hey, inst a roasted turkey standard Holiday food?

[vash]

i missed the bird shopping.

i need a bird for Christmas since my wife dropped the nugget that we are hosting family-less people at our house. Trader Joes, Safeway, COSTCO..everyone gives me a dumb blank stare when i ask them "hey, where are the butterballs?" no one has one.

there were pallets of frozen turkey just several weeks ago.

and if you ever need to call a grocery store and "hit 2 for the meat department" dont..nobody will answer..ever.

i'm strangely not in the mood for a standing rib roast.

[scottmandue]

My brother usually cooks and is a huge costco fan, we usually have.
Turkey (duh)
Prime rib
Ham
BBQ Ribs

I have a Japanese friend and get invited over for New Years Eve feast... that would be a switch for the traditional! (I love Japanese food)

[wdfifteen]

I don't buy meat at the supermarket any more. Call your local butcher shop, tell them what you want and when you want to pick it up. I just ordered an 8 pound pork butt for holiday sausage making. Easy peasy and I know it's good and fresh.

[Geary]

Butterball brand is the only one I'll use for our Kalua turkey. I've tried other brands a number of times, but they don't quite deliver the flavor of a Hawaiian imu.

[Oh Haha]

I got our ButterBall at ALDI for Thanksgiving. I believe it was .99 per pound.

[vash]

i kinda dedicated the weekend to getting groceries and this includes a turkey.

i went to Lucky's..and bunch of Safeways, and i found ONE. i had it in my hot little hands, reading about how it is injected with salt water. some old lady was eyeballing it and she told me she cant find one. i put it into her cart. old trumps me anyday.

i ended up going to a real farm and got hosed buying a real bird. . i got an 11 lb turkey.

[Evans, Marv]

Try brining your turkey. Makes it more juicy & tasty.

[vash]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Try brining your turkey. Makes it more juicy & tasty.

i used to do that all the time. not anymore. i am a pre-salter now. salt it everywhere, wrap it tight with plastic.

i think the texture is better.

this year, i think i am doing Pavo Salvadorean. a braised turkey.

[jyl]

Spatchcock it.

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by jyl

Spatchcock it.

That sounds dirty, John.

[Danimal16]

Diestel Fresh. Pricy but worth it.

[TheMentat]

I'm tempted to try a goose this year... anybody tried it?

That kalua bird looks amazing!

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by TheMentat

I'm tempted to try a goose this year... anybody tried it?

That kalua bird looks amazing!

I've had both goose and duckling as an alternative to turkey. If you are a dark meat fan..both are excellent.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by TheMentat

I'm tempted to try a goose this year... anybody tried it?

We did a goose this thanksgiving. I'm inexperienced with non chicken/turkey domestic birds and was surprised at how little meat there was. What was there was very good - we're dark meat fans in the house.

We gave it a quick par-boil to render off some fat per the seriouseats website. I also did their baking powder trick on the skin and it was awesomely crisp.

Would do again. It was expensive compared to the bottom-shelf inorganic turkeys. Probably equal to fancier birds though. I think we were at US$6/lb.

Maybe a capon next year?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by TheMentat

I'm tempted to try a goose this year... anybody tried it?

That kalua bird looks amazing!

In the past few years, we have had duck and goose twice. Duck was good, but the goose was much better. It's kind of a pain, but good, and you get a ton of rendered fat to use in everything throughout the year.

You boil some water, then submerge the goose for a minute or two. Of course, we don't have a pot big enough for a whole goose, so you get some really good gloves, and hold half of the goose in the boiling water, then flip the goose around and hold the other half. You do that a couple of days before you cook the bird, then you let the bird sit and dry out in your refrigerator for a day or two. Then you need a roaster with a V-rack to hold the goose up out of the drippings because there are an enormous amount of drippings (which is good).

The meat is really good and not dry. It's also very expensive. I think our last goose was $107, and was smaller than your average turkey.