Wild Turkey Gizzards with Bacon, Onions and Mushrooms
Floured wild turkey gizzards browned in bacon fat, with sweet onions and a pound of mushrooms cooked down until the onions caramelise. A skillet supper built on what the turkey leaves behind.
Untested: I have not cooked this one yet. It is here because the Offal dive needed it, and it is adapted from the source named in the Notes.
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 wild turkey gizzards, cleaned and cut bite-size
- 6 slices thick-cut bacon, cut in 1-inch pieces
- 2 cups seasoned flour
- 1 large or 2 medium sweet onions, sliced
- 1 pound mushrooms, sliced
- Salt and black pepper
Directions
- Render the bacon. Cook the bacon in a large heavy skillet over medium heat until crisp. Lift it out and keep the fat in the pan.
- Brown the gizzards. Toss the gizzard pieces in the seasoned flour, shake off the excess, and brown them in the bacon fat. Remove to a plate.
- Onions and mushrooms. Add the onions to the skillet and let them soften. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring now and then, until the mushrooms have given up their liquid and the onions are caramelised.
- Bring it together. Return the gizzards and bacon to the pan and heat through. Season with salt and pepper.
Notes
Source Adapted from Michael Pendley, “Fried Wild Turkey Gizzards with Bacon, Onions, and Mushrooms,” Realtree (Timber 2 Table). Pendley uses Kentucky Kernel seasoned flour.
Tenderness Cut small, wild turkey gizzards cook through in the time it takes the onions to caramelise. Farm turkey gizzards are tougher; pressure-cook them 20 minutes first.
Lead Split wild-bird gizzards and discard any holding shot.
See also Bourbon-Glazed Turkey Gizzards with Mushrooms and Onion.
The Offal dive on the Food site covers this part in depth.