Dove Kabobs

Meat and veggies on a stick over a grill. What’s not to love? Boneless dove breasts are delicious and the perfect size. But this recipe includes a game changing trick (see what I did there?) that works with any kabob-based culinary adventure.

Braised Wild Turkey

This coaxes even a tough old gobbler into something tender, moist and flavorful. This works best with legs and thighs, but also very well with breast.

Basic Brown Stock

This is a basic recipe for brown stock, using bones and meat from just about any seafood, game, poultry or livestock. Click here for a detailed treatise on stock.

Poultry Brine

Brining improves flavor, reduces toughness, and adds moisture. Most meats benefit – but lean, tough meats (like game) benefit most of all.For wild birds brining opens up vast cooking options that otherwise may produce dry, tough meat.

Wild Turkey Bratwurst

This is a great generic bratwurst recipe, and wild turkey meat is a fine base for sausage. But wild turkey is as lean as meat gets, so fat is a critical factor.

Pan Seared Wild Turkey Breast

This is an adaptation of a great chicken breast recipe.  It involves slicing a boneless wild turkey breast into roughly half pound pieces, about the size and thickness of a chicken breast, each perfect for one serving. It is fast, easy, and delicious.

Poultry Stock

Of course this works best with wild birds like turkey, pheasant — or even a big mess of quail. Don’t just “breast ’em out” and toss the rest — all those bones and meat are the ticket to great stock!

Poultry Noodle Soup

Works great for chicken — but also for wild Galliformes (pheasant, grouse, etc.). Turkey and quail might pose challenges due to size, but would be a worthy experiment. When someone in my house starts to get a cold I go all Jewish mother and within Read More …

Preparing Poultry for Stock

With processed chickens, the whole weight will equate to about 52% boneless meat, 20% skin and 28% bones.

Game birds will be different but not dramatically so – except that they will have much less fat.

So, for instance, to get 12 lbs of bones you may need over 40 lbs of poultry.

Regardless, save the skins! Tremendous flavor there – even from store-bought critters. Of course with game that means you need to do a thorough plucking job… which can be a big hassle!

Normally your limiting factor for the number of “Servings” is one of two things: the weight of bones you have available, and the size of your largest stock pot (unless you split it into multiple pots).

So fiddle with the pot size below until you come up with a number that is both a) not bigger than your biggest pot and b) not more bones than you have on hand. All of the other ingredients will fall into line.