Resting Your Thanksgiving Turkey

Some people ask why we butcher turkeys the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and not closer to the actual day it will be eaten.  If it’s sold as fresh turkey, wouldn’t you want it butchered the day before?  It’s a good question that requires some explanation about something called rigor mortise.

After any animal is slaughtered, it goes through rigor mortise.  Rigor begins within 3 hours after the animal’s death, and lasts for at least 3 days when refrigerated at 40 degrees F.  After rigor passes, the muscle tissue relaxes and becomes tender.  You might have heard about “aged beef”, which is a carcass that is hung in a refrigerated cooler for several days before it is cut and packaged.  If meat were to be eaten during rigor, it would be very tough.  For poultry, there is a “3-3” rule:  A bird will avoid rigor and be tender if it begins cooking before 3 hours after it dies, or after 3 days.

We don’t worry about rigor with store bought meats since it takes several days to get to the store.  With frozen store-bought turkey, we normally thaw that in the refrigerator for several days, giving the meat time to relax.

So we butcher the Saturday before Thanksgiving so the meat will be relaxed and tender by Thanksgiving day.  To properly cook your turkey, make sure it is 165-175 degrees F in the center of the breast.  Cook at 325 degrees F and count on 15 minutes per pound.

One important note.  Our fresh turkey has no added fluid injections.  Almost ALL store-bought turkeys have an added brine solution to add weight and salt.  Sometimes the solution is up to 18% of the weight of the bird!  When  you eat fresh natural turkey (or chicken), you may notice the meat is a little more dense.  To me, it’s about the consistency of really good pork.  You may also notice it has a deeper flavor as well.  It’s what turkey SHOULD taste like!

So that’s why we butcher on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  You get a fresh and natural turkey that won’t be tough when you share it with friends and family!

Happy Thanksgiving!