I agree, but here you can't even get turkey "parts". No legs/thighs/wings/etc. I can buy frozen turkey breast, or a whole turkey, or ground turkey, but that's it. Drives my husband crazy, he likes turkey thighs roasted and they just don't exist here in my small town.

Annie

We have an old butcher shop that became a grocery store back in the 60s. Many of the original butchers still work there.

They sell the parts but still no spare parts. One can purchase just a fresh turkey thigh almost all year. Maybe it just takes some more looking around. I am sure that you will not find it in the medium and big box grocery stores.

Sometimes spare parts are available here, but usually separate rather than a whole giblet bag. Sometimes, if the birds in the case have them, you might be able to sweet talk the butcher into extra giblets (sometimes you have to ask for them because they store them separately). Generally, they go for big bucks now that TV chefs are singing their praises.

Before and after Thanksgiving (and Christmas) a small family owned market with a great butcher department will frequently have vacuum sealed turkey legs, thighs and wings. The breasts are the premium, but we prefer the other parts. I have 2 legs in the freezer and will be looking for more parts this weekend.

We went out for our Thanksgiving meal today and both had Cape Cod bay scallops. I can fix my own turkey but those babies are so expensive I'm afraid to cook them lol!

Have you asked at a deli? They might be able to accommodate.

Meanwhile,

I had a friend with a small farm. He raised egg laying chickens. One year he decided to cook one for Thanksgiving dinner.

He said that it was the most heart rendering experience having to catch it, slaughter it, clean it and dress it and cook it that when it was all said and done he said that it tasted like crow....

I am sure that it was the wrong kind of chicken to begin with but still the whole thing was an experience in it self.

The only deli we have is in Walmart and Meijer. I'm in a Northern Michigan college town, population (without students) 10,600. Well, I'm actually about 10 miles out of town, next to the National Forest. Because of the college we have lots of fast food, more than one craft beer place and several bars, but not a single deli. Lots of convenience stores with beer caves, though.....

But if your new product went mainstream, maybe they'd have them here!

Annie

"Before and after Thanksgiving (and Christmas) a small family owned
market with a great butcher department will frequently have vacuum
sealed turkey legs, thighs and wings."

Are they mass market parts or local? If local, do they sell the spare parts or send them off as dog food?

emerogork, I have a couple dozen chickens in the freezer that I raised myself. They weren't egg layers, and there are differences. If your friend tried to roast an old laying hen I'm surprised it even tasted as good as crow. Actually the process, though, isn't as bad as people think. You can make it as difficult as you like, of course, just like everything else in life. I have stainless steel cones, stick a chicken in it upside down, blood rushes to their head and they kind of pass out. Nick the jugular and they bleed out before they ever come to. No flopping, no mess, no fuss. Dunk the bird into 150F water, swish it up and down a couple of times, toss it into the plucker. 30 seconds later, clean as a whistle. I used to pluck by hand, it took me 4 or 5 minutes, then my lovely husband bought me a chicken plucker for my birthday. Best present ever!

Anyway, my stepson timed me. If I take my time and don't hurry, I can clean a chicken in 50 seconds. So, 2 minutes for killing, another two minutes for scalding, 30 seconds in the plucker, a minute for cleaning, 5 or 6 minutes and I have a bird ready for the table. Oh, and I raise broilers and slaughter at 8 weeks. Even a heritage bird goes in the freezer in 6 months, which is barely enough time for them to even be old enough to lay eggs.

Now comes another "hitch". Like other muscle meats, chicken is better after it ages. Not for days or weeks, like beef, but 24 hours. Leave that bird on ice for 24 hours and it's ready to cook. Cook without that resting period and it's stringy and tough.

You can slaughter a bird my way, quick, easy, apparently relatively painless, little mess or fuss. If you prefer you can catch an old tough bird, lop its head off, let it flop around the yard spreading blood and feathers everywhere and traumatizing the kids and the neighbors, pluck and clean it, then roast it immediately. It will be virtually inedible and send you directly to your local supermarket for chicken from there on in.

The heritage turkeys we raised were, without exception, the best turkey I've ever eaten in my life. The problem was that it took hours of time, $45 per bird before labor considerations and they all got infectious sinusitis which caused me to have to give them antibiotics to just keep them upright, which kind of messed with my "organic heritage turkey" plans, LOL.

Annie

We have a local farm that sells what they call a "soup pack" of chicken parts (wings, backbone, giblets) but never for turkey. Which is actually fine with me since I'm not crazy about turkey stock anyway. I can understand that, since if I were paying well over $100 for a turkey I'd want to receive every bit of it, too.

Annie, very interesting about your chicken-kill method.

I seek just the giblets. It is for when the turkey is not ready but the broth being made with giblets and veggies is done. It is a challenge to divide up the heart, gizzard, neck and liver among the kids. A set of spare parts would soften the argument.

This year, I added a pack of chicken hearts and gizzards but I really was not the same.