Is eating turkey worth it? For Christmas or Thanksgiving, it’s dry, awkward, terrible environmentally – and for the birds
- Whatever you do with a turkey you can do better and easier with a chicken, and if I want status food with little flavour, I’ll order some sharks fin soup
- The turkey is mainly valued as a showboating spectacle – in this respect, face is as important in Western cultural dynamics as in Chinese ones
The turkey is quite a polarising protein.
Discerning gourmands scoff at the bird, which they rank way down on the fowl list compared to pheasant, duck, squab, goose, quail and even the common chicken. But for those who grew up with a big Butterball every festive holiday, no amount of culinary criticism could dissuade them from turkey nostalgia.
I don’t mind turkey. Objectively, though, I can understand the criticism of the bird: the lean breast meat is usually dry and bland, no matter how much butter or brine you apply in its preparation. This is why I usually drown it in gravy, or spoon large dollops of cranberry sauce on top.
The dark meat, when cooked to falling-off-the-bone tenderness, can be really tasty. But it still pales in comparison to goose or duck.
As Christmas approaches, it goes without saying for many families that the centrepiece of the meal will feature a large turkey.