Is That a Smoked Turkey Leg or…

Posted by Bobaganush on Dec 17, 2011 in Faire Food | 0 comments

Is that a Smoked Turkey Leg or…

Not all Smoked Turkey Legs are created equal but I have never been to  Renaissance Festival that didn’t serve them.  They are the penultimate faire food.  Easy to carry while in costume, requiring only one hand to eat and the best part no utensils required.  They are juicy and full of great protein to keep you going for an entire day of faire fun.

Now I have had turkey legs at all three faire’s mentioned below.  The best one, by far has been at the Georgia Renaissance Festival, though the ones at the Tennessee Renaissance Festival and the Highland Renaissance Festival are good as well.

Here are the qualities that make a good Smoked Turkey Leg for me:

1. I want the Turkey Leg to be hot.  I don’t want it to be warm or heated, I want it to be hot.  The one at GRF was piping hot.  It had just come out of the smoker and was hot enough that I had to wrap napkins around the foil to hold it.
2. I want the Turkey Leg to be Tender.  I should not have to tear it off the bone.  Like good ribs, the meat should surrender when just being pulled by my teeth.  When properly cooked the tendons in the turkey leg should also just pull out, kinda gross sounding but this is a fact.  The idea I guess would be that you should put those tendons in the trash but much like peanut shells in a steakhouse they get dropped on the ground and they should come out clean enough that there are not little pieces of turkey all over the ground.
3. Along with being tender the Turkey Leg should be juicy and moist.  I have had turkey legs at other places besides Ren Faires where the meat was dry and they have been left on the warmer for too long.  At GRF the Turkey Legs were juicy enough that we had to go back and get extra napkins.  I felt like I was eating crab legs with the juices running down my arms.
4. Lastly, the Turkey Leg should be big.  I don’t want this little Turkey Leg that looks like a chicken on steroids.  I want a manly Turkey Leg.  I want them to hand me a Turkey Leg that is so large that it frightens me.  I want to doubt my ability to finish the whole thing.  I want a Turkey Leg that I could use as a weapon if I had to.  I want a turkey leg that would tip over Fred Flintstones car.

Anyway, next time you are at the faire and you are thinking who would buy that Turkey Leg and eat it.  Get in line!  Get in line and buy one.  Find a shady spot and unwrap the foil covering the Turkey Leg.  Smell it and drink in the aroma of the smoked meat.  Then get ready for your first bite.  You will never look the same at your Thanksgiving friend again.  If you are still thinking who would eat it, look for the guy in the pirate hat with turkey juice in his beard, it might be me.

- Bobaganush the Pirate