Deboning and brining the wild turkey allows the white and dark meat cook at the same time. The three different marinades makes this a real crowd-pleaser for family and friends.
Add the deboned turkey breasts and thighs breast side down.
Refrigerate the wild turkey and brine for 24 hours.
Roasting:
Remove the turkey from the brining bag, rise under cold, running water and pat dry with paper towels.
Trim off any silver skin from the turkey.
Cut the turkey into pieces 4 to 5 inches long and 1 1/2 to 2” thick. Separate meat into three piles, each pile will be coated with a different flavored marinade.
Remove the thin outer membrane of the wild turkey breast with a very sharp knife. After trimming, weigh the turkey breast to determine the correct amount of cure needed. The instructions included with the Hi Mountain Buck Board Bacon Cure has this information.
Apply the cure to the turkey breast, making sure it’s completely covered.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a tight fitting lid and refrigerate for 10 days. Turn the turkey breast over after 5 days.
Smoking
After the brining process is complete, rinse all the cure off the turkey breast.
Immerse the turkey breast in a water bath for 2 hours.
Rinse the turkey breast one more time to make sure the last bit of cure has been removed.
Pat the venison dry and let stand at room temperature while you heat your pellet grill or smoker to 180F degrees.
Once the temperature of 180F has been reached, place the turkey breast on the grill.
Baste the turkey breast with maple syrup every 30 minutes. Make sure to turn the turkey breast a couple times during the smoking process so you can cover the entire turkey breast with maple syrup.
Continue cooking until the internal temperature of the turkey breast reaches 165F degrees, then remove it from smoker.
Rest the wild turkey bacon on a cooking rack at least 30 min before slicing.
Frying
Slice the the wild turkey bacon to your desired thickness and cook in a large fry pan with 1 tbsp pork bacon fat until crisp.
Note: Use a meat thermometer to make sure the internal cooking temperature has reached 165F.