Sapient Conglomeration: Pastured Turkey Cooking Tips

Mother Earth News is such a great source for so much information. This time of the year many of us are looking for turkey cooking tips, so why not go to a someone reliable.

Pastured Turkey Cooking Tips

9/11/2013 3:50:00 PM

By Tabitha Alterman

Thanksgiving is powerful, isn’t it? Two or three generations prepare a meal together. Families come together to sit down, Stuffed Turkeybreak bread and say what they are thankful for.

If we’re going to the trouble of coming together in this way for one meal, doesn’t it make sense to fill the table thoughtfully, with ingredients that inspire true gratefulness? Opting for a pastured turkey instead of an industrial turkey is one of the best ways to anchor your meal in gratitude. Industrial vs. Pastured Turkey

Industrial turkey is bland and flaccid, pumped with watery solutions in an attempt to improve texture and add “flavor.” The meat comes from birds bred with breasts so big they can’t reproduce naturally, let alone fly. They are debeaked, deprived of outdoor access, fed an unnatural diet, and can’t survive without controversial antibiotics.

Pastured turkey meat is richly flavored, lean and nutritious. It comes from animals that don’t need hormones and antibiotics to survive or cruel debeaking to prevent them from harming each other. They are allowed ample access to sunshine, fresh air, and a nourishing Seasoning a pastured turkeydiet of grasses, bugs and worms.

The crowded, inhumane, unsanitary conditions of industrial turkey farms have led to a host of food safety concerns. In April 2013, Consumer Reports analyzed industrial ground turkey products for enterococcus, E. coli, staphylococcus, salmonella and campylobacter. Of the 257 samples tested from stores nationwide, 90 percent were contaminated.

Pastured Turkey Safety

Humane animal treatment is an important reason to choose pastured turkeys. In addition to being free of unnecessary antibiotics, pastured turkey is also more nutritious. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a fatty acid that has many health benefits, including lowering the risk of heart disease and cancer, and helping people maintain healthy weight. Most people look to grass-fed beef for CLA, but turkey is a surprisingly good source as well. Pastured Turkey FlavorMeasuring the internal temperature of a pastured turkey

Pastured turkeys “showcase real flavor,” says Hank Will, American Livestock Breed Conservancy (ALBC) board member and Editor-in-Chief of Grit magazine. “There’s nothing like fresh air, exercise, grasshoppers, ticks, flies and other insects, wild seeds, clovers and the like to develop awesome flavor in the turkey’s flesh.” Properly prepared, pastured turkey is lean and juicy, firm yet tender. The turkey just tastes more like turkey, with naturally larger thighs and smaller breasts, writes Deborah Krasner in Good Meat, a cookbook dedicated to pastured meats.

If you buy a pastured turkey, you may have the added benefit of enjoying a fine-flavored heritage breed, such as American Bronze or Bourbon Red. Conscientious farmers are saving these rare breeds from extinction. In 2008, the ALBC conducted a blind taste test of industrial and heritage turkeys. Judges evaluated flavor, texture, tenderness and aroma in eight heritage breeds and one industrially raised Butterball. The winner was the Midget White turkey. All the heritage breeds beat the Butterball. (Read more about Midget Whites.)

To read more of this article and also see their 13 Tips You Should Know For Buying and Cooking Your Turkey, just click HERE.