Martha Stewart turkey

[greygarious]

On today's show she promoted her new line of heritage, antibiotic free...yada-yada...turkeys, by mail order via her website (using the "martha15" code saves $15). The bird arrives complete with a booklet in which she gives detailed cooking instructions and other directions for micro-managing your Thanksgiving meal prep. Although this is rather Orwellian, an inexperienced and intimidated cook could do worse than having "Big Mother" running the kitchen, and I'm sure that her high standards mean it will be a quality bird. I suppose it's not all that different from the Butterball hotline.

[coll]

Many years ago around this time, I was watching a Martha Stewart Thanksgiving special and she said to cook the turkey to 195 degrees. Then she had her brother carve, as she said she didn't know how. Glad I never hired her as a caterer.

[greygarious]

Dumping on Martha is a cherished American passtime, but you are probably referring to her very first special, which was over 25 years ago. To be fair, I don't think many of us would like to be judged by a competence level that many years back.

[coll]

Could have been a rerun , I saw it awhile ago but not that long. I was getting ready to do my turkey and was just glad I wasn't following her instructions!

I personally don't care about her either way, but know lots of people that worked in her kitchen back in the day, and they have some pretty funny stories to tell. I mean, she was supposed to be an uber-caterer before she was ever on TV, so her competence should have been above a beginning level, but I won't go into it any further. It was just "Martha Stewart" and "turkey" together that made me think of it. Don't pay it any mind.

[chaddick]

I think most of what Martha sells you can find cheaper elsewhere.

[NYCkaren]

I went to the site. I'd be halfway tempted to order a turkey but the prices are steep even with $15 off. I'm pretty sure I could find an antibiotic-free turkey for less.

[chevrelove]

It isn't clear to me from the website whether the turkey is a heritage breed, but the prices listed on the website (especially with the $15 off coupon) seem on par to me. Some heritage breed turkeys that I've seen go for around $100.

[greygarious]

I'm almost positive she said heritage, and that would be more in keeping with her Weltanschauung than some Perduengineered topheavy Toulouse Lauturkey. (I think I just used more "u"s in one sentence than you'll find outside of Hawaii or Finland.)

[NYCkaren]

And you put those u's to good uuuse!

It's true the prices are in line with other heritage birds. But shipping would be on top of that. I think I'll be schlepping around with my granny cart instead looking for someplace in Manhattan that sells a decent turkey.