Disappointed With Turkey

Once we had stopped feeding the five thousand my husband and i stopped having turkey and we usually enjoyed a lovely roast sirloin of beef in a bigger size than we usually had and it made a great roast with yorkshire puddings etc etc and then lovely cold on boxing day. Then when we visited anyone they ask rather forlornly "would y ou like a turkey sandwich?" and we would say yes thus pleasing them and ourselves!! Now a widow I have had duck which I enjoy and these days the extravagence is to have a lovely leg of lamb , even though I live in north yorkshire the cost of lamb means it is a luxury buy for me. When I was a little girl my granny used to send us a capon by the train and we used to go to the station to collect it. Either that or a goose which was lovely too and you rarely see that around these days.

We always do a beef Wellington and a gammon. No one in our family likes turkey.

We had a Turkey Crown, from Donald Russell, it was absolutely delicious.

Not a problem vegetarians ever have!

We always have turkey for Christmas and cook it in a way that ensures that it's flavoursome and moist. With so many extras, sausages, bacon, stuffing, roast potatoes and parsnips, many veggies, gravy, cranberry sauce and bread sauce, there is something for everyone to fill them up.
I like turkey, white meat, as it doesn't have fat attached. I don't like game birds and venison and find that young children don't either.
Dessert is a different matter: I do Christmas pudding for those who are fans and an alternative for those who aren't.
I would add that recently zI've been convinced that joints olamb taste 'different' but have come to the conclusion that it is I who have changed, rather than the meat. Tastes do change!

The turkey we had was not eaten as it was so tough and chewy. We took the whole bird back and got a refund but no real apology. Think it will be beef next year

I think goose used to be the popular English Christmas dish. I gather that turkey was introduced during the Tudor period, when King Henry VIII was served it for Christmas dinner. Before that, I think it was venison, wild boar and swan - but only for the wealthy . During the Georgian period, turkey became more popular for those families who could afford it.

My mum said most people used to eat chicken at Christmas when she was a child. Of course, chickens were dearer than now, so more of a luxury.

Chicken does not taste the same to me either, as turkey. I think the industry has changed the way poultry is fed and plumped up and the antibiotics, etc… it’s all had an effect.

So go organic or to a natural source of meat so you get some flavor back, but those birds are expensive.

For us it’s (still) turkey for Thanksgiving and a beef rib roast or a pork crown roast (or ham) for Christmas.

Happy New Year to all - a seafood 🍤holiday!
Cheers! 🥂🎄🍫
USA Gundy

In my childhood home, we always either had roast goose, or roast duck, depending on how many we would be for Christmas dinner, as a goose is a big bird.

My husband preferred roast pork with cracknel, so that has been our Christmas dinner for most of my married life.

Turkey is a relatively new tradition in Britian, from if I remember rightly the Victorian era, before that Christmas dinner was beef, hence the saying "all dressed up like Christmas beef".

The important thing is not what you eat, but to serve something the entire gathering enjoys, and that the cook enjoys making.

My daughter cooked a frozen Turkey from Aldi, it was delicious hot and later cold.

MerylStreep

Why do posters post a supermarket beginning with s/t
Why not write Sainsbury or Tesco
It’s not a secret.

I wrote mine tongue in cheek having seen others do it. It's no secret that mine was from Morrisons!

My husband and I rarely have turkey, as we find it a bit dry and flavourless, but last year I prepared it with butter and orange slices, and that tasted nice. We usually stick with two of our favourites for Christmas - Roast Beef and Gammon joint. If anyone in the family fancies turkey, they cook it and bring it along to Christmas dinner.

We brine the turkey for 24 hours, following Nigella Lawson’s recipe. It is always delicious. This year my son-in-law dissolved the sugar and salt by boiling the water, then cooling for 24 hours, then we popped it in the brine. The skin was so crisp and lovely and I think boiling the brine helped. Also, we cooked it with no bacon on the breast and no foil and I thought this improved the taste

Turkey in recent years has had too much of a fishy taste for me

Lol MerylStreep you are right and I did write S in my original post when I really meant Sainsburys. It was in the news that people were complaining about their turkeys from Aldi, Tesco and Sainsburys. It seems it's in the way they are prepared for the stores.

Bambi, aka venison. I’m not that keen on turkey but my OH likes it so I sometimes buy a rolled turkey thigh as it only makes meals for two days.

Why do posters post a supermarket beginning with s/t
Why not write Sainsbury or Tesco
It’s not a secret.

I have served Beef Wellington on Christmas Day for about the last ten years.It is always lovely and much easier to cook than turkey.I buy a large fillet from Costco in October and freeze it till needed. There is enough meat for two Wellingtons,and no waste.It is delicious and has plenty of leftovers to serve cold with salads .

This year we had a leg of lamb cooked in the slow cooker. Hadn’t done this for years so I was a bit anxious about timing, but it was fantastic.

We had turkey crown from Waitrose this year, it was delicious! Secret is not to over cook- use a meat thermometer .

Brace of pheasant. Plucked and oven ready from the local shoot. Cooked in cider and stuffed with apple really delicious.

I made a big vegan pie.... and the turkey certainly wasn't disappointed

I do not like turkey and never have. As a child we either had chicken or pork for the christmas dinner. This year my youngest son and his partner cooked a wonderful dinner of roasted gammon and a chicken. It came with all the trimming after a starter of prawn cocktail.

Grannynannywanny
Your story reminded me of my friend Morag from Barra in the
Western Isles, as she often collected brown paper parcels of meat from the sorting office.The meat was always lovely.They were very hospitable people
and I often had my dinner with
the family.

We had a delicious, tender goose for the second year running. It was very expensive but for once a year worth it and has to be ordered months in advance. Not for those who don’t like gamey meat, similar to a strong duck flavour.
A real treat which we always look forward to.