I ran across a deal I couldn’t pass up….whole frozen turkey at $0.49 a pound. I’ve got 80# of turkey to cut up and grind. My plan is to debone and double grind.

Has anyone else on here done this? Do you need to add fat?

No need to add fat. Thighs and drumsticks will be about 85% lean, breast meat about 99% lean, 97% if the skin is left on. Should give you a 93% lean , 7% fat if all mixed together well.

I was planning on taking the skin off. Do you leave it on?

Skinless will give you a slightly better grind. Plates and blades need to be really sharp if you do much skin. The drumsticks have some tendons that should be trimmed out when deboning. Each half of the breast will have a fillet behind it. They each have one silver strap tendon that will need cut out or pulled out.

If you are not used to eating it, it has a fairly bland taste. Some people prefer that for dietary reasons. It spices well for use in meat loaf, spaghetti, chili and tacos. Burgers are a little bit of a challenge to hold together. Hand formed do not do well. They make some patty formers that you load and press that helps.

What if you add some dry turkey gravy mix ? That mite add a little flavor.

I've only had ground turkey once. I did not like it at all. I bought it at Kroger, where it was marked down, so maybe it was old. It's taste was foul, not just fowl. The consistency was poor. It was bad enough that I have no desire to try it again.

Keith

After saying I'd never eat ground turkey guess what. After a heart attack I had to change my diet. I buy ground turkey that's 97% lean. The whole trick to making it taste good is lots of spices, more than what most recipes call for. I take a recipe and add 1/2 again the recommended amount to start, might end up with more than that. I'll be having a bowl of turkey chili tonight for supper, and it's real good. As for burgers I put a 1/3 cup oat meal and 2 egg whites with whatever spices per pound and form them by hand, place on a pan with wax paper on it and chill in the fridge for 1/2 hour or longer. They will hold their shape just fine. I make meat balls the same way, the trick to working with turkey is having the meat chilled/cold before you work with it.