Last year we ordered a farm raised organic blah blah bird from a local farm we love - $120 bird and it was TERRIBLE. Just bland, gamey, fatty- ugh. It turned us off so much we are doing only a spiral ham this year. Just go Butterball, seriously.

Also don't buy it the 23 because it'll need 3-4 days to thaw depending on how big it is.

I haven't done Butterball since I learned about the turkey abuse 2-3 years ago I've done Maple Lawn ever since then and won't look back.

Trader Joes has a brindled free range bird. I have used that for 8 years now and it always come out great. As we all know, the turkey is an excuse to eat carb heavy side dishes!

We also cook the turkey in a bag. Cooks faster and stays moist with no basting. We use a Butterball and do not brine..delicious every year.

Anonymous wrote:brining is for amateur cooks who are intimidated by one of the easiest things to cook.
[b]
The reason people brine is to avoid dry breasts.

The simple solution is to lower the temperature of the breasts prior to cooking it and they will be at the proper temperature at the same time as the thigh.

But how does one lower the temperature of the breast? Simple, get two gallon size Ziploc bags filled with ice. As the turkey is sitting on the counter before placing in the over, place the bags on the boobies and let them sit for 30 minutes.
Get an instant read thermometer and you are all set.

OMG! This is hilarious. You sound exactly like my lactation consultant.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't suggest brining to a first-timer and most of the supermarket birds are already brined. You can absolutely waltz into a grocery store and buy a turkey. However, it will probably be frozen. I actually like the frozen birds but they take a long time to thaw out. At least a week in the fridge, and maybe 4+ days in a cooler. You do need to thaw it out because the giblits (organs) are stored inside of it in a paper bag and you won't be able to remove those until the bird is thawed out. Once you get those out, I like to roast my turkey in one of those oven roaster bags (they sell them near the plastic wrap and foil). Follow the directions that come with the roaster bag and you'll have a moist and tasty turkey.

Bleah. Just...bleah.

A fresh bird From a local farm will taste better. Brining is easy and can add lovely flavor (I do mine in cider). And a fresh bird that has been bribed cooks quickly. Way more quickly than the web estimates for roasting a bird will tell you.

But you CAN make a supermarket bird taste fine.

Roasting in plastic isn't quite the route I would suggest though. Not with so many great alternatives.

Anonymous wrote:If you live in Maryland, this is where we order our turkeys every year.

http://www.maplelawn.com/

Excellent resource. I moved away and miss them greatly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:brining is for amateur cooks who are intimidated by one of the easiest things to cook.

The reason people brine is to avoid dry breasts.

The simple solution is to lower the temperature of the breasts prior to cooking it and they will be at the proper temperature at the same time as the thigh.

But how does one lower the temperature of the breast? Simple, get two gallon size Ziploc bags filled with ice. As the turkey is sitting on the counter before placing in the over, place the bags on the boobies and let them sit for 30 minutes.
Get an instant read thermometer and you are all set.

Not true. My DH is a pretty famous local chef and restaurant owner and he brines. He's about as professional as it gets. He also cooks the bird breast side down. He cooks all of his whole birds upside down.

all he is doing is adding salt to his cook-maybe to push more drink sales...

You guys rock. Thanks for the tips.

I'm a competent cook. Roasted many a smaller bird. Never brined (I do cover the breast in bacon, tho). Was not planning to brine. Would love to buy a nice local bird from Polyface or the like, but $$$ is an issue.

YOU rock. Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Whatever you do, please do not buy a brined or flavor enhanced turkey at the store and then try to brine it. I think people do this and don't understand what went wrong as they slip into a salt coma.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't suggest brining to a first-timer and most of the supermarket birds are already brined. You can absolutely waltz into a grocery store and buy a turkey. However, it will probably be frozen. I actually like the frozen birds but they take a long time to thaw out. At least a week in the fridge, and maybe 4+ days in a cooler. You do need to thaw it out because the giblits (organs) are stored inside of it in a paper bag and you won't be able to remove those until the bird is thawed out. Once you get those out, I like to roast my turkey in one of those oven roaster bags (they sell them near the plastic wrap and foil). Follow the directions that come with the roaster bag and you'll have a moist and tasty turkey.

They'll also cost more, partially because of this. Many supermarket birds, particularly Butterball, are injected with saline (advertised as "brined"), which ups their poundage. You're actually getting less turkey (and more water) per pound this way.

Saline is salt water. Brine is salt water. The brine used for turkeys, whether it's injected by the processor or homemade, is flavored salt water. There is salt, water, and other flavors. I'll admit that the injected brine has a mysterious recipe but the flavor is great when the birds are cooked.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't suggest brining to a first-timer and most of the supermarket birds are already brined. You can absolutely waltz into a grocery store and buy a turkey. However, it will probably be frozen. I actually like the frozen birds but they take a long time to thaw out. At least a week in the fridge, and maybe 4+ days in a cooler. You do need to thaw it out because the giblits (organs) are stored inside of it in a paper bag and you won't be able to remove those until the bird is thawed out. Once you get those out, I like to roast my turkey in one of those oven roaster bags (they sell them near the plastic wrap and foil). Follow the directions that come with the roaster bag and you'll have a moist and tasty turkey.

They'll also cost more, partially because of this. Many supermarket birds, particularly Butterball, are injected with saline (advertised as "brined"), which ups their poundage. You're actually getting less turkey (and more water) per pound this way.

And it's still far cheaper than the organic free-range birds that you have to pre-order and then wait in line for. Yes the birds are injected with a brine solution. The end result is the same but you don't have to spend an entire extra day wrestling with a 20-pound raw turkey in a 5-gallon bucket.

Anonymous wrote:brining is for amateur cooks who are intimidated by one of the easiest things to cook.

The reason people brine is to avoid dry breasts.

The simple solution is to lower the temperature of the breasts prior to cooking it and they will be at the proper temperature at the same time as the thigh.

But how does one lower the temperature of the breast? Simple, get two gallon size Ziploc bags filled with ice. As the turkey is sitting on the counter before placing in the over, place the bags on the boobies and let them sit for 30 minutes.
Get an instant read thermometer and you are all set.

Not true. My DH is a pretty famous local chef and restaurant owner and he brines. He's about as professional as it gets. He also cooks the bird breast side down. He cooks all of his whole birds upside down.

Usually, Giant will give you a huge discount on a frozen turkey if you spend at least $50 in the same shopping trip. There's a turkey shortage due to the bird flu so I don't know if the same sale will happen this year. But if the sale happens, your turkey is nearly free when you do the rest of your T'giving shopping in the same trip. You'll want to buy it a few days early to let it thaw out.

When you go to thaw out the bird (whether in a cooler or the fridge), the plastic wrapping tends to leak like crazy as it melts so put the whole thing in an unused trash bag. In fact, double wrap it in two trash bags. I learned the hard way when I found out on Thanksgiving day that my crisper drawer was full of turkey blood. My mom was like, "Oh yeah, you have to put it in a trash bag."

Mom's has preorder.

http://www.momsorganicmarket.com/content/order-your-turkey-below