Where do you source your Thanksgiving turkey in San Diego and what is your favorite cooking method for it?

[master815k]

I know one half of the question is good for the San Diego board, the other maybe for Home Cooking, but for the second half, just answer, grilled/smoked, fried, baked, etc. Just starting to plan my first San Diego Thanksgiving and was curious for the answers! TIA!

[RetroLux]

Whole Foods is always great. I love to just stuff it with my apple stuffing, smother it with butter salt and pepper, put it in a bath of white wine, chicken stock and garlic and cook....

[pickypicky]

Last Thanksgiving in Sonoma county we had a fresh Bill Niman turkey. It was small and cost $90. It was the most delicious turkey I've ever had in my life. My point is-- buy the best and freshest you can. I hope hope hope I'm not too late for a Womach turkey.

[pickypicky]

Curtis is not doing turkeys this year.

[The Office Goat]

I just saw this on the news last night:
http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/kswb...

So apparently we do have at least one more option besides Mr. Womach for local pastured birds.

[pickypicky]

Thanks TOG for this! We'll be just three, so the sizes are a bit much for us. But to anyone else, I would recommend trying them. Like I wrote above, this price is in line with what we paid last year in Sonoma for a free range, freshly slaughtered bird. It can be totally worth it.

[bizzwriter]

1. Been buying my turkeys at Trader Joe's for several years now with good results -- prebrined, Kosher or not, your choice.

2. Smoked on the bbq -- LOW heat.

[stevuchan]

Homegrown Meats in LJ, still time to order. I do a brined bird on a rotisserie over hardwood.

[MrKrispy]

also been a fan of the Trader Joes that last few years. They aren't ridiculously oversized, and they are priced well.

I usually deep fry mine, but was also really happy with the 2 hour 450F oven roast of a brined turkey.

[Mexjewel]

Heard some market had whole turkeys for $7 but forgot which market. Anyone

[Cathy]

Vons with $25 additional purchase

[pRon]

fresh&easy has .59 cent pre brined hen & tom turkeys this week...d;^)

http://www.freshandeasy.com/

I tried two last year and they were pre-brined with a gravy bag!

BTW: I just bought one for $.39 a pound...

[escondido123]

Heritage turkey--Narraganset-- from Jimbo's in Escondido. Had one 2 years ago and it was wonderful. Almost like duck so just roasted with herbs and salt under the skin--mainly dark meat if that's an issue.

[Josh]

I'm a big fan of Alton Brown's method for turkey roasting. It involves brining and high-temperature searing, followed by standard roasting. It produces a very juicy and flavorful bird.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/al...

For sourcing, I know you can get turkeys from Mary's at Whole Foods, and I believe Curtis Womach also does them, but I think you'd need to have ordered one some time ago from him.

[Alice Q]

Curtis did turkeys last year, but not this year. I'm bummed - we fried one of his last year, and since it was not just a giant ball of breast meat, it worked really well. Still looking for a similar option for this year!

[The Office Goat]

I posted one!

Edit: We're not doing it this Thanksgiving (letting Stone do it all this time), but I'm seriously considering picking up one in December. If anyone does it this month, I want to read the report!

[Alice Q]

I saw that - but $145 is a lot for a turkey, even a humanely raised one. We don't absolutely have to have one this year since we are joining friends for the meal - so we will probably pass.

[firecooked]

This will be my first T-day in San Diego too, so hoping for some goods rec's on turkeys. Would love to get a heritage bird. I will be trying out my new sous vide on turkey this year...

[steveprez]

Interesting! How long will it take to sous vide (if that can be used as a verb) a turkey??

[firecooked]

You break the turkey down into parts, and from a couple of sources, it looks like 2 - 2 1/2 hours, plus a final sear to get it brown. Still working to figure this out. There is a Michael Voltaggio video (William Sonoma) that is fairly informative, plus a Grant Alchatz video (YouTube) thats pretty funny.

[master815k]

I watched the Food netowrk special the brothers did and he broke it down. Going tomorrow to get a turkey! Thx everyone!

[DiningDiva]

Iowa Meat Farms, Sisels and Whole Foods all offer turkeys that are not commerical Butterball.

I like the Diestel turkeys from NorCal and usually get mine from IMFs. Whole Food's carries Mary's turkeys. I'm not sure Curtis Womach does heritage birds, but his would be just about the only pastured turkeys in the county. You need to reserve early for one of Curtis' birds and he usually sells out early.

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Iowa Meat Farms
6041 Mission Gorge Rd, San Diego, CA 92120