I'll kick off my column, a week before Thanksgiving, with a surprising and rather sad fact: Though they are birds, turkeys can't fly.
They used to, but decades of large-scale food production, along with breeding to achieve a big-breasted bird (pleasing our insatiable appetite for white meat), has driven the turkey of the Pilgrims to the verge of extinction.
We, as consumers, have created a monster. And turkey factories have a name for it: "Broadbreasted White," a.k.a. the common supermarket turkey. This monster turkey with huge breast is the most popular variety in supermarkets and other food stores. During their short existence, the turkeys don't fly (wings are too small), they don't run (legs are too short) and they don't lay eggs either. They can't mate naturally because of their size and are bred through artificial insemination.
In other words, they don't act the way turkeys are supposed to act. They are Thanksgiving freaks, and would serve Halloween better. Somehow, I suspect I'll have a hard time regaining your enthusiasm after you know this.
On a brighter note, "heritage turkeys" are being reintroduced to the commercial market by some 30 farmers across America.
What's a heritage turkey taste like? Ask anyone old enough to remember eating turkey 50 years ago. Listen in awe. Watch the tears glisten in his eyes. That's the heritage turkey they're talking about. Raised outdoors, they have richly flavored meat, succulent and juicy, and are naturally well-proportioned, with more dark than white. They descend directly from the wild turkey, native to America and still present around Tampa Bay, in Pasco and Manatee counties, for example. Fifty years ago, Thanksgiving turkeys across America were served moist and tender, by nature more than by design. What a concept.
Since then, cooks have tried everything to have their guests ask for a second serving, hence the crazy amounts of leftovers we end up with each year. We try to find answers in cooking gadgets and culinary tales. The truth is, there is almost no way to avoid the dry breast, since the breast and leg meat of a whole turkey are perfectly done at different temperatures (170 degrees for breast, 180 for legs). The answer remains simply in the quality of the bird.
Among the farms that raise the rare breeds the appellation heritage actually regroups breeds such as the Narragansett, Bourbon Red, Jersey Buff and Standard Bronze, none are in Florida and it's too late to place an order this year anyway. On the Web, Dean and Deluca (www.deananddeluca.com) and the food lovers at D'Artagnan (www.dartagnan.com) might have some heritage turkeys left. Price is $4 to $8 a pound, about six times more than the supermarket turkey. But considering that turkey meat is not too pricey, I would recommend a trial another year.
This year, unfortunately, you won't find heritage turkeys here around the Tampa Bay area, but I encourage you to ask your butcher or favorite food store to carry them next year. There aren't many purely organic turkeys available from local retailers, either.
Here is a list of some local stores that carry the next best thing to organic turkeys: free range, antibiotic-free birds.
They are available in Pinellas County at Heritage Meat Market name is a coincidence, Nature's Food Patch, Jim's Meat Market, Mazzaro's Italian Market, Surf and Turf and the Fresh Market Clearwater. Tampa residents can find their Thanksgiving goodies at Fresh Market Tampa, Williams-Sonoma (by catalog order only or www.williams-sonoma.com) and Cacciatore Market. Morton's Market in Sarasota also carries them.
-- Morton's Market, 1924 S Osprey Ave., Sarasota; (941) 955-9856.
-- Williams-Sonoma, by catalog or online only, toll-free 1-877-812-6235 or www.williams-sonoma.com
Some 50-million turkeys, mostly Broadbreasted White, are eaten each year for Thanksgiving. Clearly, the demand needs such a convenient animal. Rapidly raised and easily processed, the common turkey is a necessary evil. I invite you to a more satisfying experience by choosing rare breeds of turkeys. As Benjamin Franklin said: "I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country! The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America."
-- Chef Gui Alinat welcomes questions about cooking and will respond to those of general interest in future columns. Sorry, He can't take phone calls or answer individual requests. Send questions to him in care of Taste, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail him at chefgui@chefgui.com Please include your name and city of residence.
