Venison sausage is perfect to make you gobble
April is a special time in the Carolinas. In addition to the arrival of spring and the multiple opportunities for freshwater and saltwater fishing and turkey season, I usually feature one of Robert Cardwell’s excellent recipes for wild turkey in April. If he continues to share recipes as good as this one, it will continue for a while.
Thankfully, this winter in the Carolinas hasn’t been hard on man, beast nor fish. The animals and fish definitely have been active earlier than usual. This should be a spring for lots of girth.
Sportsmen have been able to get outside most of the winter, but still, when the azaleas and dogwoods begin blooming, it’s time to get out and go. Daylight Savings Time clicked in a couple of weeks ago, so there is an extra hour of daylight every afternoon. That makes it easy to get out for a short fishing trip after work. Of course, that extra hour of afternoon light was only borrowed from the morning, and that makes it a little tough to get in a turkey hunt before heading in to work. This becomes easier later in the month as the sun rises a little earlier.
With the arrival of spring, fishermen have plenty of options. Hunters don’t have quite as many options, but there are turkeys in every county in both Carolinas.
This is a good time to be a sportsman. Some mornings might begin on the cool side, but most blossom into those combinations of sunshine and blue skies poets find so inspirational.
Sportsmen find those days inspirational, too. They become even more inspirational when a glistening trout rises to take your fly as it drifts downstream beside a small riffle, or when a raging wahoo smacks your lure and a heavy rod bends deeply while a big, gold trolling reel howls as it reluctantly gives up line. It’s the same thing when you finally get a glimpse of the turkey with the raspy gobble that has been occasionally responding to your seductive purrs and cutts and realize his beard is dragging the ground and he is the boss gobbler for miles around.
Yep, April in the Carolinas is the gateway to warmer weather and summer, and it’s also time to test another excellent wild turkey recipe from Robert Cardwell. This one is as good as those from the past, so you’ll need to find a little time to slip into the woods and personally deliver a lead invitation to the guest of honor and try it yourself. Enjoy.
Wild turkey breast stuffed with venison sausage
I said it last year and will say it again, Robert Cardwell from Rockingham County, N.C., is my go-to guy for wild turkey recipes. He knows turkeys, from hens on the nest to slipping a tom that made a fatal mistake into the oven or onto the grill. He enjoys other kinds of hunting and fishing, but his specialty is wild turkey, which has tasted excellent every way he has suggested.
Turkey hunting is an affliction. That’s worse than a disease or an addiction because there might be cures for them, but there isn’t a cure for an affliction. You’ve got it for life. Cardwell is one of the first people I ever met with that affliction. Perhaps that is due to his home in the northern Piedmont along the Virginia border, which has a very good turkey population. A handful of counties to the east and west are also big on gobblers, offering some of the best turkey hunting in North Carolina. It’s a good place to have a turkey affliction.
While honing his craft, Cardwell called turkeys for family members and friends and found himself with several turkeys in his freezer each year. At that point, he started to experiment with cooking them. He has developed a handful of really tasty turkey recipes he has shared with readers.
Cardwell likes a little spice for his food, but not just hot to be hot, and that lines him up with my tastes perfectly. He didn’t say so, but the venison sausage used to stuff this turkey was probably spicy. Mine will be. If I don’t use spicy sausage, you can bet I will use pepper jack, jalapeno or other spicy cheese. I’ll probably be pretty liberal with the Cajun seasoning, too.
Cardwell knows tastes are different and won’t be upset if you adjust his recipe a little for personal taste. If you would like more or less Cajun seasoning, fine. The same can be said for the cheese, which is why he suggested the choice. I’m going to make this once using some sautéed diced jalapenos mixed with the sausage, and he’ll be one of the first to ask how I liked it.
This is his recipe for wild turkey breast stuffed with venison sausage and crusted with corn flakes. It’s excellent as is, but long- time readers know I have to experiment a little. When a gobbler falls for you this month, this would be a great way to prepare half of the breast. You can use one of your own recipes for the other side, but I’ll bet if you try this, you’ll be searching back April issues for another of Cardwell’s wild turkey recipes. They’re that good!
INGREDIENTS:
Half a wild turkey breast, without the tenderloin
1/2 pound of venison sausage
4 to 6 slices of Swiss (or your favorite) cheese
2 large or 3 medium eggs
2 cups of crushed corn flakes,
Assorted vegetables (potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, etc.)
Cajun seasoning (or your personal favorite)
Flour
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
PREPARATION:
Use the flat side of a meat mallet to pound out the turkey breast until it is flat and approximately 1/4-inch thick. Spread the venison sausage evenly across the breast. Place slices of cheese across the sausage. Roll the turkey breast into as tight a roll as possible and peg with toothpicks. Season with Cajun seasoning to taste. Put some flour in a Zip-Loc bag and coat the breast roll with the flour. Beat the eggs. Place the breast roll in the egg wash and coat it well. Place the breast roll in the corn flakes and coat it well. Coat a baking dish lightly with the olive oil. Layer the vegetables in the dish and season them with salt and pepper to taste. Preheat oven to 350. Place the breast roll in the center of the dish, on the vegetables, and bake at 350 until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees (approximately 11/2 hours). Remove the breast from the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with the vegetables.
I was raised having some type of bread at almost every meal. For this one, hot sweet potato biscuits are just the thing. If for some reason you don’t like or don’t know how to prepare sweet potato biscuits, this would also be complimented well with a warm bowl of rice or bread pudding for dessert.
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