Fitness Gear: Test Your Turkey IQ! - Fitness Training For Life

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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Test Your Turkey IQ!

By Joe Wilkes

True or False?

Turkey - False: Young tom turkeys have tenderer meat than older birds. Actually, the older tom turkeys are tenderer than the young toms, which tend to be more muscular and stringy. However, it is the opposite with hen turkeys. The older hens tend to be far tougher birds. So young hens and old toms are the way to go, something my more seasoned friend Tom has long averred.

True: Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird instead of the eagle. Franklin thought the eagle was an ignoble, cowardly bird and was more favorably inclined toward the turkey. In his own words, in a letter to his daughter:

For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him. With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District. He is therefore by no means a proper Emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our Country . . . I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.

King Henry VIII - False: The turkey was domesticated in Canada. The turkey was domesticated in Mexico and Central America by the Incans as early as 200 BC. It was brought to Europe in the 16th century. Henry VIII was the first king of England to eat turkey, and he is often portrayed in his portly years with a turkey leg clenched in his fist. Edward VII popularized the eating of turkey at Christmas, a tradition which 90 percent of modern-day Brits enjoy today, roughly the same percentage as Americans who eat turkey for Thanksgiving.

True: Forty-five million turkeys are eaten in the U.S. on Thanksgiving. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they are "begun to be eaten." About a sixth of the American turkey population is ingested the fourth Thursday in November every year. Turkey has steadily risen in popularity, as it is higher in protein than chicken or beef and lower in fat. The average American now eats around 17 pounds of turkey a year.

Stove - False: The temperature of a cooked turkey thigh should be 140 degrees. Only if you're serving Turkey a la Salmonella! The temperature of the deepest part of the thigh should be 180 degrees for safe eating. However, I recommend cutting off the breast meat a little earlier. Because of the size of the bird and its low fat content, the breast is often overcooked and dry before the thighs are cooked through. It's not as glamorous a presentation as tableside carving, but you'll get juicier results if you cut the breast meat off first and let the rest of the bird cook through a bit longer on its own.