Advice on fresh vs. frozen turkeys, please

November 21, 2014 1:56 AM

Trader Joe's near me is selling fresh turkeys for Thanksgiving, both regular and (hey!) pre-brined at a good price. But no reservations and when they're gone, they're gone. Is it too early to buy a fresh turkey? Any reason not to get the pre-brined one? (same price, $1.99 a pound). Are there any advantages to thawing a frozen turkey? Would I get a better bird going to the old school meat shop (Gartner's in Portland)? Thanks!
posted by msalt to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

You should be fine with the dates, I mean they're just going to sit in the store until Thanksgiving anyway, so pick one up and put it in the far-back of your fridge.

I would skip a pre-brined turkey. It might be too salty, and some of what you're paying for is brine, at turkey prices.

Fresh is better than frozen, but organic, fresh and free-range is better still. So pay extra, go to Gartner's and get a top-notch bird. Ask them to Spatchcock it for you!

A little salt, pepper and perhaps garlic powder and a sprinkle of Paprika is all you need.

Gobble, gobble!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 5:20 AM on November 21, 2014

If you are buying pre-brined, you are paying $1.99 per pound for the water they added, versus buying a regular turkey and adding the water (brining) it yourself
posted by I am the Walrus at 6:17 AM on November 21, 2014 [3 favorites]

I always brine my turkey using the Williams-Sonoma brining mix. My family would have a fit if I didn't brine the bird...I tried many methods of turkey prep, but once I brined I'll never go back.
posted by OkTwigs at 6:27 AM on November 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Unless you're buying a turkey that specifically says it was air-chilled, you're getting a water-chilled bird. This means it contains (and you're paying for) retained water. The brine just replaces the water that's already there with salt water. Sure, salt water weighs more than fresh water, but you're paying for the water part regardless.

If you have a place to get a heritage bird, I would definitely opt for that.
posted by melissasaurus at 6:38 AM on November 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you are at the end of Gourmet Turkey and not buying the frozen butterball, brine the bird yourself - and pick it up as close to Tuesday morning as possible. A fresh turkey on Tuesday morning goes in a big bucket or cooler with your brine in the fridge. Having a turkey spend a week in brine is preservation - not a brining - and as such, you can wind up with a flavorful yet dry bird (since the salt will have time to destroy a lot more cell structure). No amount of basting, nor bacon laying will prevent that (yes, wrapping your turkey at the feet, wing tips and stuffing hole in lieu of tin foil with bacon can make for a little bit of bacon basting assistance). While you may have a seemingly juicy bird from a weeklong brining liquid at the first mouthful, day 2 will wind up being dry. Brine a turkey on Tuesday and you get the benefits of a brine without the cell damage.
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:43 AM on November 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

We bought one of the Trader Joe's (unbrined) turkeys. They're "fresh" in that they're pulled out of the freezer and put in the refrigerator case, but they're definitely previously frozen (ie: there was ice deeper in ours). If you ask, I bet they'd grab one out of the freezer in the back for ya.
posted by straw at 8:31 AM on November 21, 2014

Best answer: Warning with getting heritage & water free birds if you aren't used to them they have a much stronger "turkey" taste and will freak out your inlaws that have only ever eaten mass produced & watered down Turkey and they will spend the whole meal telling you your turkey is off or you cooked it wrong. Ask me how I know. BTW I thought it was delicious.
posted by wwax at 9:21 AM on November 21, 2014 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Great info, thanks! 2 notes:

1) Trader Joe's has a big sign saying "never frozen," so if they were that is flat-out lying.

2) the brined and unbrined turkeys are right next to each other (along with kosher turkeys). The brined ones are all about $3-4 more. (say $35 instead of $31)
posted by msalt at 9:58 AM on November 21, 2014

Response by poster: Result: went with Gartner's, the old school meat shop. $2.19 a pound, pick up starts Saturday, minimun 18 pound bird which is bigger than we need but good quality place. Thanks!

Topic for another day: my friend Dennis is trying to talk me into smoking the bird with a cheap secondhand smoker. I've tasted his smoked turkeys before, they're amazing, but a step too far for the family this year.
posted by msalt at 1:23 PM on November 21, 2014

my friend Dennis is trying to talk me into smoking the bird with a cheap secondhand smoker. I've tasted his smoked turkeys before, they're amazing, but a step too far for the family this year

Don't know how big a crowd you're feeding nor what proportion of white to dark meat lovers you have, but my parents solve this issue by roasting a bird and smoking a turkey breast, to get best of both worlds. But we have a large crowd with a lot of white meat people anyway, so they'd be doing a second breast regardless.
posted by Diablevert at 1:30 PM on November 21, 2014

Smoking a turkey is commitment to a flavor profile, and an over-smoked turkey is pretty much unpalatable to those not expecting it. I've always regarded Thanksgiving as one of those 'keep it safe for the important meal and smoke the turkey on a day where there aren't a bunch of family members counting on your bird tasting familiar" kind of holidays.
posted by Nanukthedog at 2:40 PM on November 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That was pretty much my decision, though I really like Diablevert's solution. Suggestions for a cheap smoker? My buddy described some "little red one" that he thought was $75 new and $30-40 if you're lucky on craigslist, but I couldn't find anything matching that descritipion.
posted by msalt at 3:30 PM on November 21, 2014

I bought a smoked turkey from Greenberg's two years ago. It was fantastic--for the first two meals, that is. By the end, I had had plenty of smoked bird. A smoked breast is plenty for me.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:47 PM on November 21, 2014 [2 favorites]