The process of plucking and slaughtering a turkey is pretty straightforward and can be done with a couple of commonly used tools.
Steps
Step 1. Kill the animal
If you have to pluck the turkey yourself, you will probably also have to kill it yourself. Wear protective gloves and goggles. The best method is to electrocute it, but this is not a feasible technique at home. Then hang the animal by its legs, with one hand grab it by the beak, keeping it closed and, with a sharp knife, cut its throat from one side to the other. In this way you sever both the carotid artery, the jugular vein and the trachea. Take a step back. The animal will begin flapping its wings and blood will splash everywhere. With a well-centered flick of the wing you could even lose an eye, that's the reason for the protective goggles. This method is preferable to others because the heart continues to beat and "cleans" the body of excess blood. If you believe it is a technique that causes too much suffering to the animal, then behead it. It will die in seconds even though it won't bleed much.
Step 2. Sear the turkey
You should immerse the animal completely in hot water at 60 ° C for 45 seconds. Remove it immediately and detach the pens by hand. You shouldn't have a hard time taking them off. Remove all feathers by hand but ignore the filopfeathers which are more hair than feathers.
Step 3. Remove the thin feathers
Use a flame emitted by a blowtorch but try not to get too close to the animal's skin. Run the flame along the entire body of the turkey to "burn" the feathers. Don't cook the turkey! Now the animal is ready to be slaughtered.
Step 4. Lay it on its back on a table
Start by removing the legs by cutting them at the knee joints with a sharp knife.
Step 5. Cut the flaps of skin between the legs and around the anus to open the abdominal cavity
Don't cut the internal organs or you'll make a big mess. Cut around the anus with a "V" incision to remove the gland found in this point.
Step 6. Insert a hand into the turkey's abdominal cavity
Remove the organs including the heart, liver, kidneys, gizzard and air sacs (these are the "lungs" of birds that are not exactly like humans). Throw away everything but the heart, liver, and gizzard if you wish to eat them or prepare them with an offal sauce. You must also remove the esophagus and trachea that have remained attached to the inside of the neck. It will take some strength but eventually they will come off. You are now ready to cut the turkey into cuts.
Step 7. Make an incision through the skin and the joint that connects the thigh to the body
Then separate the thigh from the thigh using the same technique. Here, then switch to the wings and detach them from the body, always cutting through the joint.
Step 8. Now cut the skin just below the chest, in what is the abdominal region
When you reach the ribs, use shears to break the bones and continue in the cut. When these have been cut, you have finished the slaughter. Now you are with the wings, the thighs, the under-thighs, the chest and the back. Of course, if you want a whole turkey to cook, for example, stuffed, you need to skip these steps entirely.
Step 9. When slaughtering turkey, many people discard the back, however it is a good piece of dark meat that can be peeled off by hand
Step 10. If you want boneless meat, insert your fingers into the meat and twist the bones until they come off
Pay attention to the ligaments, try to extract them with the bone or cut them. They turn out to be very resistant (they are said to be the strongest natural fiber in nature).
Step 11. You are now ready to cook your turkey
Wash all parts thoroughly and remove any residual blood and feathers.
Step 12. If you wish to preserve the meat, you can immediately place it in bags and then refrigerate or freeze it
Advice
- You should never cut bones except some ribs. When slaughtering the turkey you should always make the incisions at the level of the joints. This makes the job easier and you avoid damaging the knife edge.
- These steps apply similarly to turkey and chicken, as well as to other types of birds.
- The feathers that are on the tips of the wings are difficult to detach even after being blanched. You can try to grab them with pliers.
- When cutting through joints, apply firm pressure with your thumb or finger to figure out where the connection is between two bones. This is the point through which the blade must pass.
- If you want to skin the turkey, you can skip the feather stripping process entirely. Simply score the skin and peel it off. The feathers will remain attached to the skin; remember to only do this if you want skinless meat, this method is much simpler.
