A REAL THANKSGIVING BIRD
(Page 4 of 7)
October/November 1998
By the Mother Earth News editors
The procedure is messy. I always wear rubber boots and a pair of coveralls. Beyond that, here are the basic tools to do the job:
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small very sharp knife (I use a skinning knife)
large very sharp knife (I use a hunting knife)
sharpening stone
pruning shears
pliers
several feet of 1/2-inch nylon rope
plastic sacks
10- to 20-gallon metal bucket source of running water and a hose source of heat to bring water to 140°F wooden table or cutting
board kitchen thermometer
The night before you plan to dress out Your turkeys, herd them into their coop or some small enclosure. Give them water but no food. This will make them easier to catch the next morning, and by withdrawing food for 12 hours, their crops and stomachs will he empty.
The next morning, heat water to 130°F to 140°F in a metal container big enough to dunk a large tom turkey. A 10-to 20-gallon garbage can works well. You can heat the water over an outdoor gas grill or wood fire, or else you can use an indoor stove and then move the container outside once the water is hot enough.
Make a slip loop in one end of your 1/2- nylon rope and hang the loop from a rafter, beam, or branch of a tree. Next, go get one of your turkeys. Carry the bird by the feet and tucked under your arm to prevent flapping. Hang the bird by the feet from the slip loop. Take hold of the head, straighten the neck and bring it taut, and with your large sharp knife, sever the head from the neck. Let the carcass bleed out. This will take several minutes and, yes, the carcass will flap, though the creature is long since senseless.
Remove the bled-out carcass from the loop, take it by the feet, and dunk it in the hot water. Slosh it around some to make sure the water gets down to the skin. if the water temperature is 140°F, dunk for not more than 30 seconds; if it's 130°F, dunk for about 60 seconds. Be conservative with the dunking; you don't want to burn the skin and you can always redunk the bird to loosen more feathers. Lay the carcass on your work table and hand-pluck the bird. Most of the feathers will come off in clumps and sheets. The larger wing feathers and pin feathers will take longer and a few may need to be pulled individually with the pliers. Redunk the bird a time or two if needed.
Once the bird is plucked, lay it out on the table with the back up. With your small sharp knife, slit the skin down the back of the neck to the base of the neck between the wings. Cut the skin away from the neck and you will now have access to the windpipe, gullet, and crop. Using the knife and pruning shears as needed, remove the windpipe,. gullet, and crop, and cut off the neck at the base of the body.
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