How NOT to turn turkey feet into dog food
For future reference, the best way to feed
chicken or turkey feet to your dogs is whole and raw.
Unfortunately, the turkey feet I got a week and a half ago came with
instructions to cook them for a long time until the meat fell off the
bones. So I did, using up all of the propane in our outdoor
cooker's tank then finishing the feet on our kitchen stove where they
stunk up the entire house.
Once cooked, turkey feet turn into a gelatinous mass which will stay on
your hands until scrubbed extensively with scads of soap and hot
water. I gave up on trying to pick the meat off the bones after
about five minutes and threw it all back in the pot to cook some
more. Eventually, I strained off the liquid to add to Lucy's dog
food, wasting all of the meat, skin, and bones. Next time I'll
know better!
Still, Lucy adored her dog food, and I was thrilled to have finally
taken the time to make a week's worth so that I won't have to feed her
dry when I'm too busy to make up a batch. It would have made two
weeks' worth, though, if I'd stuck to raw! So be forewarned!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I tried the whole and raw method. Although my dogs eat a raw diet that includes lots of raw meaty bones, I can't say I have been happy with the turkey foot results.
Skin and bones go to waste anyway, as they come out intact. (This is not the case with other poultry parts that include bones.) And every once in a while, a dog would barf up some of those sharp claws.
I'm wondering about "ground up and raw," but I don't think my grinder is up to it.
OTOH, the turkey foot stock I made for us humans is excellent.
Hi There.
Thanks for linking to Moe's Meats (www.moesmeats.com). And thanks for providing the community with such an awesome blog and references - you have really great stuff here.
Love reading your words and looking at your pictures.
Cheers.
Moe's Meats
Eating the non-traditional parts of a chicken is something I want to work on more. For example, the livers. I choke them down because they're good for me, but have yet to find a tasty way to cook them.
But chicken broth is something we always need more of, even though we cook up all of our carcasses and necks. Maybe I should add feet to the pot....
And then there are the gizzards. I know people eat them, but even Lucy turned up her nose at them this time around. What's up with that?