After conducting my fowl research I decided to order our Thanksgiving turkey from the Golden Fig on Grand in Saint Paul. What sold me is that it is: a.) local and b.) affordable. Some other specialty food stores are selling turkeys for $8.00+ a pound, and to be honest, as much as I love buying from a local farm I just can’t legitimize dropping more than $100 big ones on a turkey…
Golden Fig’s birds hail from Ottis Family Farm and runs for roughly $3.50 per pound. It sounds like the bird range will be 14-16 pounds this year, perfect size.
Now on to the next big decision; to brine or not to brine? That is the question.
Brine! I just read a really good article on Serious Eats that outlines the difference. http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/11/the-food-lab-turkey-brining-basics.html
Either way, enjoy the holiday!
I agree with Megan. Brine. It takes a bit more planning and time, but it was good…although, we find Frying our turkey the best. We don’t brine when we deep fry it, not sure if the brining process is needed to fry. A word of caution…the one draw back to brining, is that our gravy was too salty (we coudln’t even eat it and I didn’t even add salt to it.) So, to Brine or Not to brine might depend on how you’re going to make your gravy. If you use your turkey drippings, you might want to make a small bird without brine so that you can have normal gravy. Something to consider.
Don’t brine but cook on a charcoal grill. Excellent results!
I’m not doing turkey this year, ham instead, and I got mine (Fischer Farms) from Golden Fig as well. Great folks to work with.