Turkey legs

[viper125]

Anyone have a recipe like the ones at the fairs? Turkey legs I presume their soaked in a ham Brine but not sure. But they have a great ham taste and are smoked.

[muebe]

They use a cure and liquid smoke. I think I remember there was someone on here who had a copycat recipe for the Turkey Legs at Disneyland. The key is the cure#1. The ratio for the brine I am unsure of but I am sure someone will give you an answer...

[Habanero Smoker]

I've never had a Disneyland type turkey leg, so I am not sure of the flavor. At fairs I have found that some use cure #1 others do not. I was just at a festival and the turkey legs were brined without cure #1.

If you do a search you will see a couple of copy cat Disneyland Turkey legs recipes I have posted, but I have never tried them. And using Morton TQ to wet cure can get expensive. If you decide to go the Cure #1 method, you will need 1.5 - 4.2 ounces of cure per gallon of water; and if you are adding that to an existing brine that does not call for the cure reduce the salt by the amount of cure you are using. The more cure you use, the more ham-like flavour the turkey legs will develop. I like to use 3.2 ounces of cure per gallon, when I am curing hams, Canadian bacon etc.

[viper125]

OK Well I thought you could get to much cure and would be dangerous?  We use to get them from a local at the rogers flea market. He had a large smoker and cooked them in. Fiqured it work well with the OBS. They really do taste like a good ham and tender.

[Habanero Smoker]

There is no reason you can not do this in the Bradley; though with any poultry with skin it is better to finish them on a grill.

Too much cure is harmful, but the amount I have given you are well within the ppm USDA guidelines. The 4.2 ounce will provide a little over while the meat is raw, but after fully cooking the ppm is again within the safety guideline. The 1.5 ounce per gallon is just enough to provide protection for hot smoking; and when I state hot smoking that is using temperatures between 100°F - 180°F, though you will not get much if any ham-like flavor. So I generally use 3.2 ounces.

If you want to use a dry brine, then use the Basic Cure Recipe, or TQ as directed in their instructions.

[viper125]

Thank you! He had a smoker that looked like a large train engine. It had a rotating shelf the whole way around the top of smoker. This would keep the legs moving above the grill while smoking. When about done he sat them on the grill part to finish.  Quite a contraption would have loved to get that. But when he died his wife sold it. Figured to try my hand at it. Want to brine and cook on OBS then finish on grill. Wasnt really sure what brine to use. Also weather or not I would need to inject them with brine or some thing else.

[Habanero Smoker]

There is no need to inject turkey legs. Although if you want to speed up the brining process you could and maybe get additional flavor, but I feel it too much work for very little gain. Turkey legs are not that thick, so they will brine quickly.

There are many Disneyland copy cat recipes on line, and they all seem different. If you want to experiment, use your favorite poultry brine or this one that has received many good reviews; Smoked Chicken. This recipe does not include cure #1, but you can add a cure. For example, to the brine recipe you would add 3.2 ounces of cure; which will give you a nice ham-like flavor and reduce the amount of coarse salt by that same amount.

Coarse salt or Morton's Kosher salt weights 8 ounces per cup. If you add the 3.2 ounces of cure #1, then you would only add 4.8 ounces of coarse salt. Since cure #1 is 93.75% salt, there will be a little extra salt, but for this quantity the extra amount or salt is insignificant. If you don't have a scale 3.2 ounces of cure #1 is about 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon. To make the volume measurement of the Kosher salt easier, just use 1/2 cup.

[JeffForsytheJr]

The man with the train cooker at Rogers was my grandfather, Charlie Forsythe. If you remember hearing "JUMBO SMOKED TURKEY LEGS!!!!", there is a good chance that it was me yelling it. Since it has been 11 years to the day that he passed away, I can probably without angering him tell you that our Turkey legs came from the same wholesaler as Disneyworld. We really only left them on the grill part to keep them warm when our steam table was full, so that step isn't truly important. 

[viper125]

Hey Lil Charlie! Yes I know. I knew him a long time. Always wondered where he got his legs and how he made them. Figured he cured and smoked his own. Great guy and Great turkey legs. Welcome to the forum. You still in Salem area?

[JeffForsytheJr]

Yes I am still in Salem. Or rather, back in Salem. If this is Viper as in Viper's Den and you still live at the same place you did when you ran the BBS (near the park) I am still just down the road from you. Thanks for the kind words about my grandpa. Either you loved him or hated him. He was quite the character. I miss him dearly, although I DO NOT miss the Rogers days. Lol. Working for him gave me an invaluable amount of firsthand customer service experience that has truly been a blessing. I was the Operations Leader of Guest Services at the Akron Zoo for some time and without my grandpa's influence, I would have never had that great experience.

I just wanted to reply and if this IS the Viper I am thinking of, to thank you for all the wonderful hours I wasted on Food Fight, Lands of Lore and other great text based games on your BBS.

[viper125]

Yes its me! I had a lot of fun running the Vipers Den. Yes I liked your Grandpa. Are you smoking things now. I been back at it. Id love to find the recipe they used. No I live out on 14 now. Where bob daily use to live. My son Bobby lives in the other house now. Well if I can help just give me a shout. Great place to hang out.

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