Cooking!daughter & I have agreed to make a large roasted spatchcocked chicken + some turkey parts for T-day. But we're also only having 8 ppl -- turkey *can* be better if you're cooking for The Whole Gang
That's part of my point. Most people don't know how to roast that big a bird and as a result, most turkey dinners end up some combo of over/undercooked. As an amateur cook with a wonky domestic oven, it's easier to get a consistent result with a smaller bird.
There is only one way to make your average turkey more succulent (I am trying not to say m***st but you know what I mean) than a lovely roast chicken and that is to do it Texas-style in a giant hot oil fryer. It is a holiday game changer with or without the third-degree burns.
Turkey is inferior to chicken - in the way that a changeup is inferior to a fastball. It's still perfectly good as an occasional alternative, just to give the taste buds variety, but not every meal.
Buy an heirloom turkey. The taste will bring you back to the holiday. (Buy two if you have a lot of people attend. Heirlooms don't have the massive breasts and thighs of the usual domestic birds.)
My youngest kid got into “beggar’s Chicken” and now that’s our staple Thanksgiving roast: stuff a chicken with rice, mushrooms, and Chinese sausage. Wrap it in lotus leaves. Cost it in a salt batter. Bake for forever. Open with a hammer. Eat.
Yes, you have simply spoken the truth! For the last several years my family has done a chicken, as it’s usually just the 5 of us (so don’t need a huge bird), and honestly, chicken just tastes better.
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I am the Erasmus of Thanksgiving.
Anything bred for volume started losing taste. :(
That is what is referred to as a skill issue.