According to a conversation I just overheard by one of my fellow cubicle dwellers.
Although he’s eaten them for years, he has just been informed that they are full of all kinds of nasty chemicals, and therefore he will no longer be buying them.
This information was provided by a member of our environmental protection group who grew up on a farm, so it must be true.
Don’t know about the “full of chemicals” case, but Butterball has been accused of, and some of their people convicted of, cruelty to animals. According to Wikipedia:
This site claims 2% solution of sodium or potassium phosphate is injected into Butterball:
The phosphates (actually a variety of similar chemicals) are used as preservatives, texturizers, and leavening agents, and are in a lot of other foods everyone probably eats. It doesn’t seem, from this, as if Butterball is “full of” noxious chemicals.
This blogger accuses Butterball of factory farming, which implies antibiotics and hormones, bjut doesn’t seem to actually show that there’s harmful stuff in a Butterball Turkey. Or if it’s significantly different from any non-local free-range bird:
so a quick search doesn’t confirm to me that Butterball is “full of chemicals”
The run-off into potable water of farm poultry feces, including turkeys, is what would really scare the general public. Food conglomerates spend a lot of money making sure this crisis is never fully reported, and that your Butterball gushes with liquid as soon as you begin carving it. That’s what people remember, those damn TV commercials.
I’m about as anti-woo as anyone, but poultry and pork that have things like you mentioned above in them suck. They taste salty, but not in a good way. They also have a weird texture that is a little like ham and give off lots of moisture when they cook and make it hard to brown. Your pitting is pretty weak.
I agree. I prefer the results I get from brining at home. I am not sure if it is because the turkey it self is just better or if the home bringing process is better.
