I harvested my first wild turkey, a Rio Grande tom, along the banks of the Colorado River. The event resulted in an embarrassing revealing of my lack of in marksmanship, and later I slow roasted the entire bird and ruined it. The entire hunt was a practice in what not do, exposing my inner self doubts of my hunting ability, and how not to prepare wild game. I guess in that sense you could call it a very successful first hunt.
I have since improved my skills with a shotgun and going out after that first time I knew I would have to start somewhere. There is a big difference between shooting bottles on the ground or even clay pigeons hurtling through the sky and shooting actual turkeys. I also improved my wild turkey preparation and have since enjoyed a wide range of wild game cuisines all because of knowing what not to do after that first turkey hunt.
One thing I noticed early on, is the legs of a wild turkey are tough. Designed to carry a large bird over varied terrain, wild turkey legs are thick chunks of dark, rough meat with weavings of tendons, connective tissue, and ligaments stretching the lengths of the legs. Many people simply throw the legs out rather than deal with the tedious task of preparing them.
After a few unsuccessful attempts at recipes using turkey legs, such as trying to roast the whole legs in a recreation of televised Renaissance fairs, I found the secret was to just keep things low and slow. While pulling out the old crock pot, filling it with water, and setting the leg to low for eight hours doesn’t sound near as cool as throwing a massive leg onto the grill, flames kicking up all around from the juices hitting the hot coals, and then gnawing off a tyrannosaurus size bite using nothing but your bare hands and canines, it does taste much better.
A slow cooked wild turkey leg can be shredded up for soups, pot pies, enchiladas, tacos, burritos, pastas, sandwiches, salads, and so much more. One of my favorite recipes is this Wild Turkey Leg and Dumpling Soup. A new favorite is the recipe I am sharing here: Wild Turkey Leg Cheesy Gordita.
Slow Cooking the Wild Turkey Leg
Slow cooking wild turkey legs not only leads to this beautifully versatile meat that pulls apart into hearty chunks of dark meat, but it also creates a vibrant flavorful broth. Enhanced by the breakdown of the connective tissues, bone marrow, collagen, and more, the slow cooking process results in a silky smooth but belly filling hearty liquid that can be reserved for broth for another day or, as with this recipe, further developed into a sauce for your shredded turkey.
For this Wild Turkey Leg Cheesy Gordita recipe, I placed a large turkey leg, bone and all, into a crockpot. I poured in two cups of vegetable stock. This step could be changed up by creating your own “vegetable stock” concoction of adding water, onions, carrots, and celery, but I cheated a little.
Oh! I skipped a step. Before I placed the turkey leg in the crock pot, I massaged in a spice mixture of a tablespoon each of oregano, chili powder, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and salt. After I gave the leg a good rub down, really got into those tight spots in the hamstrings, I put the leg in the crock pot, added the vegetable stock, covered with the lid, and let that gam slow cook for seven hours.
Preparing the Wild Turkey Leg Sauce
After seven hours, pull the leg from the crock pot. The meat should be almost drizzling off the bone and onto your cutting board, begging to be shredded. Shred the meat into bite size pieces and set aside for a minute.
Take the broth remaining in your crockpot and strain it into a small saucepan over medium heat. You can discard the bone at this point.
Bring the broth to a gentle boil and it’s time to start layering in some flavor. Add about two tablespoons of tomato paste and stir until its broken down, smooth and creamy. The tomato paste adds a delicate sweetness to this sauce. Next, it’s time for more chili powder. I like to use a red chili powder for this part, which you can find in the Mexican food section of your grocery store. It took about a quarter of a cup of the chili powder for things to taste right. I just kept adding tablespoons of the powder until it was where I wanted it. Finish the sauce off with a couple splashes of Worcestershire sauce and salt to taste.
Return the shredded wild turkey to the crock pot and pour the red sauce over the top. Stir things until all the meat is coated, cover with the lid, and let cook another hour.
Compiling the Wild Turkey Leg Cheesy Gordita
The theme of this recipe is definitely cheese. There is cheese, cheese, and more cheese, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. To create the cheesy shells, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet, place the flour tortillas and add a handful of Mexican style cheese. Spread the cheese in an even layer, covering the entire tortilla. Place the sheet in the oven for three minutes. After three minutes, pull the sheet from the oven and set a folded corn tortilla onto half of the melted cheesy tortilla. Return to the oven for an additional two minutes. Pull the sheet again and fold the remaining half of the cheesy flour tortilla over the corn tortilla. Allow the taco shell to rest for a second so the cheese can basically work as a grout between the flour and corn tortillas.
Alright, time to fill these bad boys. Add a generous helping of the wild turkey leg to the bottom of your cheesy, gooey, but still crunchy, taco shell. Top with your favorite taco toppings. I added more cheese, cotija to be more specific, shredded iceberg lettuce, diced tomatoes, and a large pile of creamy avocado. Other toppings that would be amazing include diced onions, red or white or yellow or whatever you fancy, salsa, hot sauce, a squeeze of fresh lime, cilantro, or sour cream.
Finally, top this phenomenal wild turkey taco with a drizzle of tomatillo lime dressing. You can make your own tomatillo dressing by pulling out the blender and dropping in a few diced tomatillos, some mayonnaise and buttermilk, a ranch dressing flavoring packet, the juice of one lime, some cilantro, and a garlic clove. Blend until smooth. If you want a spicier sauce, consider throwing in a few slices of fresh jalapeno.
So, now it is basically face stuffing time. This taco is pretty amazing. It is gooey and crunchy and messy all at the same time. There is of course no denying the melty cheesy goodness sandwiched between a soft chewy flour tortilla and the crunchy satisfaction of the corn tortilla, but there is also so much more going on. The wild turkey meat is hearty and filling but also a bit spicy and sweet from the sauce. The tomatillo dressing adds some tang and creaminess to the taco as well.
Well, time to dig in!
Happy Hunting!
Wild Turkey Leg Cheesy Gordita
Ingredients
- 1 wild turkey leg
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1/2 cup chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cayenne
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 8 taco size flour tortillas
- 8 corn taco shells
- Topping ideas: avocado, lettuce, onion, tomato, cilantro, sour cream, salsa, etc.
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 packet ranch dressing seasoning
- 3 tomatillos, chopped
- Handful of cilantro
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 jalapeno, sliced
Instructions
- Rub the turkey leg with a tablespoon of cumin, oregano, salt, garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne. Also rub on 2 tablespoons of the chili powder.
- Place the leg in a crockpot and pour in the two cups of vegetable stock.
- Set crock pot to low and allow to slow cook for seven hours.
- Remove leg from crock pot, reserving the liquid, and shredded meat. Discard bone and return meat to crock pot.
- Take the liquid from the crock pot, strain, and put in small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a light boil.
- Add tomato paste, the rest of the chili powder, and the Worcestershire sauce to the sauce. Heat for three to five minutes.
- Pour the sauce over the shredded turkey meat in the crock pot and cook an additional hour on high.
- To make the crunchy and chewy corn and flour taco shell, place the flour tortilla shells on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 400.
- Spread an even layer of cheese on the flour tortilla and place in the oven for 3 minutes. Pull the tortillas and place a corn tortilla in the top half of the flour tortilla, taking care to press it into the melting cheese.
- Return the sheet to the oven for 2 minutes. Pull and fold the rest of the flour tortilla around the corn tortilla. The cheese will create a grout between the two shells.
- Time to fill your tacos! Place a heaping serving of wild turkey meat into the shell and top with your favorite toppings: more CHEESE, avocado, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, sour cream, etc.
- Finish with a drizzle of the tomatillo lime dressing.
- In a blender, mix all ingredients until smooth.
- Start with the mayonnaise and buttermilk.
- Sprinkle in the ranch dressing packet.
- Squeeze all the juice of one lime into the blender.
- Add the bunch of cilantro, chopped tomatillos, and garlic clove.
- Finally, add the sliced jalapeno. If you want spicier, leave the seeds in the pepper. If you want a more mild sauce remove the seeds before adding the pepper.
- Blend until smooth.