side). Remember you want charred meat not more charcoals!

OK... not THAT easy. Here are a few tips.

• You don't want oil in your marinade.        Oil  +  coals = big flames, bad.
• You can char the skin and put it in with the stock fixings. When the flames to render (melt) the fat on the skin, pull it out. 
• 2-3 min. per side is not enough time to fully cook the breast meat to 160 degrees. Finish them in a regular oven. Brush off coal bits first (left). You can also try to flatten them (with a hammer/meat tenderizer) to 1/4 inch or less and see what happens.
  
• Don't let the cat try to flip the meat, Just sayen...

For the rest of the bird I cheated. I put the parts on the coals to get them charred then finished two different ways in a 400 degree F oven. 

First way.  I scraped all the coals off then put the carcass in a roasting pan, threw in a couple of rough chopped onions and covered them with water. 2 hrs. in the oven, let cool and strain, and I had some good stock or soup starter. I also had the patience to pull the cooked meat  from the bones to use for sandwich meat or whatever.

Second way. After scraping the coals off I covered the legs and wings with a mixture of mustard, soy sauce, oil, and chive vinegar. No need to cover the pan, just put it in the oven until it temps at 360 degrees F. (My first temp check was at 45 min.) Strip the meat from the bones and add 1/4 cup of the drippings to the meat for a stronger sauce flavor.  

Be sure to get all the meat from the bones, just sayen...

There you go...  Ways to use all the turkey and your wood burning stove. Free your inner Cook of Anarchy and you can create some nice meals.

Type at ya later...

---