The wife wanted one from a local turkey farm this year. Free range, organic, corn fed, blah blah blah. Its neck was (literally) on the chopping block just yesterday.
I’m not particularly fussy, especially about turkey, but I am interested in seeing if it is worth the extravagance.
Or even if I’ll be able to tell the difference from our usual Butterball.
As I was leaving, I watched the still living birds happily running to and fro. “You poor bastards”, I muttered as I drove away.
I used to get them from the farm. They were free range, not necessarily organic although there weren’t real standards back then, and they cost about twice what the grocery store turkeys cost. Since I see the grocery selling local farm raised ‘all natural’ turkeys for $2.99 a pound it doesn’t sound like you paid that much more unless it was a really small turkey. The no-name Grade A fresh turkeys are going for $1.69 a pound. Still, at $97 it’s a deal compared to what I’ll have to pay for prime rib roast at Christmas time.
Huh, a 30lb turkey sounded really large to me but apparently that’s now the average size of a US turkey.
Then again, we’re having over 30lbs of turkey this year, just split between two birds since my mom wants to fry one and roast the other. And I’m stopping off at the turkey farm this afternoon to pick them up.
We get our turkey from a local turkey farm. He is slated to be slaughtered Wednesday at 9 am. My gf has an appointment to pick him up at 10 am. She then drives him to her mom’s house and stays there to help cook Thursday’s feast.
I show up just in time to carve the bird. It’s traditionally an honored job among her family. When her dad passed away 3 years ago (he was the carver) I was unanimously elected to fill the role. I take it very seriously, arriving with my sharpened knives, hearty appetite, and sweet potato pie.
It’s not clear if that’s the weight before slaughter or after dressing, sounds like the weight of the live bird so something in the mid 20s when sold. I’ve found around 24 pounds to be typical for large birds with plenty of smaller ones available. I do remember growing up that 20 lbs. was considered really large. You can get 40 lb. turkeys from the farm around here (I assume live weight, but still really big), the farm will even lend you a pan for roasting one of those beasts (hint: you better wake up before you go to bed to get one of those started in the oven).
Several of the Amish farms around us sell fresh turkeys, but since my mom hosts, I’ve never bought one. I’m assuming they prep them for the oven - no way would I want to pluck my own supper!
I admit I was a little shocked. When I heard them ring up a guy ahead of me - and announced “It comes to $94” - I wondered in my mind how many turkeys he was picking up.
I usually get a five-pound prime rib roast for Christmas, and it comes to $80 or $90 at Costco. Since I’m worried about my job/financial situation, I think I’ll get a Choice roast this year.
Sorry to hear about the financial problems. Many prime ribs served are just Choice anyway, look through the pile for a nice one. Try to find the end cut. I usually buy a whole rib section and if I don’t need all of it I’ll cut the rest into steaks and freeze them.
Thanks. Any Catholics out there may want to drop a word for this heathen with St. Jude.
I used to get Choice roasts from Costco, and they were great. Some of them looked Prime. We have a French door refrigerator/freezer, so freezer space is limited.
The first year, it was far and away the best bird I’ve ever had. Very moist and tender, there was even a nice layer of fat all along the the breast that really helped it cook up nice and juicy.
The next year, the farm was having issues with filling orders and processing and gave me a turkey that may or may not have been processed within the hour. It ended up being terrible. Farm went out of business the next January.
