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Sunday, December 20, 2009

How to Avoid Thawing a Turkey

Usually around Thanksgiving time, Ethan cooks a turkey and I freeze it for the meat for the year. We didn't get around to getting one last year with all of the building and moving, but the year before that we did. I remember that it was a big one, and I remember Ethan saying, "I'm never getting one this big again!".

Well, this year Ethan brought home a turkey. Obviously he didn't remember his declaration because it was a 24 lb turkey. In order to save freezer space, I canned all of it this year. So here is what a 24 lb turkey yields - along with a few meals and turkey sandwiches.
Next year we hope to have a non-Walmart turkey. I will see if I can convince Ethan into getting another 24 lb turkey so we can see the difference in amount of meat.

(Also, if you don't get my title, you will have to read the previous post.)

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2 comments:

Bellebouche said...

I would say its not the size of the turkey that counts - it is the way it lived its life before being killed. I would much rather have a smaller bird that has foraged free range and had a good quality of life and is tastier to boot than have a large intensive reared factory farmed animal.
How do you can the meat? - we make rillettes and pate here in France.
Regards
Bellebouche

The Beginning Farmer's Wife said...

Bellebouche-
The great thing about naturally raised turkey is that you will get more meat than factory raised so a smaller bird might not be that much less meat. We've been so overwhelmed with all of our set up that it was kind of a last minute grab a turkey deal. If we don't raise one next year I hope to order one naturally raised.

For canning, I cube up all of the meat Ethan can get off of the bird, pack it into jars, and then fill it with broth up to the head space. I boil whatever we don't get off of the bird to get the broth and also any meat that comes off will go with the broth. I then can it according to the times my pressure canner gives me.

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