Tag
your turkey immediately.
The tag must remain with the turkey at all times, or you risk
confiscation of your turkey among other nasty effects.
With your fingers feel for the Point
of the Breast located between the turkey's legs and insert your
knife there. Make a cut between the Tail and the Point of the
Breast. Make this cut from one leg to the other. Then gently
pull the turkey's Back and Breast apart far enough to get your
hand inside the body cavity between the intestines and back.
Slip your hand in along the Back as far as you can. Grip the
entrails (the lungs, liver & heart) and pull them out. The guts
will follow along. You may not get it all the first time and
if so you will have to try again. You must remove the heart,
so if you don't see it in the pile you have removed go back
in one more time.
Turkeys have a Crop (the place the food they eat gathers before
it goes into their stomach). It is important to take this Crop
out. At the turkey's neck, grab the skin where it meets the
feathers. Make a cut there and split the neck open. Remove the
windpipe, esophagus, and the Crop. If you are interested in
seeing what your turkey is eating you can cut the Crop open
and look inside.
Once you have removed everything, wipe all the blood out of
the body cavity or let it drip out. As soon as you can, place
ice inside the body cavity and you are ready for the trip home.
Once home completely wash your turkey inside and out in cold
water and wrap it for freezing. |
