It's not just about Butterball anymore. Head to your grocer these days and you have a myriad of choices for turkeys. We're here to help you navigate your way through it all and find the best turkey you can.
1. Self-basting turkeys are a new and rather scary development in the factory farm meat industry. These birds are injected with a solution that makes them more tender and flavorful. We all know there's no such thing as a free lunch; these solutions contain high amounts of sodium and many have artificial flavors. They can taste anywhere from buttery to spongy.
Price: ~$1/pound
Producer: Butterball
2. Kosher turkeys are slaughtered and processed according to rabbinic laws and are brined in a salt solution. Aside from the obviously religious aspect, these birds usually these taste very good without any further preparation.
Price: $2 - $4.50/pound
Producer: Empire Kosher
3. Free-range turkeys are birds that were allowed to roam outdoors, which some argue has a positive affect on the flavor of the meat, especially if the roaming area was roomy . However, the term "Free-range" does not specify certain conditions, and it also does not indicate that the bird was raised without antibiotics or hormones.
Prices: $1.50 - $4/pound
Producer: Polyface Farms
4. Organic turkeys eat only organic feed, which by law contains no genetically modified grains, pesticides or herbicides, or animal by-products. They are also free-range, and raised without the use of antibiotics or growth-hormones. Their taste varies, although Eberly's is said to be one of the best tasting.
Prices: $3.50 - $4.50/pound
Producer: Eberly's
5. Natural turkeys are minimally processed and have no artificial ingredients, preservatives, or coloring added.
Price: $1 - $2/pound
Producer: Bell & Evans
6. Heritage Turkeys are breeds that were originally raised on farms before large commercial meat processing plants began to dominate the turkey industry. In the last several years, Heritage breeds such as Jersey Buff, Bourbon Red, Black Spanish, and Narragansett have made a comeback due to the efforts of small family farms, and the online organizations that sell the birds (Local Harvest and Heritage Foods USA.) The flavor is said to be superior, and the meat is leaner. If your budget allows it, these are the birds to try.
Price: $5 - $9/pound plus shipping
Producers (distributors): Local Harvest (YESTERDAY WAS OFFICIALLY THE LAST DAY TO ORDER!), Heritage Foods USA
Regarding heritage turkeys... Cooks Illustrated did a tasting test within the last couple years and determined that heritage turkeys are much "gamier" in flavor than mild, modern turkeys. This can either be a pleasure or a shock, depending what you have in mind.
There's still time to order the Heritage (or Heirloom) Turkey from Gourment Garage. Don't be buying Butterball when you can feast on turkey the way our ancestors tasted it.
We've had Heritage the last two years and spend the rest of the year salivating for more.
"Natural" is a term regulated by the USDA on meat labels (though not anywhere else). It does not mean "free-range." It only means that it does not contain any artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed (a process which does not fundamentally alter the raw product.) It always amazes me that we pay more for products when the processor does less.
Kea,
You are absolutely right. That post wasn't quite ready for publication, obviously. Accept our apologies for a mis-leading typo, and for posting w/o offering the link to the Factory Farm Project's Meatrix film! All is fixed now.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Sara Kate
The best way to get a good turkey, regardless of type, is to brine it for at least 4 hours (no brining for kosher birds, though).
Check out Alton Brown's brining instructions on FoodTv. Alton rocks.
I've always found brining a chicken unwieldy with my fridge so I've never even attempted a turkey. I usually make an herb butter, which is rubbed under the skin, before seasoning the turkey well. It always gets raves.
My experiment for this Thanksgiving is applying Judy Rodgers' method for roast chicken to the turkey. That recipe was a revelation to me. (I just got the Zuni Cafe cookbook recently.)
She doesn't brine but salts the meat, I believe 3/4 tsp. for every pound, tucks in a few herb sprigs and refrigerates the chicken for several days. Her cooking method is a little unusual, too, but boy does it produce spectacular roast chicken.
By the way, Slate.com did a turkey taste-off two years ago. The serious foodie who wrote the column was rather dismayed when Butterball was chosen the
clear favorite.
I just wanted to mention something about the Heritage Turkeys. They are more balanced in terms of white/dark meat, since conventional turkeys are bread for oversized white breasts. This led me to discover my love for dark meat, as well as fried turkey! I hate to disagree with "me" but 45 minutes in the deep frier beats anything. The unweildy part of this is getting/disposing the 5 gallons of oil necessary and buying the turkey frier. But it was so much fun.
Keri, you're going to love Turkey roasted the Zuni Cafe chicken way! That's exactly what I do with the Heritage Turkey (see my post, above). It is going to seem like too much salt when you're up to 15 lbs x 3/4 tsp, but it does the trick.
Have you done the bread salad along with the Zuni chicken? I've had to give up the Zuni method of sizzling the chicken stovetop then into the high heat oven since we moved to an apt. with super sensitive smoke and carbon m. alarms.
Enjoy the turkey the Zuni way. PS: Try the Zuni pot au feu. I had a frenchman who told me it reminded him of his grandmother's! Not bad.
Glad to see all the cheers for the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. It's definitely one of my all-time favorites, and we'll be sure to do a review for those who haven't seen it yet once the new food site is live... only a few more days!
Sara Kate
I find Butterball turkeys disgusting. The meat is almost mush. ick.
Get a good free-range or organic turkey. I usually baste very little; just a bit of broth and butter from time to time. If the bird is good and you don't overcook the meat should be moist.
Sara Kate, the new site is eagerly awaited. And if you need anyone to wax rapturously about Maida Heatter's cookbooks, let me know.
(But seriously, I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds Judy Rodgers' recipe writing style similar to Heatter's. Lots of asides about how the recipe should look, smell or feel at this stage or that stage in preparation, why one brand works better than the other, etc. I did once try to pass along a Heatter recipe to my mom, who loves to bake, but she was found the length daunting. I think her response was that any recipe that was three pages long was too involved.)
By the way, Phil, it occurred to me today that since I am having T-day with my in-laws and my father-in-law is on a sodium-restricted diet, the Zuni Cafe way may not fly with them. I think just measuring out the 15 3/4-teaspoons of salt might send folks into shock. Maybe next year.