Turkey tails! I spotted these in the frozen meat section of my local grocery store. Since I’m a big fan of tails, I thought I would do something with these tails. Originally I thought of smoking or frying them, but I stumbled on an idea on the internet that sounded really great. Adobo turkey tails!

1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
.5 cup medium sweet soy sauce (ABC Kecap Manis)
40 garlic cloves, crushed/chopped
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp coarse kosher salt
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
2.5 lbs turkey tails (bone-in)

 Place the defrosted tails in a hot pan and cook until browned. No need to add oil to the pan, these tails ooze enough fat to brown themselves. Add peppercorns, garlic and cook until brown. Add 1 cup of vinegar and bring to a boil.  Bring heat down to medium heat and add the rest of the vinegar, sweet soy sauce, salt, and sugar. Mix thoroughly and continue to reduce sauce, taking care to coat each tail evenly.

These were yummy. Regrettably, I had some gastrointestinal upset which I suspect came from the tails. My man also suffered some stomach pains after consuming the adobo. I discovered that the brand label Pride of the Farm and meat packer Cargill Turkey has a history of food recalls related to salmonella contamination. While I thought that the vinegar and high heat would have sufficiently killed off most of the microbes, it doesn’t any of the toxins produced by them. Of course, this also led me on a furious clean up with bleach of all the kitchen surfaces to ensure everything was sanitized.