How to Choose a Thanksgiving Turkey: Explaining the Strange Words You May See on the Price Tag

Thanksgiving is approaching, and many immigrants have long been accustomed to it - preparing a festive dinner and observing traditions. When buying a turkey, many questions often arise. You can find "historic", "air chilled", "kosher", and "precooked" turkeys. Edition Lifehacker told how to understand all these terms and choose the right turkey.

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Fresh turkey and frozen

According to the US Department of Agriculture, fresh (fresh) turkey is one that has never been stored below 26℉ (-3,3 Celsius) and “meets consumer expectations for a 'fresh' bird, i.e. not tough to the touch or frozen.”

The term "fresh" says nothing about how the turkey was raised or processed, only the temperature at which it was stored. Fresh poultry should be used within one to two days or frozen until ready to eat.

Frozen - this is the same turkey that was stored at 0℉ (-17,7 Celsius) or below, it is firm to the touch. These are the carcasses you are probably used to seeing at the grocery store. They are wrapped in plastic and it usually says "pre-frozen" somewhere on the packaging. Most frozen turkeys are flash-frozen to preserve the bird's texture and flavor.

Frozen turkeys are much easier to find and much cheaper than fresh turkeys, which usually have to be ordered or purchased from the farm.

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In terms of taste, it's hard to say that a fresh turkey tastes better than a frozen one. And the average person is unlikely to determine this at the festive table.

Water and air cooling

The USDA requires all poultry to be chilled to a temperature of at least 40℉ (+4,4 Celsius) within four hours of slaughter, and this is done either by air chilling or water chilling.

Water-chilled This is when bird carcasses are literally immersed in an ice bath, which lowers the temperature but allows the bird to absorb water (anywhere from 2 to 12% of its body weight), and the extra water results in a soft texture. According to D'artagnan, a poultry distributor, air cooling (air-chilled) a little more difficult, but worth it: “In the air-cooling process, the chicks are hung from a container that passes through several chambers. In the first of them, each bird is blown with cold purified air, which quickly reduces its body temperature. Then, depending on the system used, the chicks will pass through one or two more refrigerated chambers over a period of 3,5 hours. The air-cooling process takes longer than water-cooling, but many find the results worth the time.”

When you buy an air-chilled turkey (or any bird), you only pay for the carcass, not the carcass plus the water that soaks into it during the chilling process.

Pre-larded poultry is tastier than natural

pre-stuffed (pre-basted, self-basted or basted) is a turkey that has been injected with an aqueous solution containing salt, sugar, broth, fat, and other flavorings. According to Taste of Home, the solution can be up to 3% of the total weight of the carcass, or 8% of the weight of poultry meat alone.

On the positive side, the bird is already flavored - it will be easier to cook, although you may not like any of the added flavors. But Cook's Illustrated noted in its 2022 Thanksgiving issue that many of these pre-flavored birds are "soft" and "insipid."

If you want to make your turkey easier to cook and don't mind that it's already light in flavor, this carcass might be for you. But if you do not trust someone else's taste, then it is better to look for a "natural" turkey.

natural turkey - it's just a carcass, to which nothing was added: no artificial flavors, no dyes with preservatives. That is, it was "minimally processed." However, this says nothing about the bird's diet, how it was raised and treated, or whether antibiotics were used, although the presence of antibiotics in turkey meat is not something you really need to worry about.

According to the USDA, any turkeys that have been treated with antibiotics must go through a "withdrawal period" before being slaughtered to allow the antibiotics to pass out of their system. Even if the bird has been treated with these drugs, you won't be cured. Don't worry about hormones in carcasses either, as the USDA hasn't approved them for use in turkeys.

Kosher Turkey

Kosher (kosher) turkeys are similar to birds cooked in gravy, meaning they are lightly preflavored, but the process is much more specific and the only additions are salt and water.

What makes a turkey kosher? This is when birds are slaughtered quickly and humanely, washed only in cold water, salted thoroughly and rinsed to remove all traces of blood. Cold water keeps meat super fresh during cleaning and processing, but salting is key. As any good cook knows, increasing the sodium content of meat helps it retain moisture during cooking, especially if it is frozen, like almost all turkeys. In addition, salt gives food a certain taste.

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The process is designed to remove most of the salt after cleaning, so you can still salt your kosher turkey if you like, but it's not strictly necessary. Kosher birds turn out juicy and fragrant if rubbed with olive oil before cooking.

Free walking

As explained by the USDA, the term "free range" (free-range) means that the turkey "has been allowed outside". According to Taste of Home, when poultry farmers submit their labels for USDA approval, farmers must include a third-party verified description of the life of the turkey to ensure they meet "free range" criteria.

Term "without cages" (case-free) can be a little misleading as a lot of poultry is raised in large barns that are not technically cages but can still be quite cramped. Ignore this phrase unless the distributor provides more detailed information (for example, the number of square meters per turkey in barn).

historical bird

Historical (heritage) is a breed of turkey that is “closer” to the one hunted by the Native Americans in their time, until colonialism and capitalism forever changed the bird. These turkeys are usually raised in more humane conditions and without antibiotics.

In addition to this, there are several other requirements that a farm must meet in order to call its birds historical. According to The Livestock Conservancy, this includes naturally mating for at least two generations, a long productive outdoor life (including the genetic ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions), and a slow growth rate to allow birds to develop strong skeletal structures and healthy organs. before muscle building. Then they have longer legs, more fat and a deeper taste, but also a higher price.

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