What turkey?


 
When we lived in the Sierra Foothills, we always got ours from the Diestel Turkey Ranch. Really nice natural birds. Since we moved here and I started doing most of the cooking, I just buy whatever's on sale. Usually frozen Jenny-O or Butterball. I'm always able to turn out a juicy and flavorful bird, whether spinning it on the roti or roasting in the pellet pooper. Like a lot of other foods, as long as you start with a product of reasonable quality. the end result depends more on the cook than anything else.

I Know I'll get some pushback from purists that insist on fresh,100% natural birds. That's all well & fine but, in the end, the proof is in the pudding.
 
I used to be seriously addicted to 20+ size birds but, I’ve since decided I like12# birds better, they just cook faster (obviously) but, for a really big feast, I’d probably still go all in for the largest critter I could find! The ten of us just don’t like turkey enough anymore. This year will be a whole breast and maybe a leg of lamb?
 
I'm just gonna chime in here with another thought.... Frying or rotisserie is the only way I'll prepare whole bird. Smoking, roasting, grilling, baking..... at least spatchcocked, or quartered, bones to the heat. Cooks in less than half the time, arrange the pieces so the dark meat gets most of the heat. The only thing I give up is the Norman Rockwell presentation.
 
Smoking, roasting, grilling, baking..... at least spatchcocked, or quartered, bones to the heat. Cooks in less than half the time, arrange the pieces so the dark meat gets most of the heat. The only thing I give up is the Norman Rockwell presentation.

Totally agree. Separating the light from the dark makes everything so much easier. You can use two different pans/racks, cook times, temperatures, etc. Also easier to fit and handle two smaller projects than one big one. Easier to carve the separated pieces.

After trying pretty much everything, I've finally landed on literally the simplest possible method. Two bone in turkey breasts. Frozen and store bought. No artisanal turkeys, no brining.

Just slather with mayo (thanks Thomas Keller!!) and roast. Usually on the gas grill to save space in the kitchen oven for the sides.
 
Our last Thanksgiving in the rental, our old house will be ready in the summer.

We always go to our families house for Thanksgiving, but due to some travel plans they have we get to stay home. We are all pretty excited.
Smoking a large breast Texas style and going to make all the sides. I’ll pick up the breast from our butcher this week. They aren’t cheap but they are really good.
Should be a fun one.

Enjoy.
 
This year will probably be a boneless Perdue, to stick with a Maryland brand. Usually I have better luck in the woods, but not this year. It's more work going to the woods to find one, then cleaning. But it's so worth it!
 
When we used to feed more people I experimented with different frozen birds and fresh birds. It didn't seem to make a difference to people. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I did learn after deep frying one bird and grilling one bird and serving them at the same time that people preferred the grilled birds. I tried this several times. Brining helped to keep the bird moist. A favorite was a grilled bird where the body cavity was stuffed with a cube of butter and a good breakfast sausage. Then a cube of butter was put in the neck opening and the skin flap pinned down to retain the butter. The bird was rubbed with SPOG and cooked breast down on the grill with pecan smoke wood. Another favorite was injected with Tony Chachere's Cajun injection, rubbed with SPG and grilled in the same manner. I never went back to oil frying.
 
Holy turkey! Butcher brought me out a 5 pound breast and when he said $56 I almost said no thanks. I don’t even know what kind of turkey it is, but damn!!
 
I buy Trader Joe's fresh turkeys, three different ones and they are all good. I just found out about Diestel turkeys raised kind of locally but sticker shock! :ROFLMAO:
 
I always catch the Publix store brand when they go on sale and I've never had any complaints after smoking it on the Weber.
 
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