Turkey Meatloaf???

[Marnoot]

I've been doing meatloaves with half beef and half bison. The bison's pretty darn lean which gets rid of some fat in the loaf, but also has a little more flavor than the beef which helps make up for the fat loss a bit. The stores around here sell enough ground bison to keep it in stock, but not enough that they don't occasionally have several packages nearing their sell-by dates at dirt cheap prices, which I snap up and freeze for burgers, meatloaf, etc.

[seeker_two]

Anatomically speaking, how does that breeding program work?

Just make sure the cow is the catcher....doesn't work well the other way around...

My wife & I use a 50/50 mix of beef & turkey in most of our cooking. Using extra spice is a must, esp. for burgers.

[JonnyB]

I have no experience with turkey meatloaf, but boy I do not like the turkey burgers.  My wife got a bag of the Jenni-O premade frozen patties.  They fell apart on the grill and were almost tasteless.

I work in the town that gave birth to Jennie-O (named for Jennie Olson, daughter of Earl B. Olson, founder of the company) - Willmar, Minnesota.

I also live among the people who raise the birds which are purchased by the company. It's mostly the large male turkeys (toms) that are used for the meat "products", as they're too big to be sold whole (as in 40+ pounds, live). The hens are small enough to be left whole. As in the case of most "mystery meat", we probably don't want to know exactly what's in it. Most of their processed stuff is pretty decent. I grew up eating Jennie-O Turkey Roll and Turkey Roast and such. It's (or was, 45 years ago) affordable food for below-middle-class people.

For the record, the company (now known as Jennie-O Turkey Store) is owned by Hormel, the maker of Spam(tm). So much goodness under one corporate umbrella! I love spam but my wife won't buy it  -  have to buy my own.

jb

[MillCreek]

I must admit to an enthusiasm for the turkey roll.  Processed up the wazoo and full of salty goodness.  The turkey equivalent of Spam, even though I think they have turkey Spam nowadays.

[280plus]

It's been so long since I had Spam! 

[Northwoods]

Turkey meatloaf is in the oven!!!  Will let you guys know in an hour or two how it tastes.

[Northwoods]

Actually turned out pretty well.

Basic receipe:
2 wild turkeys (approx 4-5 lbs deboned and trimmed meat), ground
1/2 lb bacon (to grind with the turkey)
1/2 lb bacon (to drape over the top of the loaves)
~2 cups rolled oats
~1 cup milk
Worstechire (many dashes - use to taste)
2 bell peppers (I used one each red and orange)
3 small/medium onions
3/4 cup ketchup
sage
thyme
salt
pepper
a touch of cayenne
5 eggs

Mix everything together, except the half lb of unground bacon, and then put in oiled meat loaf pans.  Drape remaining half lb of bacon over the top.  Cook at 350-375F for 1.5 hours or until done.


And yes, that's bacon on the top.



Here's firsts (working on seconds now).

[erictank]

La Esposa likes to substitute store bought ground turkey for ground beef in recipes, which would include meatloaf.  It doesn't taste all that good.  IMHO, YMMV, insert standard disclaimer here.  Add spices to cover the bland turkey taste.

Wild turkey may be better.

We use ground turkey instead of beef for tacos - it's good. Made tacos with ground beef once, a year or two ago, and the kids said they tasted odd.

Agreed that turkey burgers are an abomination.