Roasted Smoky Turkey Legs

I’m amazed, honestly. I moved away from my home state and was seriously missing my local renaissance faire- which I’d gone to every year since childhood. They sell the best turkey legs, so I set out to find a recipe for something similar. I happened upon this one and let me tell you, they are the EXACT same. I did tweak it by adding an extra tablespoon of liquid smoke. I will definitely be continuing to make these, I’m so happy to have found this recipe!!

WAAAYY too salty! It could be that I used the wrong salt. I couldn't find Morton Tender Quick Salt, so I used Pickling salt--no additives-- so I thought it would be okay, but apparently not! It also took a very long time to brown (about 20 min a side at 500 degrees) and the meat was a bit dry.

These were great! However, I did use the suggested (and you should find this too, if making this recipe - it really does make a big difference) Morton Tender quick salt, and those legs turned out beautifully crisp, and so delightful. No problem with it being to salty, and used the charcoal grill to finish them off by smoking them for the required time. Heavenly! Thanks for posting! Made for Outdoor cooking ~ Diabetic Forum 2011

Woweee, these were awesome. I didn't have the Morton Tender Quick salt, so I used sea salt. I had to use a lot less sea salt though. I didn't really measure, just poured some in and tasted the brine. It was too salty so I diluted the mixture until I had a brine that was a little sweet and smoky and still pretty salty, but not overwhelmingly so. I poured the brine into a ziplock with my 3 turkey legs, double bagged it, and put it in the cooler to take on our camping trip. The next evening, Dh seared the legs in a cast iron pan over the campfire and then we wrapped them in foil and put them into the hot coals. I was surprised how wonderful they turned out. This made for a perfect campfire Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks for my first brine recipe!

This was a good recipe, but not quite what I expected. But to be fair I had to made due, since there is nowhere in my area that sells Morton Tender Quick Salt. I combined 1/2 cup Kosher salt with 1/2 cup light brown sugar and 4 tbls liquid smoke with 1 gallon of water (using an alternative basic recipe I found online) to soak my turkey legs in. I also only soaked them for a little less than 24 hours. They came out tender, but not as flavorful as I would have liked. Next time I will soak them for longer, and maybe use less water (or more salt).