When facing Thanksgiving, food editors are not so different from home cooks in that we prepare the same basic meal every year. But we all crave variety, even in this most traditional of holidays.
I admit to a moment of rebellion that usually hits around now. After a brief fantasy of a cooking-free holiday on a beach, I return to my senses and order the bird. This year, it’s a “Standard Bronze” heritage breed raised on sunflower seeds and prairie grass by Dave Queen of Franktown.
A “heritage” turkey is basically the kind the pilgrims ate, as opposed to the heavy-breasted birds bred and frozen for modern Thanksgiving tables. These turkeys have more flavor and cost more than the unnaturally heavy and unnaturally cheap grocery store variety.
In keeping with our Colorado theme for the meal, we rounded up a list of local turkey growers. The Food section will have main-dish recipes next week, and if you want to prepare them with a regionally raised bird, visit coloradoproud.org or reserve a turkey now from one of the sources below.
Dave Queen has about 30 heritage turkeys left on his free-range Shady Springs Ranch near Castle Rock, and will deliver the birds, processed at a USDA-certified plant, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. They range from 18 to 25 pounds at $4 per pound. Call 303-660-5569 or send him an e-mail at heritageturkey@aol.com.
After The New York Times wrote about Kansas grower Frank Reese’s 2,000-bird surplus, Krehbiels Meat Market and Deli in McPherson, Kan., pitched in to help with the glut of orders. Saturday is the last day to reserve a pasture-fed heritage turkey raised on Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch in Lindsborg, Kan. They come in 10-12, 15-17 and 18-20 pounds at $4.49 per pound; an 8-pound turkey breast is $6.95 per pound. A 12-pounder will be about $54, and shipping and handling for next-day air is $100, second-day air is $60. Call Krehbiels at 877-240-0103 or visit the website at
krehbielsnaturalmeats.com.
Marczyk Fine Foods has American Bronze and Blue Slates from eastern Colorado for $5.99 per pound. Order at 303-894-9499.
A note about bird flu: The avian influenza strain moving through poultry around the world is not present in the United States. Imported poultry must meet all U.S. safety standards, and currently, “no poultry from flocks with confirmed cases of high-pathogenicity avian influenza or reportable types of low-pathogenicity avian influenza (H5 or H7) are allowed to be exported to the United States,” says the USDA website. So your frozen and fresh turkeys are safe this year.
What to do this week
Get take-home containers at a restaurant supply store for easy leftover distribution. Try one of these:
The Restaurant Source, 5005 Washington St., 303-399-6490.
Cresco Restaurant Equipment, 751 Billings St., Aurora, 303-343-3333, Interstate 225 and East Sixth Avenue.
Standard Restaurant Supply, 1420 Oak St., Lakewood, 303-231-9355, near West Colfax Avenue and Kipling Street, and 6337 N. Federal Blvd.
Take menu to the liquor store for wine pairings.
Stock up on nonperishables like canned stock and any spices you don’t have.
Still nervous? Cook Street School of Fine Cooking offers basic training 6-9:30 p.m. Nov. 17, 18 and 19. The Thanksgiving workshop will cover techniques, time lines and recipes for turkey, thyme-cognac gravy, bacon-chestnut dressing, orange-rosemary cranberry sauce, and pumpkin tart with walnut streusel.
Cook Street also offers a pie class Nov. 21. Both classes are $79, call 303-308-9300 or go to cookstreet.com for more info.
