When you talk ’turkey’ you should know what type of turkey you are talking about.
Most frozen birds have a basting solution of salt, water and other additives to make the bird palatable after being frozen and thawed.
Turkey’s labeled ‘fresh’ have to be kept above a certain temperature. Most are USDA Grade A.
But there are other grades.
This reference gives a good overview of what’s on the market.

https://whatscookingamerica.net/poultry ... %20Tips%3A

My bird will have been waddling about until a day or two before I pick it up, processed locally. No additives of any kind.
Personally I think this ‘Heritage’ label is mostly non-sense, along with ‘Organic’.
No one audits the usage of ‘Organic’. The labelers rely on the honesty of the grower.
The wild turkeys I have shot and processed myself have been uniformly good with a slight taste of acorn.
The Wild Gobblers have an enormous pouch of fat in the front.
-Richard

Yes, certified organic turkey is heavily monitored. The farmers must complete a ton of paper work and submit it. There are some farmers that sell organic turkey that is not certified, and there is always a chance that the turkey is not truly organic. There are a lot of growers that raise things organically, but they are not certified because of all of the paperwork involved. River Valley mushrooms falls into that category.

For the past two decades we have tried to source as much of the protein and other products we consume locally as we can.
Chickens, ducks, geese and eggs come from one farmer.
He has a portable grinder, sources his corn locally and uses methods that he and his farther before him have used for at least 40 years. I love the double yolkers!!!
Pigs are just down the road a few miles but what I have found out is that almost all pork is raised and government inspected to a USDA standard. Thats’s why ‘pork bellies’ are a commodity. The smallest I can get is 60#‘s and that is priced at a whole market hog because the fixed costs of production are just about the same.
As to grass fed beef/veal/lamb in Wisconsin it doesn’t exists because the animal must be fed grain in the winter.
The farmers I know, will laugh at you when you talk about organic/additive free.
I can’t get a small 5# suckling pig like that served in Spain because the animal must be off antibiotics for at least 14 days before being sold.
At the ‘Farmer’s Markets’, I closely question whether the seller actually raises the produce and often ask to visit. Those that will not supply information or are evasive are past by.
It’s the best I can do.
I once read an article where a reporter actually went to producers certified to one Organic Certification. He found some Apricots certified Organic from Azerbaijan, a call to a Ministry revealed, nothing was raised Organically in Azerbaijan.
In the Audit World, I am familiar with, nothing is taken at face value but must be verified.
Sourcing locally, spending the time and energy to verify can expend your time but it’s the best I can do.
-Richard

budrichard wrote:I can’t get a small 5# suckling pig like that served in Spain because the animal must be off antibiotics for at least 14 days before being sold.

I made a bunch of phone calls trying to obtain the same some years ago. I asked if one piglet could abstain from the shots, then I would pay for it whether it survived or not. The farmer was not willing to risk other piglets from getting ill for my one-of.

I have a tickle of a memory that the piglets had to be a certain weight before they could offered for human consumption after this shot. The smallest I can find is around 25 pounds.

What is the weight of these pigs after 14 days?

Thanks!

Regards,
CAthy2

I grew up on a farm, and I know a lot of the farmers that sell at the Evanston market, and I know when they are trying to pull a fast one. There are some growers that got kicked out of the Evanston market because they found out they were selling California produce, and calling it homegrown. There is somebody that comes from Michigan who brings peaches to the market. Every week he has peaches for sale, the sign says they are Red Haven. One week they were the only ones that had peaches when I got there. I asked what peaches they were, and the guy said Red Haven. I said no way could they be Red Haven. The farmer then came over, and I told him who I was, and he told me that they were my sister's Fayette's. There is somebody that comes from the same town I do, and she sells blueberries, but she lets people know that she did not grow them, and mentions the name of the grower. Everything else she sells though, she grows herself.

Ordered our Turkey from Irv & Shelly’s again. Not cheap, but we only need a small turkey and have been very happy with our previous turkeys from them.

Slagel Family Farms || Raised on Certified Organic Pasture, Non GMO Feed, Antibiotic and Hormone free || $6.99/lb.

Meijer has frozen turkey for 55¢/lb until 11/26.

Has anybody tried Popeye's Cajun Turkey? Any comments?

Amazon Fresh stores have frozen Butterball turkeys for 49¢/lb.

Amazon Fresh Store is notorious for running out of stuff. Don't make a special trip there just to get the Butterball. Jewel is going to have butterball on sale for $.99 a pound starting Wednesday.

Starting tomorrow @ Mariano's:
Butterball = $.88/lb
Jennie-O = $.58/lb
Both require a separate $25 purchase.

Jewel also has:
Jennie-O = $.59/lb with a $25 purchase.
Butterball = $.99/lb no additional purchase required.

I think I'm going to buy a couple of turkey not for roasting, but to grind for things like chili and lettuce wraps. Ground turkey is usually $3-5/lb so this seems economical. I can roast the bones and make a stock from them.

Dave148 wrote:Starting tomorrow @ Mariano's:
Butterball = $.88/lb
Jennie-O = $.58/lb
Both require a separate $25 purchase.

Jewel also has:
Jennie-O = $.59/lb with a $25 purchase.
Butterball = $.99/lb no additional purchase required.

At least via Jewel, you could buy up to $25 including the bird without any price penalty.

When you shop for Thanksgiving, it is quite easy to spend at least $25 in addition to the bird.

Regards,
CAthy2

Jim-Bob wrote:I think I'm going to buy a couple of turkey not for roasting, but to grind for things like chili and lettuce wraps. Ground turkey is usually $3-5/lb so this seems economical. I can roast the bones and make a stock from them.

Let me know how the yield turns out vs the price vs time / effort spent processing. In previous years $1.99/lb was not uncommon for those name brand 1 lb ground turkey pkgs. Whole Foods was usually in the 3.99-4.99/lb at their butcher counter, iirc. I'd bet a great knife and food proc wouldn't be too bad, but those tendony things in the legs would probably tick me off when the meat is raw.

Discussion on Chinese BBQ Turkey from Sun Wah on the restaurant forum.

I got so inspired, I placed my order and will drop off a frozen turkey on Saturday.

Regards,
Cathy2

seebee wrote:

Jim-Bob wrote:I think I'm going to buy a couple of turkey not for roasting, but to grind for things like chili and lettuce wraps. Ground turkey is usually $3-5/lb so this seems economical. I can roast the bones and make a stock from them.

Let me know how the yield turns out vs the price vs time / effort spent processing. In previous years $1.99/lb was not uncommon for those name brand 1 lb ground turkey pkgs. Whole Foods was usually in the 3.99-4.99/lb at their butcher counter, iirc. I'd bet a great knife and food proc wouldn't be too bad, but those tendony things in the legs would probably tick me off when the meat is raw.

I’ll let you know. I’m not planning to get every scrap of meat off the bone. I’ll leave enough to get some flavor for the stock.

NFriday wrote:I was at Whole Foods tonight, and they have frozen turkey for $1.49 a pound, and frozen organic turkey for $2.49 a pound.

What sort of turkey? Is either just turkey with no non-turkey ingredients (other than water)?
I checked Shop-n-Save today, they do have the Hayter Farms halal non-basted frozen turkeys from Ontario @ $2.99/lb. If I can find a Hoka in the northern suburbs for under $4/lb, I may do that. Had a free one a few years back, it's a very good bird. Otherwise it's Hayter, depending on Nancy's reply.

I bought a smoked turkey breast at Whole Foods last year for Christmas and it was excellent, but it was not cheap, but one of my sisters emailed me a gift certificate that I could spend on what ever. I also bought some mashed potatoes there, and some dressing, and every body at the Christmas dinner I attended loved everything. My sister originally was going to order some Christmas dinners from the downtown Evanston store for me, but somebody screwed up, and I found out that I would have had to pick them up at one of the New Orleans stores.

Hopefully there is somebody else here that has ordered a whole turkey from Whole Foods. The turkey breast I got was already cooked. There whole turkey is GMO free, and is free range, and I assume does not have a lot of solution with a lot of crap. Somebody else here that has bought a whole frozen turkey from Whole Foods might be able to supply more information. The price I quoted is only for people that have Prime. If you do not have Prime, the price is $.50 a pound higher.

NFriday wrote:...a lot of solution with a lot of crap.

Well put!

I have decided to order takeout from Crosby's Kitchen.
I have a turkey headress (dating from 1988) which is sufficiently warm that I can wear it instead of a typical ski cap, which can be glimpsed when I am out-&-about these next months.

After reading the HoKa website and its rather pithy commentary, I ordered a HoKa from Butera @ 3.59/lb. Joked with the clerk about whether it is 7 times better than their .49 JennieO. She said that she has the same customers order HoKa every year, so she guessed they found it worthy.

Next decision is, given that the bird won't be presented whole at table, to dissect or roast whole.

When not roasting the whole bird, I remove the skin keeping the skin one piece as much as possible, Remove the leg/thigh’s , wings, filet each breast, and then bone out the ‘oysters’ and as much meat as possible from the remaining carcass. I then butterfly one breast and then pound flat. This piece is used for a stuffed boneless Roast with the skin. Each leg/thigh will feed at least three people for a meal. The remaining breast can be cut up as wanted.
Trim is used for stir fry.
Wing tips and carcass for stock.
Pope’s Nose, neck and giblets as wanted.
richard

Hoka is $3.59 lb at Fresh Farms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPWEMZwxKjo

Jacque Pepin cooks turkey. What was new to me: cutting the tip off the leg. As it cooks, then sinews (tendons?) are exposed. When they pull out relatively easy (he used pliers, so I guess ease is relative), the turkey is done.

Interesting. With a very simple preparation (trim, salt, oil, roast (no rack, foil, trussing, etc), turn once) Pepin got nice tender leg and thigh meat accompanied by moist but very sliceable breast meat. That's what comes of being a pro.

Also a different take on gravy with diced veg incorporated plus thickening before deglazing rather than after.

The price of turkey was not as bad as people had feared it would be. You could not get a free turkey this year, but if you were not fussy about your turkey, you could get a JennyO frozen turkey for $.59 a pound, and a Butterball for $.99 a pound. On Wednesday, I ended up going to Food4Less, Jewel, Whole Foods and Mariano's, and they all had plenty of turkey left. Mariano's was the only one that had turkey drumsticks though, and they were $2.89 a pound. I know anybody that wanted to buy heritage turkey had to pay a lot more than $.99 a pound.

I wonder if all the grocers (Sunset, Fresh Farms, Butera, Pete's, etc etc) who sold HoKa turkeys via orders will have an alternative? It must have been a fairly profitable venture for them, minimal work (at Butera just writing the orders in a notebook and stacking the turkey boxes in the back cooler), and no inventory risk. Looking for a relatively low effort good turkey at sub-$4.50/lb pricing. Could be a big ask.

tjr wrote:I wonder if all the grocers (Sunset, Fresh Farms, Butera, Pete's, etc etc) who sold HoKa turkeys via orders will have an alternative? It must have been a fairly profitable venture for them, minimal work (at Butera just writing the orders in a notebook and stacking the turkey boxes in the back cooler), and no inventory risk. Looking for a relatively low effort good turkey at sub-$4.50/lb pricing. Could be a big ask.

I’ve gotten my T-day HoKa bird at Strack’s here in Valpo the past couple of years. Called last week and was told it’s Butterball and Honeysuckle White (another commercial brand). No HoKa-level option. Quite a bummer. Placed an order for a bird from Joseph’s this morning (thanks for the heads up from GWiv). Bit of a hike but I’ll get some steaks to make it worry the trip

I wonder if anyone has an opinion of Butterball vs Popeye's frozen smoked turkey based on experience with both.

From Greenberg, Texas

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