Garlic Fried Turkey Gizzards
Wild turkey gizzards simmered soft, then fried hard in garlic and sesame. Camp table food, not pack food.
- calories
- 390
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 65
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 3, scales
- prep
- 30 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 50 min
- water
- 750 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Snack
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Wild turkey gizzards | 4 to 5, cleaned | trim the silver skin and split them open to wash out the grit |
|---|---|---|
| Salt | 2 tbsp for soaking, plus 1 tsp for seasoning | |
| Shelf-stable whole milk | 1 cup | boxed UHT milk keeps in a hot car; use it the day you open it |
| Garlic cloves | 12, peeled and sliced | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Onion powder | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Red pepper flakes | 1/2 tsp | |
| Sesame oil | 1 tbsp | added off the heat, not fried in |
| Lard or cooking oil | 1/2 cup, for frying |
Method
- Split and rinse the gizzards at home. Soak them in salted water for 30 minutes, drain, then soak in the milk for another 30 minutes in the cooler. Rinse and pat dry.
Gizzards are working muscle, so they cook in two stages or not at all. The simmer breaks the connective tissue down until a knife goes through without argument; the fry crisps the outside and gets the garlic into the fat. Skip the simmer and you get rubber.
The home prep matters more than the camp cooking. Salt soak pulls out blood, milk soak takes the edge off the organ flavor, and both are impossible to do well from a cooler. Do them in your kitchen the morning you drive out. Sesame oil goes in after the pan comes off the fire because it burns and turns bitter over coals.
Packing
Gizzards ride in the cooler in a leakproof jar, already soaked and dried at home. Garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and flakes go in one small tin. Sliced garlic and sesame oil in separate containers.
Variations
- No wild turkey? Grocery chicken gizzards behave the same and cost almost nothing.
- A splash of soy sauce in the last minute of frying pushes it darker and saltier, but drops the gluten-free tag.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table/recipes/garlic-lovers-fried-wild-turkey-gizzards