Yesterday I made the most delicious soup.
We had a wild turkey for dinner on New Year's. It was shot by my husband- for those of you that have never eaten game, I highly recommend it. Not only is it all those things that people pay all kinds of money for (all-natural, organic, free-range, hormone-free, etc.) but it also allows you to see and understand how an animal lived and died to feed your family. I think that so many people take this for granted anymore, that they don't think of meat (or vegetables for that matter) as something that is part of a larger ecosystem; it is just consumption. But when you hunt, fish and forage as we do, not only is the food better quality, but you know where you are as part of the food chain and you pay much closer attention to the process of dressing, preparing and cooking food.
And by the way, a wild turkey tastes just like domestic turkey but with more dark meat, since it actually ran, walked, and flew for miles, unlike so-called free-range birds.
So, since this turkey died to feed our family, I never waste a bit of it. I saved the bones and made a stock. I froze about half of the stock in 1 c. portions to use later and had about 8 cups left to make a Vietnamese-inspired noodle soup.
To the stock I added 1 stalk of lemongrass, about six slices of fresh ginger, about 2 T. of soy sauce, some sliced scallions (from my garden) and a bundle of cellophane noodles. I added some of the cooked turkey meat back in and then salt & pepper to taste. What a delicious and healthy meal that is, and (except for the noodles) I know where every bit of it originated. I know the ground that turkey walked, I grew the vegetables for the stock- try to beat that, Martha Stewart.
I've always wondered about wild turkey. I think I've eaten raised turkey too much, because now when I try to eat turkey legs, I actually get a little nauseous, because the taste is too overwhelmingly oily/gamey. Or perhaps I've just had bad birds. That's not impossible. Still, I've heard how good wild turkeys taste. Maybe one lucky day I'll have some and it won't taste a bit like what I expected.
ReplyDeleteOne thing a wild turkey is not: oily. There is virtually no fat on the bird, since it has been running and flying from day one.
ReplyDeleteWhen I roast one, I usually cover it with strips of bacon because otherwise it would be too dry. (It also smells great!)