I totally agree, Shirley. I even liked the sweet potatoes... they were just mashed and not "candied" or anything. I also love cranberry sauce and can eat it by itself, so I made my own with a bag of cranberries so I would have plenty!! I also bought a few bags of cranberries to put in the freezer for later.
I just read an article that said turkey growers are not doing very well. Costs are up and supplies are down. But an even steeper decline in demand is keeping prices low. Last year, the average wholesale price for turkey was $1.40 per pound. This year--amid rising costs--the price was 94¢ per pound. The total number of turkeys raised in the United States has declined every year since 2017, when more than 244 million birds were raised. Less than 200 million birds will be slaughtered by the end of this year. That is the first time the industry has processed less than 200 million birds since 1986. There are three main reasons for the decline in production: 1-Birds are bigger and heavier, so fewer birds does not mean less meat being processed. 2-Demand has been declining for 15 years. The last time Americans ate this low amount of turkey in a calendar year was 1986 (12.6 pounds per capita.) Thanksgiving Day accounts for about 22% of the annual demand for turkey, but this year other meats are taking its place. There is minimal export demand for turkey. 3-Disease has taken its toll on flocks. But the reduced supply has not increased price. The article also mentioned that stores used to take as many turkeys as they could get for their promotions, knowing they would always sell the surplus. Now they are only buying to satisfy the holiday's demand. Next year is gonna be even worse, as demand is expected to decline even further and today's unsold birds will remain in cold storage for future sale. One thing I found interesting is that major "animal protein companies" (Tyson Foods) own the birds and provide the feed. They contract with farmers, known as growers, who pay the cost of building, outfitting, and maintaining the barns where the animals are raised. After birds meet a target weight, the integrator collects, processes, and markets them. So the growers are mere custodians of the critters, which I assume reduces some financial exposure. I wonder if some growers will not have their contracts renewed, meaning that those resources may move to another food product.
I don't recall anyone mentioning deep-fried turkey. I've had it several times at my brother's house (he would bake one and fry one), and did it myself once. Have any of you deep-fried a turkey? Have any of you been served it?
We have been deep-frying turkeys since around 1990 or so when we lived in Baton Rouge. My late father-in-law fried several for each holiday. Since peanut oil is so pricey, he'd line up other families' birds to fry as well. This year my son fried one turkey and smoked another one.
I have eaten it but I have never cooked one. I had it in Georgia when we lived there and the climate was more compatible with cooking outside on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think it reminded me of fried chicken naturally.
Honestly, I don't think it tastes like fried chicken at all. The main difference is the crispy skin; the turkey meat still tastes like roast turkey to me. Of course fried turkey originated in Louisiana in the 1980s, so there are many cajun variations with spices injected into the bird before frying.
It's much moister than turkey roasted in a dry heat because the oil sears the skin so quickly. It does not taste greasy at all. I've read that the roasting bags provide the same benefit (moist & crisp), but i doubt the skin would get as crisp as deep frying.
There is no way a roasting bag would give any crispy skin, though I believe they would help with moisture in the meat. I have a turkey roaster with a lid that works well. Frying a turkey is expensive because it takes a LOT of oil, so it's good to have several birds to fry to make it more cost effective.
Yup. And it's messy. Some people save the oil to reuse it, but once you get animal fat in there, it goes rancid real fast.
I have a turkey roaster that is electric, and that is what I have always used. My mother had one way back in the early 1950’s and that is how she cooked turkeys; and they come out tender and falling apart, but not with crispy skin except right on the top. I had never even heard of deep frying a turkey until I met Bobby , who is from Louisiana and knows all about cooking turkeys that way. It seems like door prying almost any kind of food is a Southern thing. I had never heard of a hush puppy before I moved down here either, and had to taste the deep-fried okra and the dill pickle, just to try it. I do like the deep fried okra and hush puppies, but not so much the fried dill pickle. Still an Idaho Girl, I guess. Bobby has never made a deep fried turkey, and I have never tasted one. Since a turkey roasts for hours, it didn’t seem to me like it would be practical to deep fry one, so it must not take too long to cook it that way.