You can still get your local turkey from Maple Lawn Farm -- and you can go poultry-wild for sausage, ground meat, smoked meat and all the trimmings to make a great meat stock.
Just listen to Kyle, a regular HowChow contributor and another person willing to check out new places for food. Even while recovering from surgery last weekend, Kyle had his wife drive him to Maple Lawn for a pre-Thanksgiving pickup:
Check out my prior post about other local ideas to jazz up your Thanksgiving. And watch for more posts from Kyle because he shares the HowChow spirit of trolling [for new food places] and pimping [them].Every year I go to Maple lawn farm in Fulton the day before Thanksgiving and get everything I need for turkey and stock. This year I decided to check out things early, sort of a pregaming Thanksgiving. According to the website, Maple Lawn farms opened on Nov 12, 2010 for the Thanksgiving holiday season. In addition to regular turkey, they advertise smoked turkey, ground turkey, turkey sausage, dark meat, wings and necks.
My wife and I parked in front of barn and checked out the cows and turkeys as we walked to the official turkey building. Things were in full turkey production. I told them I was interested in "extra" items and was told they had everything but the turkey sausage. For dark turkey, they had turkey "saddles", a breast-less turkey for $5, shrink-wrapped. I got one of those, a pound of ground turkey in a plastic tub for $4 and a really pretty shrink-wrapped 5 pound ready to eat smoked turkey breast for $5.50/pound.The saddle and ground turkey were frozen but the smoked turkey was not..
I plan to start using the smoked turkey and ground turkey soon for pre-Thankgiving turkey meals. I'll defrost the saddle closer to Thanksgiving so I can make stock earlier. So this year, I can get into the Thanksgiving spirit early with local turkey stuff.
What can you do with the 'saddle'? I prefer dark meat is this really just simply a turkey with the breast removed or is only for making stock and such?
ReplyDeleteThe 6 1/2 pound saddle I got had the breast removed and the back bone cut flush with the turkey legs. There were no wings or front section of the turkey either. The half section remaining is 2 legs, 2 thighs and the dark meat/bones connecting them. If you're a dark meat lover, I would just roast it like a whole turkey & carve. That's a lot of happiness for $5.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I think I'm gonna grab a couple to roast and to smoke.
ReplyDeleteYou know what he toughest part about smoking a turkey is?
It's keeping it lit!
HAHAHAHAHAH*...uh...nevermind.
I got a saddle last year to make stock, but buying one for the oven, smoker, or fryer would be a smart purchase if you love dark meat...and great value!
ReplyDeleteMaple Lawn sells just the breast, too. So if you don't want dark meat or have a small group for Thanksgiving you can still enjoy fresh turkey. I ordered a regular breast and a smoked one to try them out.
ReplyDeleteI opened my 5 pound smoked turkey breast today. I found the other saddle of a turkey with the breast attached to the front of the backbone complete with wishbone. The breast was wrapped in a netting material and had a very rustic look like it came out of a smokehouse in Smithfield Virginia. The turkey had a pronounced smokey (I guess hickory?) aroma and the skin was golden mahogany and very crisp. After separating the bones from the breast meat, I got about 3 pounds of solid white meat and about 2 pounds of bones and scraps. The meat was perfectly seasoned and the scraps tasted even more heavenly. So I'll get my money's worth, I'll used the bones and scraps to make a seasoning broth.
ReplyDelete