Fresh Turkey vs Frozen


 
J

jfortson

TVWBB Fan
Just a topic for conversation - which is actually fresher? A frozen turkey is sealed and frozen quickly as part of the processing, so from that standpoint, it is fresh. A supposedly fresh turkey is not frozen and when you buy it, you do not know how long it has been since processing. It has to be at least several days when you factor in transportation and time in the retail store.

Another thing and the reason I said "supposedly" fresh. When I was in high school many years ago, I had a friend who worked for a very recognizable grocery chain. His job at Thanksgiving and Christmas was to take frozen turkeys out of their sealed packages and immerse them in water to thaw them out to be sold as fresh turkeys. I do not know if this practice still goes on, but it did at one time.

I buy frozen turkeys myself.
 
I think part of the answer depends on how you plan to cook it. When I'm doing the cooking, I buy fresh because I'm brining. Not that you can't brine a previously frozen bird (they usually have a 'solution' in them already though), but I like to start with a blank canvas.

Like anything, there are trade offs, and you just need to go with what works best in your situation. As you said, no right or wrong answer.

Interesting comment about thawing the turkeys and selling them as fresh. I wonder if that's even legal. :confused:
 
Jim, Jim's link had a post that the USDA requires fresh to be fresh. The "thawing" I referred to was in the early 60's and probably was not illegal then, or at least not enforced.
 
You can cook a frozen bird. No need to thaw it unless you plan to stuff it (need to remove bag of giblets though - part way through the cooking). I am going to avoid that whole fresh/frozen thing. :)
 
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