I suppose she would break the joint and separate the cartilage with a
knife like you do. She did something like that when she was prepping
the turkey but I don't remember the details. I know before it went in
the oven it didn't look like the Norman Rockwell turkey but it cooked
evenly. It looked like too much work to me. I did like the idea of
getting the tendons out tho. It makes it a lot easier to recover the
drumstick meat for the platter.
Does she remove the tendons before or after cooking?
After, they just pull right out. I use long nose pliers by I assume
you can use your fingers. Cutting the end off lets them stick out and
easy to pull after the meat cooks.