topic Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters in Kitchen

Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

Constance2 — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 17:56:54 GMT

This year I plan to buy a 10-12 lb. Butterball turkey, because they seem to be the best of all frozen turkeys I've purchased through the years. Last year I purchased a Jenni-O turkey from Aldi's and it was horrible--the worst I've ever had. The thermometer never registered the proper temp, even after hours of baking in the oven. Thought it would never get done. Never had such a problem before. It may have just been an old turkey. I read somewhere that most frozen turkeys have been stored in freezers for three or more years.

What brand do you select for your holiday dinner? Have you had any turkey disasters that you'd care to share with us?

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

Nightowlz — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:13:57 GMT

I always buy Butterball turkey breasts. If it's not available I buy Honeysuckle. I don't buy Jenni-O turkeys. Yuck. My sister bought those one year & compalined they were no good. She said that's what I told her to buy. No way that happened. She also bought a fresh ham one year when she was suppose to pick up a Cook's brand bone in butt ham. We wanted ham & turkey not pork & turkey. Dad said the fresh ham would taste like ham. LOL!!! I said no it won't it will taste like pork. Never had a turkey disaster. Now my MIL has lots of turkey disasters. Her turkey is almost always dry. It's so dry I have to drink water with each bite to keep from choking. We always cook it on the grill indirect cook method, the electric smoker or in the nesco.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

151949 — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:17:22 GMT

I always purchased a fresh Amish turkey direct from gthe farmer until we moved to Florida, now I buy a turkey breast only and get it from our butcher shop.Fresh not frozen. Since we have no one who likes dark meat it seems a waste of money to buy a whole bird - the breast is all white meat.

I cook my tiurkey breast on our Ron Popiel Rottiesserie - it comes out fabulous - crispy on the outside and moist inside.

I make sausage stuffing and put it in the crockpot for 4 hours.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

deepwaterdotter — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:36:09 GMT

I order a fresh turkey from our local butcher. A little higher-priced than a grocery-store frozen bird, but it tastes better.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

PINKdogWOOD — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:45:54 GMT

So excited - yesterday I ordered my fresh turkey from one of our great local family-owned gourmet market. We've been doing for about 4 years now. They're range-free, no hormones, additives, this, that NOR the other - you know what I'm talking about.

These turkeys are unbelieveable, no kidding, so tender and flavorful and they take no time to roast either.

We've been reading through recipe mags that we get talking about a lot of things to have at our table. It's just the two of us but we love to do this meal, so enjoy enjoyable and DE'LISH!!!

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

Nightowlz — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:50:54 GMT

@PINKdogWOOD wrote:
So excited - yesterday I ordered my fresh turkey from one of our great local family-owned gourmet market. We've been doing for about 4 years now. They're range-free, no hormones, additives, this, that NOR the other - you know what I'm talking about.

These turkeys are unbelieveable, no kidding, so tender and flavorful and they take no time to roast either.

We've been reading through recipe mags that we get talking about a lot of things to have at our table. It's just the two of us but we love to do this meal, so enjoy enjoyable and DE'LISH!!!

We have some local farmers with some yummy turkey. They are 14-16 lb for $65. I'm going to get one for Christmas. Our heritage Bourbon Reds and Bronze turkeys are beautiful to look at and delicious to eat.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

151949 — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:52:04 GMT

I don't get what is with my DH - i keep saying we have to go order our turkey breast at the butcher and he keeps saying it is too early to order one. HUH? It is only 2 weeks away. This has always been his favorite holiday but this year he is just blah. We were thinking of going out but changed our minds about that.I really don't knopw what we are doing at this point.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

ID2 — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:55:13 GMT

The last time I bought a Butterball turkey was years ago....never again! It was horrible. I now live in a rural area where turkeys are being sold everywhere. No more store bought turkeys for me.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

brewhaha — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:59:19 GMT

A lot of my cooking ends up being a turkey.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

Meowingkitty — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 19:01:50 GMT

Norbest. Pop up timer makes it easy.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

denisemb — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 19:11:49 GMT

@151949 wrote:
I always purchased a fresh Amish turkey direct from gthe farmer until we moved to Florida, now I buy a turkey breast only and get it from our butcher shop.Fresh not frozen. Since we have no one who likes dark meat it seems a waste of money to buy a whole bird - the breast is all white meat.
I cook my tiurkey breast on our Ron Popiel Rottiesserie - it comes out fabulous - crispy on the outside and moist inside.
I make sausage stuffing and put it in the crockpot for 4 hours.

We do, too. Usually just buy a Publix brand and they come out great on the "set it and forget it!". Every year I'm tempted to buy a turkey fryer, but why fix what isn't broken?

I'd love to have a nearby farm or butcher, but our closest meat market in town is called Quality Discount Meats, LOL. Went once and saw they were selling chicken feet...

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

LTT1 — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 19:58:58 GMT

Remember the "New Girl" episode when they set the place on fire trying to defrost the turkey in the clothes dryer! LOL

My recipe for turkey (from my mom and Helen Corbitt's cook book) always causes a wonderful turkey to occur, no matter what brand.

I will be happy to post it if anyone wants it.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

sunshine45 — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 20:16:42 GMT

never really had any thanksgiving disasters other than my father being called into the emergency room just as we were getting ready to serve dinner. we almost always buy a butterball turkey around 18-20 pounds and they are delicious. every part of the bird gets used....sandwiches, soup, pulled turkey.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

LTT1 — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 20:22:07 GMT

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

chickenbutt — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 21:28:39 GMT

I order fresh from a west coast grocery chain that I like a lot because they tend to have great products. I'd rather pay more for quality and fresh products so I pay more to shop there and that's ok.

My only turkey disaster - I guess it really wasn't a disaster at all but, very early on, I didn't realize there were guts in both ends so it was half cooked before I found out there was a bag of stuff that needed to come out of one end. oops! *color me embarrassed*

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

hummermom — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 22:29:42 GMT

We've had a few turkey disasters over the years. One year, my brother dropped the 22-pound bird taking it out of the oven. The turkey skidded across the kitchen floor and broke up into pieces during its journey. What a mess! But we salvaged some of it.

One other time, the power went out during a Thanksgiving day storm. No electricity, so we had turkey and green beans and pie (no whipped cream). We'd decided to do Thanksgiving at my niece's house, which wasn't particularly well equipped with household items. Therefore, no barbeque, no mashed potatoes, and no gravy. And no heat!

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

GCR18 — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 00:04:32 GMT

Have always bought a butterball, no issues

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

candys mine — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 01:46:58 GMT

Marval is a good frozen bird when you can find them.. Shadybrook is good too. I like to do my own butter rub under the turkey skin so I don't need a Self-Basting bird. The worst turkey I ever had was a Perdue. Spongy and tasteless. As for disaster... how about the ovens self cleaning unit kicking in with the bird in the oven and about 20 relatives in the living room? Ah, Memories.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

Toppers — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 02:22:42 GMT

@Constance2 wrote:
This year I plan to buy a 10-12 lb. Butterball turkey, because they seem to be the best of all frozen turkeys I've purchased through the years. Last year I purchased a Jenni-O turkey from Aldi's and it was horrible--the worst I've ever had. The thermometer never registered the proper temp, even after hours of baking in the oven. Thought it would never get done. Never had such a problem before. It may have just been an old turkey. I read somewhere that most frozen turkeys have been stored in freezers for three or more years.

What brand do you select for your holiday dinner? Have you had any turkey disasters that you'd care to share with us?

I had one turkey disaster, and that was due to the thermostat on our old oven being off, where we were living at the time. I had the turkey in the oven for several hours, and it was still RAW!! A nice pale shade of pink on the outside!! It wasn't roasting properly, and we had a friend over to eat with us.

I said that I would not serve it to any of us, so into the trash it went, and we ended up going out to a really nice restaurant to eat, instead.

The next time that I made a turkey, it turned out perfectly. We are living where we currently live, and have a different oven.

I used the cooking info. off of the Butterball website, and used a meat thermometer too, to check cooking temps., and everything turned out fine.

The following year, I did the same thing, and the same results happened. I had also been buying smaller Butterball turkeys too, that weighed about 12 lbs. No problems. They were delicious. No dryness at all.

Now I either do a smaller turkey breast, or we do something else, like eat out or buy a prepared meal from one of our local supermarkets that makes those for the holidays, as I am not always up to cooking a large holiday meal anymore, due to my health.

Re: Favorite turkey brand and turkey disasters

sandraskates — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 04:41:09 GMT

The past couple of years we've purchased free-ranged, organic feed turkeys. I think one year the turkey was actually bought at Costco. I don't recall the brand.

Haven't had any disasters because I haven't cooked that many.

But I wanted to post to suggest that brining the turkey the night before it's cooked makes for a wonderful bird. I've purchased brining kits at Whole Foods but they are becoming available at most markets now as the technique is catching on.

I like the breast meat and would just purchase that part but it's more expensive than buying a whole turkey!