It was supposed to snow at least 6 inches or more overnight so I pulled my tom turkey from the frozen bowels of my chest freezer for a Snow storm treat. Yes the one I shot in May of 2013, the story is in the Archives here. I skinned that bird because I did not want to be bothered plucking. The problem is to cook it without the skin takes an inventive nature. I solve this years ago by layering Bacon on the bird like a new skin with plenty of fat to drip and protect the breast and leg meat.  You can see the toothpicks I used to hold the bacon in place. If you want a more smokey flavor just use hickory smoked bacon. Another trick I have used in the past is to layer thin slices of granny smith apples over the bird for moisture and then use the bacon as I have done here.

A neat way to dress up this wild bird

So I baked him in the oven at 350 F till the internals were 165 degrees. Actually the breast was closer to 180 F And then I broiled the bacon a bit. The width of the bird wasn’t enough to stand up alone so I used the aluminum foil from his sleep in the freezer to keep him breast up.

Here is how he came out of the Oven.

Wild Turkey with Crispy Bacon skin

The turkey rested till the Mrs. came home and then we feasted. The salt from the Bacon did not overdrive the Turkey. I will use an Aluminum Foil Tent to try and keep the breast meat more moist at the end. I was able to make a fine gravy from the pan drippings.

We served buttered mashed potato and yellow squash with cranberry sauce. The leg thighs were a bit undone so I cooked them a bit more. I would say that we have leftovers for maybe 6 more servings. What a feast!