Sunday, October 18, 2009

Turkey Day Follow Up


This year David prepared our Thanksgiving meal! whoo hoo! and as I mentioned earlier we had opted to roast commercially prepared turkey breasts in lieu of a complete stuffed turkey.  This is a whole new territory for me - totally uncharted waters!

I can count on the fingers of one hand the times when we did NOT roast a fully stuffed turkey bird for Thanksgiving over the past 30 years.  I suppose Thanksgiving is the one western festival that we celebrate religiously!  LOL   David and I openly admit being hedonistic AND food motivated!

So I purchased two frozen turkey meats, a stuffed breast by Maple Leaf (below right) and the light and dark meat Butterball offering (below left and the package is pictured at the bottom of this article).  Both of these cuts are easy and straight forward to prepare ~ you just pop 'em in the oven!




Neither offering produces much in the way of pan juices, so if you're thinking of choosing these convenient cuts plan on canned gravy or my favourite is the powdered Bisto gravy maker that turns boiled carrot water and 1 tsp of butter into a delicious gravy. We just love that stuff!

The stuffed Maple Leaf offering (approx. $15 CAD) turned out to be formed around the breast bone and it contained way more bones, fat and waste than we expected.  The included prepared stuffing was not to my liking at all and I wouldn't purchase this product again.

The Butterball (above left) was totally boneless with zero waste so at roughtly $21 CAD it proved to be the best value overall.  If we absolutely must work with a convenience cut in the future, we would seriously consider a totally boneless choice such as the Butterball offering.

Lots of folks simply won't eat homemade stuffing that has been roasted inside the turkey carcass... and if your family is the same, bake lots of of homemade stuffing in a covered buttered baking dish or there's always the stove top brands of commercially prepared stuffing mixes... they're fast and rather tasty especially given the fact that they require only a few minutes to toss together. 

David whipped us up stovetop stuffing, canned gravy, roasted sweet potatoes, prepared mashed potatoes, and a ton of nutritious and delicious steamed vegetables, canned jellied cranberries and finally warmed purchased pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream .

The feast was fabulous and if you're in a hurry consider a convenience cut of frozen turkey breast... but to be honest nothing can compare in taste, texture and presentation with a fully stuffed roast bird.

1 comment:

mary.anne.gruen@gmail.com said...

Butterball makes a good product for the most part. I hadn't heard that some folks don't want dressing cooked inside the bird. I'm lucky that Thanksgiving belongs to my sister-in-law. All I have to do is show up and eat. LOL

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