I think I paid 60 CHF for a small Lidl one here.
Yeah, I think I know where Lidl.ch sources those birds–there are massive operations in Swabia they can negotiate with and their profits from there would be equally huge. Not so true in AT.
My family used to raise turkeys, and as a result I am very picky, and this one was really pretty good.
I’ve seen videos of people in the US deep frying whole turkeys out in their back gardens. The results look horrible 
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you could try some of these suppliers
Not a huge fan of turkey, but that footage has succeeded in putting me right off ha ha
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Depending on the size, such turkeys can take days to thaw in the fridge.
Trying to fry them half-thawed is going to cause problems.
Doing that on your veranda of your mostly-built-from wood home, the turkey is the smallest problem…
Don’t fry/roast mine anyway. They go into the oven in a covered container with some gravy and cook for recommended time. Meat falls of the bone usually cooked that way and keeps the meat nice and moist too.
If I had a $, €: ¥ or franc for a dried turkey I’d be a very rich man. I even had a green turkey once, my sister didn’t think before putting cloth strips around it to aid in extracting it from the pan.
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I stuff it the night before, wrap it in foil, and turn it on in the morning
Website?
Do you stuff it? I normally put my hand under the breast skin, and put some of the stuffing in there to keep it moist.
Agreed it’s pretty bland meat, but I’ll do a sage and onion, parsley and thyme, or my mum often did a chestnut stuffing. But also, gotta have bread sauce, cranberry sauce and I normally make a pretty good gravy with chicken stock, white wine, and the turkey dripping.
My sister used to love that with her turkey sandwiches on Boxing Day.
Click on either of the two blue hyperlinks in my post.
I should hope so at 4 x the price! But surely it’s how you stuff and cook it. Turkey is notoriously bland, hence all the trimmings. Dons forget to add chipolatas, finely wrapped in bc a slither of bacon
That’s part of it but also the conditions in which the Turkey was bred make a huge difference.
Free-range birds, allowed to exercise have richer, more flavoursome meat.
Wild birds taste even gamier.
The colour is even different - darker.
So, yes, generally, the more you pay for a bird, the better the taste.
(But that’s subjective as a lot of people prefer a blander taste - hence the lack of wild game on sale and the preference for chicken breast over thighs).
Then you get the US idea of brining their turkeys which removes any of the richer flavours and makes the meat taste even blander.
We decided just to have a couple of goose breasts for Christmas instead. Haven’t had goose for some years and we don’t need a turkey just for the 2 of us.
I don’t think Festive meals are ever about need. It’s more of a want thing.
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I didn’t realise it had that effect. Never quite understood their fascination with it, nor their apparent preference for deep frying the whole thing.
I know many of them bang on about moistness, but the simplest way to make sure the meat is not dry is to get it out of the oven when it’s just reached the optimum temperature, then let it stand, well-wrapped in foil, for an hour (or up to 3 IME) before serving. Anyway, that’s what the gravy is for.
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Thanks for making me realise that I’m still not used to Swiss prices.
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