Disappointed With Turkey

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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!

Not a problem vegetarians ever have!

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

We always do a beef Wellington and a gammon. No one in our family likes 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 had a turkey crown from Sainsbury's too DanniRae and it was delicious. I always do a gammon too

I did goose one year but was pretty expensive and I found it difficult to carve but very tasty. When there were more of us I often did a turkey crown along with duck breasts. I haven't cooked this year but I'm always a fan of duck! This year I'm abroad and we went out to a local carvery. I had lamb and turkey but my daughter had turkey and beef wellington.

I never have understood the fascination for turkey at Christmas other than it can feed a large number. For me Chhristmas is about Santa not Christ's birth. I have a friend whose partner is a professor of theology and within tgat circle there is the theory Jesus did not want people to think if his birth but why he died. A
Then there is the pagan theory that eating a lot, using winter reserves after the shortest day, is to celebrate the forthcoming planting growing seasons. Food for thought

Bought our turkey crown from our local butchers
It was beautiful

Bah humbug to those who think it's a glorified Sunday dinner.
It's a special day in our calendar. How many people really splash out on Sunday lunch. Not like we did anyway, the turkey crown was delicious, moist and flavourful. Ham very tasty. Trimmings plentiful and stuffing amazing. All cooked, for 6, by my talented Son in law. Roll on next Christmas.

None of us like turkey so we had two organic chickens from our excellent local butcher, which were delicious. Nannyknee where was your turkey from? What a shame you found it
inedible. A refund is all very well but doesn’t compensate for a rubbish Christmas dinner.

Got fresh turkey but it had gone off by christmas with a 26th use by date 😢😡🤬

We had a whole leg of lamb to thaw for boxing day though- but as alraidy said it doesnt make up for a special meal you've waited all year for- and though ive been offered shop vouchers ive not had them emailed yet.😠

I have bought organic capon for very many years. It’s a lot tastier. More expensive it may be but I only buy it once a year.
I cook it upside down in tin foil, covered in bacon, until the last 30 mins when I upright it to brown without the foil.

My granny who lived in Orkney used to post us a fresh free range boiling fowl which had an onion inside it to keep it fresh.!! It always arrived on time to Clackmannanshire and we never got food poisoning either. Was the postal service more reliable then?

DD bought a Hammer of Thor from Tesco's - it was a very tasty beef joint and made a great ragu the next day. I think it is available only at Christmas though as I can't see it on the website now.