Top 10s Top 10 types of turkeys

Date Published:

09/12/2008

Christmas Day will see families across Britain dividing into the cooks and the TV watchers. If you're in the first group and are planning to go with this most traditional of birds, start planning with Nick Gulhane’s guide to turkeys

Get in early

Early records suggest that it was a Yorkshire man, William Strickland, who returned from the New Worlde with the first turkey in 1526. Since then in most people’s minds turkeys exist as small, medium, large and extra large. Most retailers will have frozen birds on sale by now, and, given that millions of people like to get a head start on their Christmas prep, they’re already flying out of the freezers. Lidl frozen self-basting turkey comes in at £7.49 for a 4-4.4kg bird (7-9 people). Something of a similar weight will set you back £12 at Tesco or up to £20 for a Bernard Matthews Large Golden Norfolk Turkey 6.8-8.4kg.

Flock to the shops

One of the major plus sides of turkey is that it has a low fat content. 100g of breast meat has approximately 1.7g fat and only 155 calories. So if breast meat is all you ever like to eat then turkey crowns make perfect sense, given that they come without the wings and legs. Most of the major supermarkets stock crowns, some even come ready stuffed like Waitrose's Turkey Crown with pork, cranberry and orange stuffing, at £13.49 per kilo, while Aldi comes in with a credit crunching £5.20 per kilo.

More reasons to eat turkey

Apparently the first meal eaten on the moon by Armstrong and Aldrin was cold roast turkey. No doubt it was boneless to reduce weight, and boneless turkey joints are favoured by many people today - especially those fed up of sarcastic comments about their carving skills…. What’s more, they can come with the trimmings like Morrison’s Luxury Turkey Breast Joint stuffed with pork meat, thyme and lemon at £7.79 per kilo to Marks and Spencer's ballotine of turkey and chicken with redcurrant stuffing at £35 for 1.5kg. Apparently Her Majesty’s turkey dinner of choice is a ballotine.

Not just a turkey...an ethical turkey

Interest in animal welfare often coincides with the Christmas rush and most of the major retailers are gearing up for heavy demand for organic and free range birds. Marks & Spencer’s boast this year is that all their turkeys will be free range. Their ultimate turkey will set you back £32 (serving 5-7). A large Waitrose organic bird for up to 15 people will set you back between £72 and £95.

Three times a lady

Ever since Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall stunned the nation with his gargantuan ten bird roast, there has been an awakening of interest in this lavish approach to the main course. Those in the north of England will be well served by Booths. They pride themselves on sourcing locally wherever possible and their Adlington three bird combos of turkey stuffed with either chicken, pheasant or duck, go for £65 (10–12 servings). Elsewhere Marks & Spencer are up their ballotine tricks again with a four bird stuffing of goose, duck and chicken at £99 (10-14 servings).