-Mother in law broke her shoulder ice skating over Thanksgiving. She went in for surgery Dec 23. Spent Xmas trying not to take too many Oxycodone. - Wife went down with flu Dec 25. Slept pretty much until the 27th. - Daughter went down with the flu Dec 26. She's up, but we're letting her watch Miyazaki all day. - Despite that I've been through 36 eggs, 5 lbs of onions, 3 lbs of potatoes, two bags of carrots, a bag of celery, 2 cups of whipped cream, 2 bags of cranberries and a pomegranate in the past three days. Also a 15lb turkey, which was organic, which wasn't heritage, and had about as much flavor as a ream of copy paper and still cost sixty fucking dollars. - Got my daughter a big girl bed for her birthday (early Dec). My wife thought it would be "fun" to paint it. So. That's two boxes of IkeaSticks that need to be sanded, primed (2 coats) and painted brilliant blue (4 coats and counting) and I'm only one box of IkeaSticks in. Also, things look like shit because (A) 4-year-olds, even at their very best, aren't all that professional (B) JESUS FUCKING CHRIST FUCK SHERWIN WILLIAMS IN THE NECK. Four fucking coats of paint and I'm still seeing primer through it? You ever tried to control latex drips on pine with a brush through four fucking coats with a 4-year-old? On the plus side, the occupancy permit is in hand. We're permit #7 for the year. Yeah. 7. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go add coat #5 to this fucking bed.
IMO i'd go heritage before I went organic. I've found Organic doesn't really say anything about flavour, and farms that focus on Heritage breeds may not always be "organic" but they definitely treat their animals with a lot more respect. In contrast, a farm can be letter of the law organic and treat their animals like garbage and produce awful meat. Also, if you're going over say 12 lbs, you're probably better off getting two smaller birds. If you do choose a big bird, Spatchcocking is your friend when it comes to whole poultry. Heck, even just cutting it down the middle to get it to lay flat is a huge plus.a 15lb turkey, which was organic, which wasn't heritage, and had about as much flavor as a ream of copy paper and still cost sixty fucking dollars.
I'm a big fan of heritage breed turkeys. The issue is I got home Dec 1. My daughter's birthday was a week later. Two days after that we were in Alberta for a week. Two days after that my mother-in-law was in surgery. Two days after that was christmas. I don't know if you've tried hunting down heritage turkeys but it's a pain in the ass even at Thanksgiving; yeah, Whole Foods has them but they're Mary's Turkeys and when you ask them what breed, they say "heritage white." Uhhh... And then you realize that sure - you want to do two six pound turkeys. Have you ever tried to find a 6lb turkey domestically? They don't really exist. I almost did a goose this year but the family totally shot it down. As far as spatchcocking, I mean, stuffing is nature's perfect food. Granted, nobody in my family eats that either. Maybe next year I'll do burgers.
my family does homemade pizza for christmas dinner - get the kids involved putting on toppings.
I agree with coffeesp00ns spatchcock and cook at 500 degrees. A 10lb turkey will be done in right around an hour. Cook the stuffing separately. Why? Thermodynamics, a 10lb turkey with stuff is effectively 3+ in thick to the center spatchcocked its less than 1. It cooks more evenly because the heat doesn't need to penetrate that far in and there is less of thermal gradient. Also at 500 degress you get that crispy skin (assuming you separate it from the body dry brine it with salt and let it dry it first) As for Heritage birds, I agree with you cant get a true "Heritage" bird even at Central market or Whole foods. The birds that are Labeled Heritage are actually some sort of cross between a Heritage breed and a factory farm breed. The only way to get a real one is to either Mail order or order/pickup at the Ballard Farmers market and then they are quite pricy.