Heritage Turkey

So, I was deleted a bunch of photos off my phone today and I stumbled across several food pics that I failed to ever blog about, one in particular - this bird. Well, for all you turkey lovers, here is what I did with mine. You. Are. Welcome.

Actually, let me start with what I had planned to do with my turkey. I wanted to brine my bird. I've never brined a turkey before and from what I have read, it's really the way to go. So I searched the Internet for a good brine and finally settled on one from The Pioneer Woman. (hmm...maybe if I reach my goal of 365 blog posts this year the Food Network will hire me too?!) But then we ordered a heritage bird, which is not like your typical butterball from your local grocery store - a heritage turkey is defined by the "historic, range-based production system in which they are raised. Turkeys must meet all of the following criteria to qualify as a Heritage turkey:

1. Naturally mating: the Heritage Turkey must be reproduced and genetically maintained through natural mating, with expected fertility rates of 70-80%.
2. Long productive lifespan: the Heritage Turkey must have a long productive lifespan. Breeding hens are commonly productive for 5-7 years and breeding toms for 3-5 years.

3. Slow growth rate: the Heritage Turkey must have a slow to moderate rate of growth. Today’s heritage turkeys reach a marketable weight in 26 – 28 weeks, giving the birds time to develop a strong skeletal structure and healthy organs prior to building muscle mass. This growth rate is identical to that of the commercial varieties of the first half of the 20^th century." (according to heritageturkeyfoundation.org) But I digress...

We ordered our bird from Fresh Direct and that shit was expensive! Do I feel better about myself for not eating a commercial produced turkey? Of course, but why does doing what's right have to be so expensive? It's not fair!

The bird came the day before I wanted to cook it. I had already been reading about heritage turkeys and how their meat has more flavor than commercial turkeys. Many people say NOT to do a brine on heritage birds. Actually, let me rephrase - they say not to do a wet brine (which is what I was planning on doing); however, if I got my bird about 4 days earlier I could've done a dry brine on it...which is basically just salt. It has to sit in salt for like 3 days or it won't work. Needless to say, I hadn't the time.

So, I went a more traditional route: I borrowed from a Martha Stewart's recipe and put pats of butter under the skin. (Something tells me Paula Deen does this too) I always put garlic, rosemary, paprika, salt and pepper on my big birds too. I covered my bird in foil for about an hour and then cooked without foil the rest of the time. Heritage turkeys are smaller and take less time to cook. The result: super crispy delicious skin and tender juicy meat! Phew! Next year I want fried turkey!