Smoked Turkey Legs

[bloviatrix]

When I've cooked things for vegetarians that usually need smoked pork I use a little bit of morita or chipotle (the dried kind) or smoked paprika to add smokiness to a dish.  The smoked paprika is pretty potently smoky.  You might try any of those with your smoked turkey to up the flavor.

regards,

trillium

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I've actually used chiplotle when making beans an it adds a really nice smokey flavor to the broth.

Lately, I've been toying with trying lapsang souchong tea -- I have a box and it's stinking up my cabinets.

[Al_Dente]

When I've cooked things for vegetarians that usually need smoked pork I use a little bit of morita or chipotle (the dried kind) or smoked paprika to add smokiness to a dish.  The smoked paprika is pretty potently smoky.  You might try any of those with your smoked turkey to up the flavor.

regards,

trillium

←

I've actually used chiplotle when making beans an it adds a really nice smokey flavor to the broth.

Lately, I've been toying with trying lapsang souchong tea -- I have a box and it's stinking up my cabinets.

←

Another stellar idea is born!

[fifi]

I have looked at smoked turkey parts in a couple of places now and have seen a bit of variation in color. Not having tasted them or cooked with them I can't tell if the darker ones are more smokey but it might be worth a try to check out more than one source.

[mizducky]

Recently, I've been seeing smoked turkey necks in one of the supermarkets I frequent. I'd been seeing (and cooking with) the smoked legs, wings, and sometimes thighs for years, but the necks were a first for me. I bought some of these necks the other day, and used them in a batch of lentils last night. Really excellent flavor, though obviously not a lot of meat. A little tougher than other smoked turkey parts, though. Next time I'm going to try giving the necks about an hour's lead time simmering by themselves before adding the lentils (I like my lentils not to get too mushy).

I vaguely recall seeing smoked turkey tails in a store at some point--has anybody else ever seen these, or am I hallucinating about food again?

[fifi]

I recently saw the smoked turkey necks at my HEB. Then, I think I saw the tails. I think I remember saying "Well, I'll be damned." But then, I may have been dreaming. I don't hallucinate, often, but I do dream things and think they are real.

I have only tried the smoked turkey as a sub for ham hocks a couple of times since this started last year. I used thighs. I did this just out of curiosity because there was so much variation in color. The darker ones were definitely more flavorful, the light ones weren't much help at all. BTW . . . I have also noticed the same variation in ham hocks.

[bloviatrix]

Now that the weather is turning colder I'm going to start playing with smoked turkey parts again. My best success last winter was with black bean soup.

What exactly are smoked turkey tails?

[fifi]

I can't find a picture but a turkey tail is just a bigger version of a chicken tail . . . "pope's nose" in the vernacular. When you google for them you come up with listings of providers of smoked turkey that have them.

[mizducky]

Yeah, now that I've done some Googling, I've assured myself that I wasn't imagining (or whatever) the smoked tails.

My guess is that the tails showing up at retail is a byproduct in the huge growth in retail packaging of turkey breast fillets, ground turkey, etc. At some point the suppliers must have figured that somebody would buy these tails if they packaged them up. They must be growing gigundo-bionic turkeys, by the way--I regularly buy the fresh tails for soup-making and whatnot, and the things are HUGE--if the tail of the bird is that humongous, the bird itself must have been the size of a small Volkswagen.

The things are extremely fatty, but for those of us who used to fight over who got to eat the turkey's tail every Thanksgiving, tails by the pound are a guilty pleasure. They'd be a natural for smoking.