The perfect wine for Thanksgiving

LOL

Maybe he means the "cool" bottle matches well with any tacky vases you put on the table?

It goes well with Pecorino cheese, but ONLY wine to go well with turkey....a bit too far maybe??

UC schrieb:

It is the most under-appreciated wine of Italy!

Hey, don't talk about the bottle. It's cool!

Interesting that a man who only drinks Italian wines would choose to consume turkey, a decidedly un-Italian meat. "Tacchino" would have to be the most boring of all bird cuts. I suppose you'll enjoy it roasted with pumpkin too, and put pineapple on your pizza...

Marcello

There are Italian turkey recipes. Who says I'm having turkey? The recommendeation is for other people who want a wine to with their Thanksgiving-day dinner.

I understand the reaction Marcello, but in fact turkey came to Europe long ago and at the time it was considered to be the best of meats, something of a luxury for the nobility, especially in France, but also in neighbouring countries. So while it was never part of italian peasant cooking, it became a very European dish.

In the last 30 years it has even entered many italian homes as a Christmas dish (sadly replacing the tradition of eating fish for Christmas).

Here in France turkeys are raised to something a lot smaller than the mastodontic proportions of their US cousins, and in fact it is very good, much more tender and juicy, not tough and fibrous. It still has this aura of a specialty, in fact, did you know that by law you cannot sell a whole turkey here before sometime in december? And I have never seen it frozen, only fresh. And it was never served with cranberry sauce, although even that is changing...

Now from there to declaring that Velletri rosso is the ideal match for turkey, well, that is classic UC posturing, and when UC does this he does it so well! ;-)

Cheers

Mike

Marcello Fabretti wrote:

There is a trend to breed and sell smaller turkeys in the US. Families are smaller and more scattered than in the past, and many will rebel against large turkeys after buying one monster and having to eat it for days or weeks after the holiday. My late father especially disliked being served turkey more than once or twice.

The wild native turkey of the US is far different from the usual domestic bird. It is usually much smaller, has less breast meat, and has less fat. If you just plain roast a wild adult bird as you would a domestic one, you are likely to have some very tough meat. A very old lady once cooked a wild turkey and gave it to my mother. It was fairly tender. I was too young then to remember much, but I believe it was cooked in a heavy covered pot at about a simmer for a very long time. Wild turkeys are still around. In fact I have a few on some timber land that my father left me. I just leave them alone. They are not destructive, and other animals keep their numbers under control.

From Italy dolcetto Ratti &Vietti are perfect---Giacosa and Altare are way too tannic. Also Chianti from Colli Fiorentini or Colle Pisane Bardolino--not Bolla but Madam Rizzardi's

Hi Mike,

Do you know this for a fact? We've never had any trouble getting a thanksgiving turkey here, even in Paris.

I've never had a US bird approaching french quality, including the free range ones we got in SF: Willy Bird and something Ranch. I think either the diet or breed must be different.

There do appear to be several different breeds available, although I'm no expert. In mid december they have a Turkey Fair at a local town where folks buy the bird live. It's quite a display. We prefer buying prepared from one of the local farmers, but last year we ordered one through the butcher that was excellent (although expensive). (That's for TG, we eat rib roast at xmas).

-E

Not destructive? R U kidding?

Don;t get me wrong - I love wild turkey - especially on the dinner table - but they can be very destructive. Here in the Sierra Foothills we have a lot of turkey - and they can make a mess of a garden.

"They are not

Sorry I meant november... try to get one in september: INTERDIT! But you can get breasts or legs anytime during the year.

"Ric" wrote in news:6O19h.2683$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net:

I live in the university area of Pittsburgh, that is, Capital U Urban - I saw 5 young turkeys while walking to work one morning. In the front of a large apartment building. They would have had to walk several blocks down the sidewalk to get where they were! =8-O Word is, some of the turkeys near the bike trail will attack the bicyclists...

PS haven't decided which wine to have, as I haven't decided yet which way I'll cook the bird... ;) :) Happy T'giving, all! d.

I actually like wild turkey, but many people don't - meat can be tough and stringy, and too gamy for some. I don't mind as long as it isn't dry (bacon on the breast helps). A more crowd-friendly alternative is a heritage breed (I'm partial to Naragansett) - not much breast meat, but way more flavor. Free range and kosher birds are ok. Keep those butterballs with the injcted fluid and popup timers off my table, please.

cwdjrxyz wrote:

Yup, I like turkey once a year with mashed potatoes and gravy. Don't like leftovers, turkey sandwiches, any cold cut sandwiches containing turkey, or any turkeys still remaining in Washington. :-) Wines: I'll stick with Zin, PN, Riesling, and maybe a Vouvray. Dick R.

I love a challenge. That's why I moved here. I'll report at a later date.

-E

I have tried wild turkey many times and the only way I get it tender is cooking it in a bag and larding the meat. They are actually pretty cool animals when you watch them for a while. So much different from domesticated turkeys. There are domesticated turkey options now that have hormone free, non-injected no pop-up timer birds and they are quite tasty as well.

I quess it depends on the location and how many turkeys there are. They certainly do no damage to my timber land, and larger animals such as foxes, wolves, and bobcats keep the number of turkeys under control. Now I can name a very destructive animal, and that is a beaver. When my father was still alive, some beavers cut down many young trees and pulled them into a small pound to build a large structure in it.