Obviously, you won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving outside the US, so all opinions are welcome, it’s just that this post deals specifically with thanksgiving.
I was talking with a friend of mine who happens to be a hunter. He insists that the turkey he ‘bags’ every year tastes better than the processed ones from the super market. So, when offered a wild turkey for my own family’s Thanksgiving dinner this year, I said sure…we are pretty open to new ideas, and the idea of a non-farmbred turkey sounds kind of appealing.
So what should we expect. Is wild turkey gamey? Does it taste exactly the same? Should we have a back-up, store-bought bird incase we hate the taste? Or should we taste it before the holiday? There cannot be that much difference, right?
He has a butcher dress the birds, so I am not worried about his technique for that…
Ok I swear to almighty OG, I had no idea today was the Canadian Thanksgiving. But please, for the Love of OG…Does wild turkey taste different from the the farm grown variety?
Phlosphr - I can’t tell you about wild ones, but I can tell you the difference between a regular store bought one and a fresh one just killed. They’re way better tasting and juicier. We get one every year (my husband’s best friend has a turkey farm).
Sorry I can’t help you on the “wild” part, though.
There’s considerable difference between a store-bought turkey and a wild turkey. In fact, there can be considerable differences between wild turkeys. Generally, wild birds are much more muscular than their domestic counterparts. The breast is generally smaller and the entire bird is dark meat. Older birds and male birds can be tough, but even still they are much more flavorful.
Home-grown of free range turkeys are a different turkey all together. They are usually bred to have the characteristics of factory raised turkeys (fat, sassy), but again, they have access to bugs and greens that give the meat more flavor.
If I had a choice between the three types I’ve outlined above, I’d go for the home-grown.
Reminds me of one of my more stupid moments. We raise a few turkeys for ourselves every year and one year smoked a bunch and gave them away as Christmas presents. Folks just raved about them, so the following year, I ordered 100 turkeys to raise up, thinking I could make some money. I didn’t think ahead enough. By Thanksgiving most of those dang turkeys weighed between 30 and 40 pounds and everyone wanted theirs at the same time. It’s quite a production even to slaughter and dress a few turkeys, so you might imagine what it was like to have to do 100 in a short period of time!
Never again! I tell folks I’m out of the turkey business.
A friend of my husband’s family hand-raised some wild turkey chicks, and corn-fed them. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, the turkey that was cooked at our Thanksgiving dinner weighed around 30 lbs dressed. It was so big that they had to take the racks out of the oven, and slide a metal muffin pan over the heating element so the pan wouldn’t crush it. The people who ate it (I’m a vegetarian) said it was really juicy and delicious.
Yeah, folks were a bit shocked when I delivered their 40 pounders. No one had a roaster big enough for them, including myself, and for some, they had to cut them in half just to fit them in their ovens. :smack:
A couple years back I had a wild turkey and a store turkey at the same feast. (yes I’m spoiled ) They were both pretty good-- one was BBQ’d and the other was roasted-- but I couldn’t really distinguish anything between the two except that they were both turkeys (and I easily distinguish between most fowl, to teh point where I can’t eat chicken because it’s vile).
I’ve had wild turkey on a few occassions (the benefit of having a father who likes to kill things and cook them), and on one Thanksgiving had both wild turkey and store-bought turkey. Although there is definitely a difference in taste, they both taste like turkey. If you like one, you’re going to almost certainly like the other.
I don’t have an answer for you PHL, but that doesn’t stop me from jumping into a thread to talk out my butt.
If you get an oven-bag ( Hefty makes them, probably Glad as well.) and wrap it around your turkey ( hey that sounds dirty) while it is cooking, it will cook it faster and keep it more moist. That definately sounds dirty.
Other than that, I am thinking of doing Turkey day at my house this year because I want Chinese to eat. It’ll be fun to watch everyone get a collective bee up their snoz because These Things Just Aren’t Done and Something Quite Ain’t Right.
YAY for HOlidays.
For Christmas I’ll do Mexican and get them all in a lather.
I now return you all to your regular scheduled: Free Range or Mass Production Gobbler Debate.
) They were both pretty good-- one was BBQ’d and the other was roasted-- but I couldn’t really distinguish anything between the two except that they were both turkeys (and I easily distinguish between most fowl, to teh point where I can’t eat chicken because it’s vile).