Recipe(tried): Universal/ MGM/WDW Turkey Legs - Yum Yum

Wow, am I ever sorry that this took so long for me to get back to. I am truly, truly sorry.

Okay, here's the deal. I tried smoking these legs, soaking them in onions and sprite soda and then grilling them, brining them in salt water over night and then smoking them and all the other turkey leg knock-offs I could find. Nothing even came close to what they serve up at WDW, Universal and all the rest.

I then bought 3 of them at a local amusement park to analyze. This is what I came up with:

a) The leg tastes more like ham than turkey.
b) The leg does not have the consistency of a smoked turkey leg-it has the consistency of ham and is on the salty side.
c) These things have to be mass produced to supply just what WDW serves up on a daily basis not to mention all the other major theme parks in the US. Whoever provides these to the parks makes them very quickly and in huge numbers.
d) These legs are pretty cheap (by amusement park food standards)so any preparation has to be minimal and they have to make the 50-75% food mark-up at amusement parks.

So the answer is: (drum roll)
The legs are cured like ham. They are not smoked. (That would be too labor intensive and cost to much.) After curing they can be baked like ham or grilled like at WDW. Grilling being the prefered method for that WDW taste.

Morton salt sells a Tender Quick Cure and a Sugar Cure and a Smoke Flavored Sugar Cure. They can be dry cured or "brined" in your fridge. These Cure's all very salty so you will have to experiment with the amount and method. I have found that a brine with the smoke flavored sugar cure works well. Cut the cure amount and brining time in half based on the pounds of turkey legs you have though or they will be to salty. You have got to experiment with this to taste, just remember that a pound of turkey legs is not equal to a pound of meat. I figure that a pound of turkey legs yields about 1/2 pound of meat to cure. Cure also contains nitrates, that is what gives the ham taste and texture. Nitrates may be a carcinogen.

I hope this helps and answers some questions.

Personally, I have found that this makes Turkey legs as close to the big boys as you will find. But....There is just something about eating a Turkey Leg at Toluca Turkey Legs at MGM (now DHS) while watching the Tower of Terror in action that I can't produce at home. Hmmm....Turkey legs to me are a Disney thing. Maybe they are just better left to those good times and memories and a treat for the next time we are there.

God Bless,
Randy