Charter Member
Da bird is underway
Twenty pound Butterball (@0.99/lb)---stuffed with orange and lemon zest, quartered oranges (2), lemons (2), one apple, 6 shallots, two sprigs of fresh rosemary and sage, salt and fresh ground pepper. The outside has been generously coated with a mixture of butter, rosemary, onion powder, and garlic powder.
It should be done about 3:30 to 4:00 (I have a remote read probe in the thigh). I will then let it rest for thirty minutes, take out all the "stuffing" and throw the turkey away
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Charter Member
All went well, but I am not sure that all the citrus fruit made any noticeable contribution to the turkey. I think that in the future I will just eat the fruit
What did go very well was the skinThe butter mixture I used was very favorable and added greatly to both the crispiness and the savory flavor. No question, that will be back again
As a suggestion to the turkey breeders----a turkey that was predominantly skin and less white meat would be high on my list
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Registered Member
White meat - that's the problem with turkeys. My stray cats wouldn't even eat scraps last night!
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke
Charter Member
I often think that God had this figured out----wild turkeys are all dark meat---no white meat. Then the marketing people got into the actOriginally Posted by Mike
As a kid, we raised Bronze turkeys. We bought 5,000 chicks each spring and started them in the brooder house where we started chickens. When they were big enough to go outside they went to an enclosed range pen until they were market size.
Unlike today's white turkeys the could both fly and reproduce (white turkeys struggle to walk and can't fly or reproduce naturally).
We had to clip their wings to keep them from flying out of the range enclosure----but always a few managed to escape that alteration
They were smart birds. My Father was the primary feeder and they all knew him. The ones that could get out would go looking for him---and knew where to look
Before peach season, when my Father would begin hauling peaches into NYC he had a set routine. We would milk from 5:00 AM to 7:30, then go in for breakfast. Once done breakfast my Father would take his morning constitutional. We had one bathroom (I can remember when there were none!) which was on the second floor. Just below that window was a porch roof that ran the full side of the house. The turkeys would come looking for him and once found would gather around the window and peck on the glass
Once peach season began my Father would leave in the afternoon and often did not get back until after daylight. At the end of our road was a small barn that had burned down and only the stone walls remained. The turkeys would go down there and sit on the walls until the truck went past----and then tried to race home to make sure they got fed immediately
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Charter Member
We've got some huge turkey farms in central Utah. I ran into one of the guys who raised them. He told me turkeys aren't very bright. I don't know if it's true or not - but he claimed he lost dozens of turkeys one year when a rainstorm drowned them simply because they stared upwards with their mouths open. It sounded like an Urban Legend to me.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
Charter Member
Me thinks he prides himself in "educating" the city folk
BTW----I have never heard anyone who hunts wild turkey say anything to disparage the intelligence of their quarry
Snopes didn't buy it either.
Last edited by Dave Grubb; 11-24-2023 at 04:40 PM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Charter Member
That's a fascinating Snopes link, Dave.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
Charter Member
I agree, they outdid themselves on that one.
I will add that while our turkeys were generations removed from this current breed they did have one trait mentioned in that article---they would stampede.
Coyotes and/or wild dogs on a few occasions caused a stampede and since they had their wing feathers clipped they ran---right into the woven wire fence around their range. It normally would knock the fence down, but at least once a few were killed.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
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