Miss Ann would tell you there is still meat on the bird.  Keep going!  For mass quantity foodservice people, it was Thanksgiving about once every month.  What is the recipe for turkey carcasses that look similar to the photo?  First, you need administrators who think EVERYTHING should be made from scratch.

1. Order 1,000 lbs frozen turkey, give or take a few pounds.

2. Have your central food storage/distribution department cut the frozen turkeys into quarters with a band saw.

3. At 8AM load every possible cooking orifice with frozen turkey quarters: ovens, steamers, steam jacketed kettles and crank them up.

4. At 1PM round EVERYONE (dishroom, pot & pan staff, storeroom) up and send them to the cooks’ area.  Miss Ann has her apron tied in a perky bow.  She bangs a metal spoon inside a stainless steel bowl and shouts “Turkey! Turkey! Turkey! Turkey quarters ready to pick!”  This is the highlight of her month.

5. Using your hands only, rip/pick the meat from the carcass.  This includes the turkey necks.  Don’t leave anything on the bones (or at least tuck the nasty stuff under the carcass skin so Miss Ann can’t see it as she makes the rounds).

6. Picked meat is transferred to cutting boards to be diced into “bite size” pieces.  Diced meat is put in plastic bags, about 5 lbs per bag.  Now you can’t use any twist ties in the kitchen because they might get in the food, so you twist the bag top and make a knot.

7. Date the turkey bags and store in the freezer.  Pour the collected turkey “broth” into five gallon buckets and chill in the walk-in overnight.  The next day pull the fat crust from all the buckets, seal & date them and move to the freezer.

8.  Use the meat and broth for specified casseroles, soups, and gravy.  Now how much does this recipe yield?  Well, the sad fact is poultry, if you are a diligent picker, yields 30%.  Do the math: 1,000 lbs frozen yields 300 lbs meat.  The rest is trash – imagine carrying 700 lbs turkey bones and other unidentifiable body parts to the dumpster.

9.  How long does this stuff last?  If you are feeding 1,500 residents 3 square, it lasts about a month.  Then it’s deja vu all over again.  Wish I had photos of the real pickin’ parties.

10. That’s why I can pick up searing hot items – you got used to handling hot meat!

I did pick my turkey one and a half carcasses clean but I did NOT pick the neck.  I did make stock from the bones but will not be storing it in a used five gallon pickle bucket.

**Have to credit the image from orangesanctuary.blogspot.com  Just to let you know that I won’t use material without citing it and any recommendations I make are personal.  There is no affiliate marketing on this site.  I make no money from any products mentioned.  I ain’t that scroungy.