Fresh Turkey [General]

2007 Oct 1
Any suggestions?
I have tried Aubrey's (in the market) very good. Expensive but good. Where do you get your fresh (all natural) turkey?

2007 Oct 1
I know Nature's Buzz takes orders for their turkeys which I *believe* are natural/organic. Not 100% sure if they're fresh or frozen though....

2007 Oct 1
Saslove's; antibiotic free.

2007 Oct 1
Any place to get a decent local bird without paying an arm and a leg?

I can't help but think it must be possible given that I get fresh local organic beef for lower than supermarket costs of non-organic.

I've bought a Saslove bird before, for example, but you pay $100 vs $35 for a lobaws bird.

What about a 15 lb local bird for $50? Possible?

2007 Oct 2
Aubrey's in the Market sell LOCAL and natural - which means no antibiotics. The problem I have with Saslove's is the price and the fact that they could not tell me where the birds were from. I like to buy local if I can, so far looks like Aubrey's will be the place. I will let you know how it turns out. I have had turkeys from there before and they were very good. I know the price will be double, I will let you know what I end up paying there.
thanks for the information.

2007 Oct 2
Can you give me the price on Aubrey's?
I guess I could call them and ask.

2007 Oct 2
I don't know what Aubrey's price for a whole turkey is but for a turkey breast I am paying $9 per pound.

cheers

2007 Oct 2
It's apparently $9/kg for the whole bird - just called. He said $4.08 per lb. Which ain't too bad considering Loblaws is $5 to $6.50 per kg. And the one I bought at Sasloves 2 years ago was about $100 for 12 lb which by my rough estimation is about $18/kg!

I will probably have to visit Aubrey's before the weekend.

2007 Oct 2
"The problem I have with Saslove's is the price and the fact that they could not tell me where the birds were from."

Was this Saslove's in the market, or the one on Wellington? I used to work at the one on Wellington and they definetly know where the birds are from. Very curious.

2007 Oct 2
zymurgist,

I am not sure how crazy Aubrey's get for Thanksgiving but I know for Christmas and Easter it can get nuts there if you don't put an order in advance. But I think they will still be taking orders so if your sure you know what you want you may want to give them a call as they will happily take orders over the phone... I put mine in on Monday.

I will say in general that the people at Aubrey's know there stuff. Obviously the owner, who is almost always there, is on top of things but there are usually 2 young guys that are pretty knowlegable about what they do.

Food is Hot, would you recommend the Wellington Sasloves over the one in the market based on your own experience? - I generally go to Aubreys but occassionally have went to Sasloves in the Market and the Glebe?? Meat Market on bank street.

cheers!

2007 Oct 2
In terms of customer service, ambience, and staff knowledge, I would definitely choose Wellington over the market (and yes, I already felt that way before I worked there lol). In addition to that, Wellington has home-cooked pre-prepared foods, which the market location does not have - better selection of products overall imo.

2007 Oct 3
Yes, I already ordered the bird from Aubrey's shortly after posting the above. Gonna pick it up on Friday.

2007 Oct 3
It's nice if you know a turkey farmer! LOL... I was sorely disappointed with the organic turkey we got from Saslove's a couple of years ago... very different from any farm fresh turkey I had ever eaten before. Plus, for a turkey, the price was outrageous (I didn't end up paying for it). I think Free Range Meats (freerangemeat.ca/) out in Bells Corners may be taking special orders for turkeys, and they've always had better prices than Saslove's (but not as much variety).

2007 Oct 5
Oh, drats. Wish I had seen this earlier.
I've been buying all my organic, fresh birds (chickens, turkey) from a small local farm out here in the country. One does have to order the turkey's ahead of time, but I think prices are much better than quoted in the posts above and I have never been disappointed in the quality (5 years?)

I'll get hold of the phone number so you can plan ahead for the next holdiay.

Kristl

2007 Oct 5
Would appreciate that Kristl - that's exactly what I'm looking for!

2007 Oct 8
Just wanted to post a message about my Thanksgiving bird; SO and I were short this month due to the CUPE strike and bought a frozen PC bird from the Loblaws at Baseline and Merivale. I grew up around the corner from Pusateri's in North Toronto and my mom always spent at LEAST twice as much on her fresh, free range birds from Pusateri's. My just-over 14 pound turkey cost less than $30, and was the juiciest most tender and flavourful turkey I've ever had (and it seemed my guests agreed)!. I really wish I had have saved the packaging, but I think it was labeled as "PC Young, Normandy butter basted turkey". A couple of dollars more than the cheapest frozen turkeys offered at Loblaws, but cheaper than the Butterballs)

If you are concerned with buying locally raised or free-range birds, I doubt this would be the answer for you; but if you are looking for a delicious bird that fits the budget, I highly recommend it.

I stuffed it in my mom's style (until it was almost bursting :) Now, where are my turkey stuffing boots? :))spread it with gobs of butter, and cooked it until the thigh meat registered 170 on my probe thermometer (about 4 hrs 45mins at 325). I'm posting this as much for myself as for others, as I really won't consider spending more on a turkey in the future unless I hear otherwise, and I need to be reminded! Hope everyone else's turkeys were as successful as mine! Happy Thanksgiving!

2007 Oct 8
This year we did something completely different, in recognition of the warm weather (and because we only needed a small bird this year): we spatchcocked the turkey and did it on the grill, and ate it with fresh local corn and roasted broccoli. No dressing, although I might bake some today to go with the leftovers. Turkey was not locally sourced, alas, we were a bit disorganized, just a Maple Leaf Prime. Dessert was apricot cranberry upside down cake.

2007 Oct 8
I was reading an interesting article in the Globe and Mail about turkey the other day - among other things it reveals that there are no real laws in Canada about what "free-range" entails and therefore the amount of space that the turkey is allowed to run around in can be as little as the "non free-range" opperations and can inexplicably still be listed as "free-range"; that is as little as 2 feet by 2 feet. Moral of the story: If you're looking for free-range, best to buy it yourself from a local farm where you have the opportunity to check out the facilities.

2007 Oct 8
While this is getting slightly off topic from the bird and more on topic with the credibility of free range, organics and whatnot, I'd like to throw this into the mix: www.macleans.ca


2007 Oct 8
That article is a good reason to get into a relationship with a local farmer that you can trust. CSA or otherwise. Organic or otherwise. People are all used to the idea of "having" a doctor, lawyer, dentist, mechanic, plumber or electrician. It's not that far of a stretch to get used to the idea of "having" a farmer, too. I trust both of my farmers completely!

2007 Oct 9
one of the best examples of someone who feels the same way about organic is Ian at Mariposa. Although not certified organic he has some of the most sustainable farming practices I know. (doesn't even have a tractor use horses !) The best source for trustworthy organic is probably the COG directory ( Canadian organic growers) Oh and if I can gloat for a minute we had a heritage organic turkey for 60 bucks for a 6 kilo bird for thanksgiving, and I picked it up right on the farm.

2007 Oct 9
Sadly, it seems my local organic farm no longer sells directly to the public.
I cannot for the life of me remember the name --- the owners are (old world) French, or Belgian---a family operation on Snake Island Road in Metcalfe. Phone number 613-821-3346.

Apparently they are now selling directly to someone at the Ottawa market....??? Who would this be????

Kristl


2007 Oct 14
Zymurgist,

What did you think of the quality of the Turkey you got from Aubrey's? I go there regularly and I am happy with what I get but I am always interested in what others think and how they would rate it in comparison to other vendors.

cheers!

2007 Oct 14
It was a great bird but given that this was the first time I've ever cooked a bird like this it's hard to say if it's any better or worse than a typical butterball or whatever

2007 Oct 24
I'm surprised that most of you seem to be more concerned about price than the kind of life turkeys have had. You know, like they ought to be able to run around and cluck and stuff? Before being slaughtered?

I know that by buying local one tends to buy from farmers that give birds a good life, but imagine the life of a butterball turkey. Factory farming indeed.

I do want to know where one can obtain an organic cooked turkey for Xmas -- does anyone know?

2007 Oct 24
Don't forget that most people are consumers with a finite amount of income, have to feed families, pay bills, etc. When people are hungry with not a lot of money, and not a lot in the pantry, I'm sure they'd be willing to eat a "formed" turkey made of pressed bologna.

Furthermore, the virtuosity of organic/free range/"Made in Canada" labels are all being questioned at this point...

And on that note, you may want to inquire at Brookstreet Hotel, Perspectives Restaurant for a cooked, free range bird for Christmas. I think they were doing that for Thanksgiving... though I could be mistaken about the birds being free range or organic, I wouldn't want to muddy up your conscience ;)

2007 Oct 25
I also think that most people just don't realise what a factory farm is and don't realise that this is how their meat is raised. They have visions of Old McDonald's Farm in their head.

2007 Oct 25
This is a "foodie" site - when I'm on this forum I like to talk about taste and feasability of being able to taste (ie: cost, location etc.). When I'm on the PETA website, I like to talk about animal rights issues. This is why I'm personally not surprised that people have not been sitting here debating what kind of life turkeys have. While this is a very important issue, perhaps people feel this is not the venue for it.

2007 Oct 28

I think any discussion of food should include these issues. I was at a conference with Carlo Petrini the founder of slow food a couple of years ago and he said "you cannot have gastronomy without social responsibility" and I couldn't agree more. We can't enjoy these sorts of hedonistic pleasures without considering their impact and how they are produced. I totally understand that people have food budgets but if we can at least give consideration to these issues than that is a good thing. There is a conference in November bringing farmers and chefs together in Ottawa the first was last year and it bodes well for the food scene in Ottawa.

2007 Oct 28
Yes, I have to agree with Bruce pretty much on all counts. And I heard about that event on the radio a while ago and am looking forward to following it this year.

How would a farmer get involved in that BTW?

2007 Oct 28
I would contact Heather Hossie at just food or Jantine at Ottawa Tourism they are organising the conference. I will be speaking at the conference. BTW I am also doing two classes at UE while here, bringing all sorts of goodies from the Island.