Vietnamese Coconut Braised Wild Turkey Thighs

Braised wild turkey in this umami-rich sauce is salty, sweet, and satisfying

The first time I ever cooked a wild turkey thigh, taken from a relatively mature Tom, I was astounded at how… un-turkey-like it was. Big, bold flavors, richness not often found in domestic poultry, and an almost beefy quality that knocked my socks off. 

Unfortunately, since it was my first time cooking a wild turkey thigh, I made the mistake that many others make and didn’t cook it for long enough (despite cooking it for several hours). The result was a tender piece of meat, but not so tender that I could shred it. Instead, I ended up eating it with a knife and fork – enjoyable, but not quite what I was looking for. 

The next thigh went better; using the lessons I’d learned with the first one, I cooked it into submission and it shredded quite nicely. That bold flavor was still there, and I came to realize that this meat could stand up to some pretty heavy-duty sauces or accompaniments on the plate. 

Making use of that knowledge, I decided that I would be cooking some smaller and younger thighs from a Jake I shot this year in a bolder sauce than before. Now, the only question was which sauce?

One that I’d wanted to try making for quite some time was a Vietnamese caramel sauce. This sauce is pretty ubiquitous in Vietnamese cooking, but is perhaps most famously used in the dish Cá Kho Tộ, a clay-pot casserole with caramelized catfish. The strongly flavored catfish is tempered by the sweet, bitter, and deeply savory notes of the caramelized sugar sauce. 

Caramel sauce may seem a little off-brand for Southeast Asian cuisine but, like so many Vietnamese dishes, this sauce and technique was probably introduced by the French during colonization, then taken by the Vietnamese who ran with it in a whole different direction, producing a synergistic fusion so much more than the sum of its parts. This can be seen in so much of the cuisine, which is one of my favorites. Some examples include Vietnamese baguettes, cold cuts, pâtés, phở (beefy rice noodle soups), omelettes, pancakes, coffee, and more. 

The basic recipe for the sauce starts with adding sugar to an ungreased pot and letting it melt into a liquid. The liquid then gets cooked until it develops a rich, brown hue, and then the protein is added to develop some color before being braised in a combination of coconut water/juice, fish sauce, and sometimes soy sauce. Garlic, shallot, and chilies are then added to provide some aromatics to add extra flavor to the sauce. 

This all worked fantastically with the wild turkey thighs, which came out sweet and salty with deep umami notes and an overall Vietnamese flavor profile due to the fish sauce and aromatics. 

I recommend serving the shredded turkey thighs with steamed white rice and either steamed bok choy or fresh cucumbers, garnished with fresh herbs. This provides a blank starchy canvas for the bold sauce, as well as some fresh crunch and herbaceous brightness for contrast. 

If you happen to run into Red Boat brand fish sauce, I highly recommend using it for this recipe. Admittedly, it is a fair bit pricier than the other fish sauces available, but it is much higher quality, has better flavor, and is free from some of the fillers, colors, and stabilizers which cheaper fish sauces contain. A bottle of it will last you a long time, which is fine, since this stuff will last forever in the pantry.