What's So Great About Turkey?

"Luc - The Acadian Oppo" (luc5) 11/27/2015 at 11:02 • Filed to: None

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I’m a purebred Canadian and I grew up eating turkey every Thanksgiving and Christmas and I literally do not see what the big fuss is about.

Mashed potatoes, gravy, and a bird that taste just like chicken but it’s dryer?

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Ever since I’ve been out of the house we’ve been doing the holidays a little bit different. Instead of having what is considered “the norm” we will make the stuff we absolutely LOVE but we normally wouldn’t make on an everyday basis.

Last year we made a great beer marinated ham and a killer lasagna with all these fancy cheeses and stuff. It was probably a $40 lasagna which is something that we would normally make that fancy.

The year before that we ordered a bunch of Chinese Food. (and yes including the marinated duck)

I’m actually looking for more of these very special meals rather than the good old fashioned meat and potatoes.

Does anyone else here normally think outside the box when it comes to holiday meals?

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 11:12

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Turkey at Thanksgiving is fine to me...we do turkey maybe one more time a year, and twice a year is about as much turkey as I’m interested in. That said my mom cooked a hell of a turkey yesterday, probably the least dry turkey I've ever had.

We always do ham on Easter, and I'd rather have turkey a million times out of a million. Ham is an okay sandwich, doesn't work for me as a dinner.

Svend > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 11:19

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I think it’s purely traditional. Most people don’t eat turkey the rest of the year.

You’ve got the right idea. Rather than sticking with traditional items that aren’t all that appealing you’ve gone for something you really enjoy but don’t have that often.

davedave1111 > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 11:22

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Turkey’s not just dry chicken. It’s dry chicken with a slightly funny taste.

Round here it’s traditional to have roasted peacock on Christmas.

OK, no, I made that up, but wouldn’t it be awesome?

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 11:23

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This. Yesterday I did everything but turkey. 12 oz of applewood smoked bacon. I just hate turkey.

davedave1111 > Svend 11/27/2015 at 11:23

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Does anyone not do that, though?

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 11/27/2015 at 11:27

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I don’t hate turkey but I definitely do not love it.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 11:28

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It's easily my least favorite meat. I'd rather have Bologna

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 11:30

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Yes, ham is where it’s at! I hate how dry turkey is, so ham fits the bill perfectly!

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches 11/27/2015 at 11:31

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Given a choice I’d eat bologna over turkey as well. Bologna is awesome!

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 11/27/2015 at 11:35

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Ah! a fellow ham bretheren. I shall salute you with the highest of fives!

Brickman > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 11:40

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I had a huge butterball turkey. It was free from work :) I let my mom fix it because I am not prepping or touching a raw animal that still looks like what it used to be... its disgusting. I prefer a chunk of ham or those deboned turkeys you just stick in the oven.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 11:40

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The highest of fives?!

I’ll take it!

Cé hé sin > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 11:53

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If you’re an Armenian, there’s absolutely nothing great about Turkey.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 12:19

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I'm with you. I have a standing suggestion to use chicken instead. Almost the same (but better) taste and it doesn't feel like you're chewing a boot, plus fewer leftovers.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 12:35

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For years my family’s traditional thanksgiving dinner was Indian food, as in from India. It wasn’t an intentional play on the meaning of thanksgiving or anything like that, but the only restaurant that was open that night.

My stepdad’s aunt and uncle, being the good Catholics that they are, had 9 kids. And those kids had kids, as have their kids. It’s a big group, to say the least. Because of this, tradition dictates that you spend Thursday with one side of your family and then Friday with this huge clan. When my folks were holding the Friday party we decided to do only one turkey dinner, so we’d go out to the Indian joint on thanksgiving proper. Odd, yes, but it worked for us.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 11/27/2015 at 12:40

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That’s what I’m talking about. Make you own tradition rather than what society tells you you should have.

Svend > davedave1111 11/27/2015 at 12:42

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Not do what?

NeedForSwede > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 12:56

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If your turkey’s dry, you didn’t cook it right. Probably those weird Canadian ovens you have up there.

Birddog > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 13:10

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Hey! We did a Lasagne yesterday too. Last year we did a German menu and the year before it was traditional Polish.

We usually have a small Turkey for traditionalists too though. Some people in the family don’t like change.

Mattbob > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/27/2015 at 13:16

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you are doing it right. Turkey is a shitty tradition, and should be ended. Turkey is my least favorite part of thanksgiving. As far as I am concerned it is a vessel for cooking stuffing. Day after turkey sandwiches are pretty good though.

KirkyV > Svend 11/27/2015 at 13:20

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Yeah. I enjoy a nice roast turkey at Christmas, and the turkey soup my Grandma makes for boxing day lunch is to die for, but it’s not something I’d go out of my way to eat any other time of year. I like pretty much every common roast meat, but turkey’s probably at the very bottom of the list.

davedave1111 > Svend 11/27/2015 at 13:23

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Not do “Rather than sticking with traditional items that aren’t all that appealing you’ve gone for something you really enjoy”.

Are there really people out there who make turkey even though no-one eating the meal likes it?

Svend > KirkyV 11/27/2015 at 13:29

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The turkey is okay for me (I cook each christmas, I can hide in the kitchen all day knocking back the Guinness and the whiskey (or both at the same time), away from the family). It’s the having to make Brussel sprouts with walnuts and bacon ‘because it’s tradition’ (even though it’s only mother who likes them) and the sage, onion and cranberry stuffing, again ‘because it’s tradition’ (again even though it’s only mother who likes it) but each year she insists be all eat them, you guessed it ‘because it’s tradition’.

But I make up for it with honey roast parsnips, carrot and swede mash, roast potatoes done like a dream, turkey gravy with a hint of cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, ‘pigs in blankets’, Cumberland wheels and of course the moist turkey wrapped in streaky bacon.

Svend > davedave1111 11/27/2015 at 13:35

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My mother insists on turkey or goose, though some of us are okay with it we’d rather have something ‘nicer’, my step-father and grand father don’t like turkey.

Even though I’m the one cooking and get to do what I want to do with it, I’ve learned one thing, never piss off your mother when she pulls the ‘tradition card’, especially during the festive period.

Dru > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 11/30/2015 at 16:33

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I swear by a wet-brine with turkey. I read several pieces this year about dry brine, believed the hype, and was disappointed.

Christmas this year I'm doing a wet brine AND deep fried. I expect that bird to fall off the bone.