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Disappointed With Turkey

(90 Posts)
Moonwatcher1904 Thu 28-Dec-23 14:57:07

A couple of Christmases ago we bought a turkey crown from a local supermarket (name begins with S). It was horrible and chewy. I ended up throwing the whole thing away.
We found a small local butcher who is quite popular in our area and his meat is excellent. We got a turkey crown from there last xmas which was nice but I'm finding that the taste of turkey which I usually love has changed. Maybe it's just me but we got another this year which was far bigger than I wanted so I cooked it and split it into 3. One for xmas dinner and froze the other two to slice for sandwiches at a later date.
I said to DH that I was a bit disappointed with turkey and they don't taste the same as they used to do. So next year we are looking to get something else. My daughter said her and her partner had bought a nice piece of beef so I think we will look to getting one instead of a turkey.
What meat do you have at xmas instead of turkey? I'm interested in something different.

Eil4 Sat 30-Dec-23 12:47:23

Our turkey this year (6.5kg) cost… wait for it …£153! However, it has made several meals and the carcass is about to be turned into soup so a bargain really!!😂

cc Sat 30-Dec-23 12:41:32

Gin

None of us like turkey much and I do not like the smell of it cooking. We have anything that is a special treat. This year it was Somerset Old Spot pork. Lovely crackling and so tasty with home made herb stuffing and apple sauce.

Last year it was Scottish venison. My mother always cooked a capon but I have not seen one to buy for decades.

They call capon "cockerel" now and they are available at Christmas from Ocado and other sources.

cc Sat 30-Dec-23 12:40:22

We've had a cockerel for some years, the meat is tasty as it is slow grown and free range. The ones we buy are from Ocado though I know that others sell them. This year's bird weighed about 5.5kg, and I cooked it at a lower temperature than suggested, upside down for the last half of the time to keep the breast as moist as possible.
My husband likes dry breast meat so I often cook a small turkey crown which can be sliced up for him, but the rest of the family prefer the cockerel.
We did have goose in the past but there is relatively little meat on a huge carcase, it works out very expensive for what is basically just one meal for our family.

Cagsy Sat 30-Dec-23 12:23:56

There was outrage when I suggested possibly going non traditional this year so turkey and ham it was, both from a fairly local butcher. We spend a fortune on it but it’s so good and all 12 of us really love Christmas dinner. Other times of the year when we have the family round for Sunday lunch it might be shoulder of lamb, roast pork or a couple of chickens - and always use the carcass for soup.

granjan66 Sat 30-Dec-23 12:06:28

We normally have turkey but when DH and I have been on our own we have duck. This means very little leftovers!

JaneJudge Sat 30-Dec-23 11:52:22

I've just remembered I cooked it above a stock and white wine to try and keep it moist. Not sure if it helped smile

sundowngirl Sat 30-Dec-23 11:51:52

DanniRae

We had a turkey crown from Sainsburys and it was moist and delicious smile
It's the luck of the draw I guess hmm

We got a large turkey crown from Sainsburys too DannieRae. Everyone commented on how delicious it was.

JaneJudge Sat 30-Dec-23 11:51:23

We don't normally have turkey but this year I bought a boneless rolled joint from the butcher and wrapped it in smoked streaky bacon for 2 hours of cooking and then removed it for the last hour to crisp up the skin. It was actually lovely

Gin Sat 30-Dec-23 11:48:32

None of us like turkey much and I do not like the smell of it cooking. We have anything that is a special treat. This year it was Somerset Old Spot pork. Lovely crackling and so tasty with home made herb stuffing and apple sauce.

Last year it was Scottish venison. My mother always cooked a capon but I have not seen one to buy for decades.

Redhead56 Sat 30-Dec-23 11:45:57

We had duck and gammon this year I made stock from both meats. There in freezer bags now very handy for soups etc.

icanhandthemback Sat 30-Dec-23 11:45:20

We had a turkey crown from a supermarket beginning with M and it was the most tasteless, tough bird I have ever had. We also had a cornfed chicken which my son brined and it was amazing. I had only bought the turkey because I thought we might miss it if we didn't have it. I won't be buying it in future.

Tish Sat 30-Dec-23 11:42:33

We often had a capon, neutered chicken, for Christmas lunch as a child, more difficult, but not impossible, to find nowadays…

Spec1alk Sat 30-Dec-23 11:29:58

We had a leg of lamb this year. Lovely!

Nannina Sat 30-Dec-23 11:29:54

My mum wouldn’t have poultry in the house (something to do with growing up on a farm?). We always had a massive piece of pork at Christmas and I’ve carried this on. I’ve done turkey some years but everyone prefers the pork

DanniRae Sat 30-Dec-23 11:27:18

We had a turkey crown from Sainsburys and it was moist and delicious smile
It's the luck of the draw I guess hmm

woodenspoon Sat 30-Dec-23 11:27:04

Last year we had a chicken which was fine. This year, a small turkey crown type joint from M&S serves 2-3 which was perfect for us. A few slices next day with jacket potatoe, salad etc. no lingering leftovers thankfully.

Bromley Sat 30-Dec-23 11:21:39

If you want flavour then it has to be free range and slow growing.

RuralRoz Sat 30-Dec-23 11:21:20

This year I had turkey crown from a well-known supermarket beginning with T, it wasn't half as good as a less costly version bought at Farmfoods last year! The meat was chewy and very dry, not much of it either.

Georgesgran Sat 30-Dec-23 11:20:01

In the ‘70’s my DH worked in the offices of a local factory.
At Christmas, only the chosen few were given a free turkey. One of the company chauffeurs would be sent out with a car, the boot stuffed with the birds and it was like something from an 007 film, as he would arrive at a chosen address, check out the venue, inform the resident of the gift, grab the bird from the boot and dash into the house with it!

Ladyleftfieldlover Sat 30-Dec-23 11:09:17

We had three Guinea fowl for our Christmas dinner this year. Our seven year old granddaughter calls it special chicken.

Moonwatcher1904 Thu 28-Dec-23 22:52:12

Grannynannywanny I love your turkey story. That must've been hilarious to see it's legs poking out of the parcel.
Thankyou for all your comments. I'm now definitely looking at salmon for next year. We have a fishing port up the road where you can get plenty of lovely fresh fish.

Callistemon21 Thu 28-Dec-23 22:46:57

I prefer turkey to anything else but no-one else does so I ordered it twice when I was out for a meal and we had beef and local lamb on Christmas Day.

Eastern Europeans I know always brine the turkey, Tenko and it is always moist.

We have a side of salmon in the freezer, I'll look up that recipe, Norah.

Farmor15 Thu 28-Dec-23 21:50:57

We often have Beef Wellington. A bit fancier than plain roast beef so good for a special occasion like Christmas.

Fleurpepper Thu 28-Dec-23 20:59:20

Leg of lamb- never disappoints.

sodapop Thu 28-Dec-23 20:57:54

I don't like breast meat it's a bit bland for me. We had turkey leg which my husband boned, rolled and stuffed. So tasty and lovely gravy.