Gobble Me Up!

[little ms foodie]

I have ordered turkeys from A&J Meats on QA in the past and thought it was good. Since I haven't ordered from anywhere else I was curious to know what others thought. Who has the best turkeys? What about the price?

What else do you look for when buying a bird? Does anyone buy the frozen ones at the grocery store and if so how do they compare?

[Mr. Toast]

After getting intense pressure from family members I finally ordered a heritage turkey from Heritage Foods. The price is absolutely outrageous so I just hope the quality is high. They're recommended by SlowFoodUSA.

[laurel]

After getting intense pressure from family members  I finally ordered a heritage turkey from Heritage Foods. The price is absolutely outrageous so I just hope the quality is high. They're recommended by SlowFoodUSA.

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You can get local Bronze turkeys here:

http://www.thunderinghooves.net/cgi-bin/prod-price_turkey.pl

They might be cheaper than ordering from Heritage Foods, especially since they don't have to be shipped.

[trillium]

Here in pdx we ordered an American Bronze from Green Pastures Poultry. Their chicken is really good, and the Broad Breasted White (no kidding, that's what they're called) we bought last year was good too. The head of the poultry farmer's co-op swears there is no difference between the two breeds, but I have to see for myself. I've heard they have smaller breasts, bigger legs and a stronger taste, since they can still run around (unlike the broad breasted whites) and eat stuff other birds wont.

Green Pastures are super pricey chickens and turkeys but when I try to even buy a rocky jr. I don't like the taste any more. I'd rather eat poultry less often and eat theirs.

regards,

trillium

[little ms foodie]

Thundering Hooves is at our local market, I have always heard very good things so I've ordered the broad breasted turkey for christmas (other family is doing thanksgiving this year!)

Damn, for $70 I better learn how to cook the thing hu?? This will be my first year cooking turkey by myself.

Great info as usual you guys! Thank you!

[trillium]

Thundering Hooves is at our local market, I have always heard very good things so I've ordered the broad breasted turkey for christmas (other family is doing thanksgiving this year!)

Damn, for $70 I better learn how to cook the thing hu?? This will be my first year cooking turkey by myself.

Great info as usual you guys! Thank you!

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Brining, brining, brining. I always use the Cook's Illustrated method and it works well. PM me if you want a copy, I have it as a text file.

regards,

trillium

[Eden]

You can get local Bronze turkeys here:

http://www.thunderinghooves.net/cgi-bin/prod-price_turkey.pl

They might be cheaper than ordering from Heritage Foods, especially since they don't have to be shipped.

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I will vouch that the Bronze we ordered form Thundering Hooves last year was wonderful! Well worth the higher cost vs. a regular bird.

I don't think anyone who dined here last year will ever go back to mass produced turkeys... rich meaty Turkey flavor, no scary faux turkey flavor injected into it. yet it didn't dry out on me at all, and the stock I made afterwards for the obligatory post-Thanksgiving Turkey-Noodle soup, WOW!

[malarkey]

Hmmmm interesting. I've been buying Shelton free range turkeys for several years now. I think they are good, but these bronze babies I might need to check out...

little ms foodie, brining is WAY important, and I also use a cooking trick I picked up from Martha S. Yes, that Martha S. It has resulted in the 2 best turkeys I've ever made, and I've been making turkeys for quite a few years now. If you want to know the details, PM me.

Edited October 27, 2004 by malarkey (log)

[Mr. Toast]

After getting intense pressure from family members  I finally ordered a heritage turkey from Heritage Foods. The price is absolutely outrageous so I just hope the quality is high. They're recommended by SlowFoodUSA.

←

You can get local Bronze turkeys here:

http://www.thunderinghooves.net/cgi-bin/prod-price_turkey.pl

They might be cheaper than ordering from Heritage Foods, especially since they don't have to be shipped.

←

Too late for this time but I've bookmarked Thundering Hooves and we'll try them later. Not to derail the main conversation, but if you want to make me feel bad about Christmas spending too then find me a local source for the American Buff goose I already ordered from Heritage Foods.

Actually while I only fix turkey once a year I'd buy a goose a month if I could get a good local source that would sell it fresh.

[vengroff]

Last thanksgiving I switched from turkey to a fresh organic capon. At 9 or 10 lbs a capon will feed 8 people. The quality of the meat was so much better than most turkey that it will be hard for me to ever go back.