Which Turkey for This Thanksgiving
Here is the article I read last year that led me to buy the Aaron’s Turkey.
Turkey Review
Published November 1, 2007. From Cook's Illustrated.
I have edited this article for your reading but the link above is the article if you want to read it in its entirety.
Turkey is pretty bland, so why pay $100 for a mail-order bird when supermarket options cost less than $2 a pound?
list of products tested
* Butterball Turkey
* Diestel Family Turkey Ranch Turkey
* Empire Kosher Turkey
* Good Earth Farms Organic Pasture-Raised Turkey
* Jennie-O Turkey
* Rubashkin's Aaron's Best Turkey
* Shady Brook Farms Turkey
* Walters Hatchery Heritage Breed Turkey
A great-tasting roast turkey is not just about turkey flavor; the texture and moisture of the meat are important, too, as anyone who has eaten a mouthful of dry, chewy turkey can attest. Wondering how big a role fat played, we sent the turkeys in our lineup to an independent laboratory to test samples from the skin, white meat, and dark meat; we also had the lab measure their salt content. As we awaited results, we talked with turkey experts about the factors that contribute to a turkey's quality, which include its breed, how it's raised and fed, and how it's processed for sale.
In a sense, modern commercial turkeys have been bred to have very little flavor. In the United States, we're a white-meat market, today's turkeys are up to 70 percent white meat, and they grow fast. Most Americans eat a hen (female) turkey on Thanksgiving. These birds are ready for market in just 14 weeks, when they weigh 16 to 22 pounds, which yields processed birds in the 12- to 18-pound range. (By contrast, older breeds of turkey, called heritage birds, need seven to eight months to grow to full size—roughly twice as long as modern turkeys.)
Another way turkey gains flavor is through koshering. Kosher birds start as the same breed of commercial large-breasted turkeys, but they are processed according to Jewish dietary law and under rabbinical supervision. The carcasses are covered in kosher salt and then rinsed multiple times in cold water, which works to season the meat, improve its texture, and help it retain moisture. The favored turkey had slightly more fat and nearly twice as much salt as the blander one.
The single heritage turkey in our lineup won favor, with tasters remarking on its "robust turkey flavor" that was "sweet" and "complex." Heritage turkeys are directly descended from wild turkeys and nearly disappeared in the mid-20th century as commercial Broad-Breasted Whites were created by the poultry industry. The heritage turkey in our lineup had the most fat by far of the turkeys we tasted—lab results showed it had nearly three times the fat of the leanest bird. A call to its grower revealed his secret for a sweeter bird. While most turkeys eat a ration of corn and soybean meal throughout their lives, this breeder eliminates soy from his turkeys' diet in the final weeks, feeding them only sweet corn, giving the birds a layer of fat under the skin. He also tastes the feed himself before he gives it to the turkeys.
Fresh or Frozen?
When organizing our tasting, we decided to buy fresh turkeys wherever possible, assuming they would be better. But as we tallied the results of the tasting, we learned that most of our higher-ranked birds were, in fact, frozen. Our tasters consistently found the frozen birds to be moister than the fresh, in fact a "fresh" bird can actually be tougher and drier than a frozen one.
Here is my problem. I purchased the Aaron’s Turkey with great results last year. I must admit I was not happy with the extra plucking of the feathers but the taste was really good. My sister has been brining her turkey for years, which I felt, was way too much work. But the salt thing was really important.
Aaron’s just filed bankruptcy and I am not sure their doors are still open. The were sited with hiring many undocumented Guatemalans in their processing plant. The Rabbi’s here in Minneapolis were questioning their right to call themselves kosher if they were abusing their employees. Their thoughts were it was not enough to slaughter kosher but it also meant running your business kosher too. I am the side of the Minneapolis Rabbis’
So no Aaron’s on my plate this year.
While reading all the cooking magazines, Bon Appetit,(has recipe for salted rather than brining) Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Midwest Living, Cabin Life, yes even, Cabin Life had a different recipe for cooking your turkey. So I went to Cook Illustrated that have given me such good advice last year and they confused me even more. They told me to cut up the turkey to bake it in cut so that they cook at the right length of time for the body part. It makes sense since we cut our turkey in the kitchen but then it could as well just chicken if it is just the pieces.
I am so confused that I am thinking about going out this year!
If you decide to brine make your own brine mix. I notice at Whole Foods they were selling brine kits for 5.00 and online some place I saw them for 15.00. Okay if you have spices and a box of kosher salt that's all you need. You need to use your spices up anyway.
Reply to this