Ever since the 19th century, when New England households began to embrace turkeys at the head of the dinner feast, it would be safe to assume that a wild turkey at that would really be a treat.
But nowadays around most holiday tables that thought might get challenged.
Wouldn’t natural organic meat from the great outdoors be the healthiest choice for families to eat during the Thanksgiving holiday meal versus a store bought one? The latter often have been injected with brines and basting solutions, other chemical additives, and who-knows-what to make them extra juicy and the right color.
Sarah Bowmar, 35, describes herself as a fitness and archery influencer, who says a wild turkey is the perfect choice for the holiday feast as a leaner and bolder tasting option.
I know for myself I can’t convince my spouse to try the wild game I have successfully bagged in the woods. Occasionally she used to eat it with me but now she never budges. (Except for the walleye I bring home from the bountiful waters of Lake Erie.) Now as for my youngest three children, they’re all in on wild game.
Like me, Bowmar admits she hasn’t had a lot of success with roasting wild turkeys and recommends her crockpot recipe, which will be included at the bottom this column.
Originally from Sylvania, the 2007 Southview graduate says along with her husband, Josh, “turkey hunting is our jam,” so they have plenty of opportunities to try different things in the kitchen with the ones they take in the field.
“I tell people to keep an open mind about wild game,” she said. “I’ve cooked up stuff for friends before and had them say, ‘This is wild turkey?’ This is amazing.”
“Yeah, it’s a freakin’ wild turkey leg,” she then tells them. “I make fancy dishes as a way to incorporate wild game into cooking.”
However it wasn’t always that way for Sarah, who only just recently got into bowhunting — mainly for gobblers — 10 years ago when she met her husband, Josh, 34. At that time she was actually a vegan. He told her that he had been a hardcore bowhunter his entire life and that game meat was all he consumed. He introduced her to the ways of conservation.
“I was interested in learning,” Sarah said.
The standard way of buying meat at the store was what turned her off.
“Because I didn’t [and still don’t] agree with the way the majority of the meat gets to the store and at the time, I had no other way to get meat so I stopped eating it,” she said.
And now as far as field dressing and processing their game animals, “we do everything ourselves.”
“... we are self sufficient with all of our meat and have been since 2014,” she added. “We met March, 2014, and I got my first turkey April, 2014.”
Her biggest tip for getting the best flavor and tenderness out of a wild turkey is slow cooking them.
“Luckily all of our family hunts or knows how much it means to us and that we love to provide,” she said. “They also know I go to great lengths to make the meat taste good, so they’re always excited to try it.”
Sarah has developed into a tremendous bowhunter herself under her husband’s tutelage — accomplishing the turkey grand slam where a hunter harvests each of common four subspecies in the United States — Eastern, Merriam’s, Rio Grande, and Osceola. She did it twice.
The Bomars now live in Des Moines, Iowa, after moving from Columbus. They have two children, a dog, four cats, about 40 chickens, a few domestic turkeys, and some goats. Their YouTube page at Bomar Bowhunting features many of their hunts and life and times.
Sarah Bowmar’s Crockpot Wild Turkey
Ingredients:
2-4 wild turkey legs and breasts (thawed)
¼ cup sea salt
water to cover
Seasonings of choice (garlic, rosemary, thyme, etc.)
Instructions:
Place the thawed wild turkey legs and breasts into your crockpot.
Add the sea salt and your favorite seasonings for flavor.
Cover with water, ensuring all meat is submerged.
Cook on low for 8-10 hours, allowing the meat to tenderize until it falls off the bone.
For extra moisture, Sarah suggests soaking the meat overnight in a brine with 1 tablespoon of salt per quart of cold water or using a marinade with red wine, garlic, onion, rosemary, or thyme. Another tip is to soak the meat in buttermilk overnight to reduce the “gamey” flavor, resulting in a mild and tender turkey perfect for the holiday table.
Go to this link to get more of Sarah’s recipes in her e-cookbook at Wild Game Wild Gains.
First Published November 24, 2024, 12:07 a.m.
