Ok, so, after receiving emphatic recommendations from my SIL to try a heritage
turkey, this year I did. Went to Bristol Farms and ordered a heritage bird from
Mary's. not big, because at the time I ordered it, we thought it would be 4 of us.
Then over this past weekend, 4 went to 10, then 11. Even with one adult being a
vegetarian, clearly a 9.8 pound bird wasn't going to be big enough. So I did the last
minute thing at Iowa Meat Farms (who's rescued me before in similar food
"emergencies"! lol) and was blessed with a large free range organic breast. Since it
was larger than the whole bird, weight wise, I decided I would make the dressing with
the breast. I put it in the oven 1 hour before the whole bird, and was delighted that
they reached proper temp within 10 minutes of each other.

Now, the whole bird I didn't stuff with dressing, but I did put a couple pieces
(roughly 1/2 altogether) of onion, and a mixture of fresh herbs (sage, thyme,
rosemary).

Really, I wasn't expecting much of a flavor difference, but was pleasantly surprised
by the heritage turkey. They were both moist and flavored well, but there was a
richness to the heritage turkey. To make sure I wasn't biased, I served them side by
side and asked my dinner companions. A couple couldn't tell, but 2 of them were kids,
and the other was someone who eats canned asparagus as a late night snack ;-)

So, all in all, if I got what I considered a good price on it, I would buy it again.
(I paid $2.69 a pound for this one).

kimberly

On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 01:05:21 -0800, "Nexis" > wrote:


>Really, I wasn't expecting much of a flavor difference, but was pleasantly surprised
>by the heritage turkey.
>So, all in all, if I got what I considered a good price on it, I would buy it again.
>(I paid $2.69 a pound for this one).
>
>kimberly

I have heard that the heritage turkeys have that old fashioned rich
turkey flavor that has been essentially bred out of the current
types. No need for brining, etc...

I think I will get one next year...

Christine