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Post by Toby Benoit on Feb 5, 2007 13:11:56 GMT 12.75
I been thinking on a turkey season project. I've done a little outside cooking in my day, but I ain't no expert none! The kids LOVE it when we go out for a scout day before hunting season or a day out looking for sheds and we make a campfire and cook our lunch outside. It's really special to them, so I was thinking on doing an outside turkey cooking. I looked at Ralph's garbage can turkey again and although it's really unique, it's not quite what I had in mind. I was thinking about a rotisserie. The Sportsman's Guide has a rotisserie that's got a battery pack and motorized rotater thingy for forty bucks. It's even got a turkey on the spit in the ad. Question: has anyone ever tried a turkey that way? What kind of rub would you use or can you inject it? I'd like to do it on a camping/turkey hunting trip I wanna plan to do for an article. Any advice?
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Post by Paws on Feb 5, 2007 15:30:37 GMT 12.75
Going to do it with scouts? Build your spit on site and run it with "Scout Power!" You know about the forked sticks and the spit laid across right. take a rope and wrap it around toward one end of the spit (inside the upright) three or four wraps and have two scouts (one on either side draw the rope back and forth slowly turning the spit. You will have to make sure your load is balanced and that the spit is solidly fixed in the meat else the spit will turn and the meat won't. It will run smoother if you bark the uprights in the crotch of the vs and the same area of your cross piece. You might even want to greas this area a bit. You can soak your spit to keep it from drying out and catching fire although it will probably be fine. Hey, I want pictures! ;D p.s. Well after I read the rest of your question... I'm assuming you will start with a fresh kill so I would go ahead and season it with salt, pepper, sage, rosemary, thyme, and butter as a baste ever fifteen minutes or so. Remember you will be picking up a smoke flavor over the fire. You might carry along a grapefruit , couple of oranges, and a couple of lemons too. These whole in the cavity with the spit run through can help to stabilize the bird on the spit and can be juiced to add to your baste as well. Season the cavity with the herbs as well. If you skin the bird rather than pluck it you will need to baste with your seasoning and butter more often and it might be a good idea to baste with canola in between herb basting so as to not concentrate the herbs so much but preserve the meat from drying out.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Feb 5, 2007 16:43:04 GMT 12.75
Not scouts, but my three much younger siblings. You know how Mom and Dad got tired of waiting on the three of us from the original litter to give them grandkids, so they went out and adopted four more!
One's nineteen now and on her own, but the sixteen, fifteen, and thirteen yo's are still at home. Mom and Dad decided to homeschool them, so that means I get to play tutor at my place, next door, four days a week while Mom and Dad work. Since I do eighty percent of my work at home, we spend a lot of time together.
They LOVE going to the woods anytime I'm up for it and several times a year, we'll take off for an outdoor tutorial that always involves lunch on theground in some quiet little spot. In no time they'll have a fire going and weiners roasting on palmetto sticks with a palmetto leaf reflector oven toasting their buns.
They bring their condiments, juice packs, and everything they need in a back pack. Afterwards, there's no dishes, everything goes straight into the fire.
I've been knocking around the idea of taking them on a camping turkey hunt with my dad and me. If one of us scores, it'd be really neat to do the bird on a rotisserie over the campfire.
Since there's no hunting after 1:00pm in Fl. during the turkey season, I'd have plenty of time to prepare the bird and get it cooking.
I'll definitely post pictures if I pull it off!
Whaddya know about that motorized rotisserie? You think that's a good or bad idea? I just have this image of the sticks falling over or the kids snatching the rope to hard and pulling the whole thing down into the fire.
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Post by Two Tales on Feb 6, 2007 21:34:11 GMT 12.75
Haven't looked at the one you are talking about but have seen some of them in action..batteries don't last to awful long may not have juice enough to roast a turkey...that said you can always find the spits with the prongs on them (to hold the meat) and a crank handle at tag/yard/garage sales or flea markets...if you go with this set up fix a way to lock the spit into different positions and rotate the bird every 5 -10 min as it cooks (be sure to baste as Paws said) this is the way it was done when this was the only way to do it...been a danged long time sense I did any open pit cooking on a spit..might have to give it a go myself come spring or maybe sooner ..and don't forget to take your digital camera with ya so you can record it step for step
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Post by Paws on Feb 8, 2007 14:26:10 GMT 12.75
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Post by Toby Benoit on Feb 8, 2007 16:58:02 GMT 12.75
I might be on to something here for a spit. A buddy of mine suggested that I go over to the mobile home park that was wiped out in last weeks tornados and get a couple of them hurricane anchors. They're long steel screws that have eye holes on top. I can twist them over either side of the fire pit and get a piece of stainless rod and weld a couple of prongs onto it. That ought to work and save me forty bucks to boot. It'll be manual crank, but I guess I'll have to suffer that part huh?
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Post by Paws on Feb 9, 2007 0:42:38 GMT 12.75
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Post by Mars on Feb 9, 2007 2:06:14 GMT 12.75
Thanks, I can make that for $10..
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Post by Paws on Feb 9, 2007 4:13:09 GMT 12.75
It also has two swing arms on it to hang pots on or off the fire. So, here is the deal: I'll give you $20.00 plus drop ship postage for every one you can make and I'll sell them for $35.00 plus shipping on E-Bay. Can we call them Mars products brought to you by Ohio Camp Cooks? Maybe I can get Christo-pher to make a logo to braise on them too! Toby, a one time good deal just for the first customer; $17.50 out the door tax, title, and tags! Camp Fire Cafe will sell you one similar but much beefier metal for around $700.00. Yes, I know...
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Post by Mars on Feb 11, 2007 2:37:12 GMT 12.75
I don't think the company I work for would like it. ;D A "little" project is OK as long as you pay for material and do it on breaks but building a "bunch" might not be smiled on. However, if you look at it the design is simple and uses basic material. 1" square tubing expanded metal metal rod and a little sheet metal or angle iron to use around the edge of the expanded metal. I'd beef it up and use two legs on each side instead of the single and that would stabilise it better as well though with the single you could use a bolt and that would allow it to be folded up somewhat.
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Post by Paws on Feb 11, 2007 6:30:49 GMT 12.75
LOL! I suppose I have done worse on "government time"! I like the idea of the double legs, about 10 to 12 inches I'd think. Make it a bunch easier to set up cause you could just step on the crossbar to sink it rather than pound it into the ground from the top end. That rig in the picture is plenty well worth forty bucks when you consider the mark-ups between manufacturing and retailing. Hey Toby, you got any of them "Rent All" stores close by? I just thought, you might be able to rent a spit in one of them .
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Post by raingauge on Feb 11, 2007 6:48:41 GMT 12.75
Hey Toby, just an idea, but... I've got a friend down in Silver Star, MT, that has a pig roast a couple of times a year. Chip ( www.ashcraftlog.com ) just has a couple of forked stakes, with a long shaft that is run by a water wheel set in the creek. A water wheel doesn't have to be elaborate, just as long as it turns the shaft. Just a thought.
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Post by OLKoot on Feb 11, 2007 7:52:38 GMT 12.75
A windmill, now thats the ticket!!! ;D ;D
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Post by Paws on Feb 11, 2007 8:02:56 GMT 12.75
Probably the snazziest I have seen was a one man plus tree branch operation. The turning rope was attached to a tree limb that was lowered and raised like a pump handle to spin the spit. I really like the water wheel idea though. A permanant set up on a fall or quick flowing creek would really be pretty as well as functional. By the way Toby, I got the magazines this morning. The story is terrific and the magazines are really great. Outdoor Sports In The Southeast and WOODS 'N WATER Thanks for the OCC plugs too! That jerky recipe should get a few miles now! ;D
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Post by Toby Benoit on Feb 11, 2007 9:01:30 GMT 12.75
These are great ideas for spit fixin uppin'! I don't have creek access for the water wheel, but I do have plenty limber tree limbs! ;D I've seen that grillin' Spittin' rig Paws pictured for around fifty bucks in the Cabela's catalog...or maybe it was Bass Pro. I guess I ought to just bite the bullet and get one of them instead of being a cheap bustard. I'm glad to gt in the OCC plugs, I'm just really embarrassed I got it wrong! I put .com instead of .org in the web address. I feel like a complete dumbass! Flamin Frog legs will be in Airboat World and Woods & Water and the turkey recipe article is being shopped to Turkey Call, Woods & Water, Turkey & Turkey hunting, and a couple of others. I bet I don't screw up the address next time!
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Post by gsoflittledove on Feb 14, 2007 5:53:57 GMT 12.75
I like the three limb brand, I use it on the creek bank and roatise them white purch fish about 1 lb each. I cut the intereds out, leave tha head and feathers on, push three or two on a green limb and plase on rotissery turning ever so often cook till hide pulls away from back fins on both sides. slide off limb use knife to cut hide behind the gills meat should stay on hide and pull away from middle bone. Sprinkle wir a little salt peper and eat with your fingers off the hide Bill
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Post by Paws on Feb 14, 2007 5:59:41 GMT 12.75
I like the three limb brand, I use it on the creek bank and roatise them white purch fish about 1 lb each. I cut the intereds out, leave tha head and feathers on, push three or two on a green limb and plase on rotissery turning ever so often cook till hide pulls away from back fins on both sides. slide off limb use knife to cut hide behind the gills meat should stay on hide and pull away from middle bone. Sprinkle wir a little salt peper and eat with your fingers off the hide Bill Hey, you sure those perch aren't "flyin' fish"? Never seen feathers on perch!
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Post by gsoflittledove on Feb 15, 2007 4:49:19 GMT 12.75
Paws; We call them scales feathers somemoretimes. But I'lll tell you dont remove them, for iffa you do, best them to throw him in thes gumboo.
Them feathers hold the hide together for better eating and cooking.
Bill
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Post by Paws on Feb 25, 2007 2:59:11 GMT 12.75
I think that's how we used to do ours when we were kids. We'd get a three pronged branch of sorts and either sharpen it and poke the points through the fish or weave grapevine around the fish to hold it in place. I've done them on two points and also one but man that's hard to keep them from falling off the stick. Frogs now work a whole lot easier. We used to go out camping with nothing but the clothes on our backs and for breakfast we'd have snared rabbit, fish, turtle, frog, maybe some nuts and berries or cattail roots ( I really like those). There always seemed to be plenty of greens, ramps, wild onions, sassafras bark and leaves around for vegies and hot tea too. We never had a problem finding a pop or beer can for boiling up pond water for tea or to cool and drink. On good days when we would find plenty we might stay another night in the same place and even go looking for a ground hog or some grouse. I think the poorest meal I ever cooked was wild onions, greens, and blue gill boiled in a pop can. Would have been better with a little salt! Always though, anything was better than nothing. I got to where I'd carry one of those four ounce jars of Nescafe with me so I could have coffee when we were out. I added the sugar, salt, and pepper packs that you got at McDonalds too and with my eyeglasses to start a fire, my drop point pocket knife and usually a small reel of fishing line and a pack of hooks I could stay out two or three days pretty easy. You know we would do those over nighters (me, Chuck, Jimmie, and Sam) from the time I was around ten or eleven and the oldest one of us in the group and were never afraid nor were our parents for us. All those boys are now on the wrong side of the turf and I sure do miss them, our trash forts, and boild fish and weed soup.
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