I buy a smoked turkey from Greenberg...www.gobblegobble.com. Delish! The carcass makes the best stock ever. Otherwise, I buy fresh turkey breasts on the bone to roast.

I buy a fresh turkey every year, why? Because my Mom has drilled it into my head that the others are filled with preservatives and hormones! They probably aren't but I can't just buy a frozen turkey! So every year I spend the week of the holiday trying to find a fresh turkey!

WE started buying the Eddy's of Texas either smoked or cajun smoked turkeys, they are so good and just have to be heated or eaten at room temp. I like them much better than the plain turkey now and it is so much easier to fix. I also love fried turkey, we usually have a few of those when we go home to Louisiana for Christmas.

When I was little my father remarked on Thanksgiving day that the turkey tasted fresh - like it was killed yesterday. My mother motioned to my father but the damage was done. I put down my fork and that was the beginning of a semi-meatless life. I like my meat frozen.

However, I buy a turducken. I think most people have heard of it but here is the Wiki definition:

A turducken is a dish consisting of a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed into a de-boned turkey.

Everybody likes it. In my own sly way, no one notices what I eat.

We have a turkey farm fairly nearby, we buy one there. I prefer a fresh turkey and knowing how it was raised. We know the family that owns it and how they operate.

We usually just do a turkey breast (frozen). I find it doesn't make any difference whether it's Butterball or store brand. I just baste it in 1/2 white wine and 1/2 butter and don't overcook it. There are only 5 of us and it's so much less mess than a whole turkey. I still have the bones to cook for soup the next day.

This year I'm thinkiing of an alternative to turkey. Not sure what yet.

I prefer a fresh turkey and order one every year to be set aside for me. They are soooo much moister than frozen birds.

Butterball. Tried others. We like Butterball.

Whatever's on sale the Monday before Thanksgiving. It has to be fresh. I don't like the process of thawing a frozen turkey, then cooking the whole dang thing. I brine my turkey and cook it Thanksgiving morning.

Only fresh. I haven't bought a frozen turkey in decades. Can't eat the frozen - like cardboard.

Thinking the way it tastes is according to how it is cooked.

Always cooked a thrawed frozen turkey and always tasted great.

Ours has been smoked on the grill for years and years, and DS now continues that tradition.

I always buy a frozen one when it is on special sale. I do not like Butterball. Cheryl has bought our Thanksgiving turkey and will be fixing it this year.

Sue

We always buy frozen. They're often on sale for 99 cents/lb.
Everyone raved about the turkey I cooked this year (our Thanksgiving was in Oct).

I use the crock-pot to cook the dressing in, and I'll never do it any other way again.

Oh Glenda, loved the picture. It took me a minute to get it. I don't know, I've tried fresh and I swear I couldn't tell the difference so it's not worth the difference in price to me. I brine mine so I guess it doesn't matter much. These days I get a small one not like years ago when we had lots of family for T day. Back then I would get a 20 pounder. If I only knew then what I know now, I would have gotten 2 10 pounders. I cook my turkey breast side down until the last half hour and then I use some old pot holders to turn it.

I usually get a frozen or fresh turkey breast, whatever will fit in my crock pot.

Thinking the way it tastes is according to how it is cooked.

We prefer a traditional stuffed, well browned, roasted turkey.

I don't care for turkey that has been boiled,stewed,steamed or braised.

Turkey is one of easiest fail safe things to prepare if you don't overthink it.

I do enjoy turkey done on a grill but not at the holidays.
DS loves deep fried turkey but again at Thanksgiving he wants roast turkey and stuffing.

Wildchild, I agree at Thanksgiving time I want a roast turkey. DS deep fries his but to me, the best part of Thanksgiving is smelling the turkey while it is cooking. I would love a spray that could duplicate that aroma. It's the best.

Hi Glenda,

That's a fast, plus devious, turkey, at appears.

I figured that, for a turkey still on the hoof, he should have a hatchet in hand, with a convenient block of wood in the back yard ...

... rather than an oven mitt.

ole joyfuelled (with the assistance of a bit of turkey, from time to time - but proper Thanksgiving was last month)

lynn mentioning a turkey farm made me lol...had dd2 in the car (she was in college)and we drove by the city turkey farm...asked why they were there told her that's where you could buy a fresh turkey...i thought she'd faint, but i lol'ed...i guess she'd never figured they had to come from someplace...eon's ago they had a freah chicken place right on one of majors streets in los angeles...you'd go in, pick the bird you wanted and they'd do the deed, and you'd go home with a fresh bird...

we're doing 2 breasts...noone here likes the whole bird...i'm going to do them in a bag, to keep them moist...

"Fresh" is often a misnomer unless you go to a farm or raise it yourself. Many people are fooled by the term. I've heard a lot of chefs say they'd prefer a frozen to a supermarket's "fresh" turkey. Cooks Illustrated explains it this way:
Fresh or Frozen?
We always thought it would be a good idea to buy fresh turkeys wherever possible, assuming they would be better. If you can buy your turkey at a local farm, that might be true, but supermarket birds labeled as "fresh" can actually be tougher and drier than frozen ones.

Why? Turkeys may be labeled as "fresh" if they have been chilled to as low as 26 degrees. But at this temperature, tiny ice crystals can form in the meat. If the temperature fluctuates (during storage or transport, at the supermarket, or on the way to your home), these crystals can melt, combine with neighboring crystals, and then refreeze. These irregularly shaped ice crystals will start to poke the cell membranes in the meat, make holes and the cell tissues in the muscles will start to lose their internal contents. Then when they are cooked, those birds will be dry."

Another thing I found interesting was the discussion over "free range", "organic" and "natural" birds, theory being that the bugs and grass made for a better bird. CI disputes that too. Tasters could tell a difference in blind tests.

I prefer a plain turkey breast (although I can handle some of the dark meat) that is not injected with the sugar, salt, water, grease, and sodium phosphate, aka "self basting", "Butterball", etc. Once again the "fat Americans" have to have sugar, excess salt and the like in everything! Even meat. (sigh) It's so sad. Sugar on the meat, sugar on the vegetables, sugar in the drinks, then top it off with dessert and then wonder why the belt is tight! LOL

Seldom do I find turkey to be dry if it's not overcooked or mishandled. I use the Nesco and a thermometer and never have a problem. Although I maintain my one cousin cooks her turkeys in a dehydrator... but I digress.

I will say that occasionally I do like some of the injected meats when it's something like a BBQ marinade or a "cajun" marinade. Something with some flavor other than salt and sugar. But I still enjoy the comfort of a nice roasted turkey with gravy.

Although I have thought maybe I should try Mrs. Wolowitz's turbriskgafil sometime. :)

Always buy frozen because I've never seen a fresh turkey in any supermarket I've ever lived near. I bought our turkey tonight, a little under 7 pounder, Honeysuckle White brand. Only Liza and I want turkey so I got a little one and a small ham also.