Turkey for Christmas!?
A tradition worth starting...
This year for the first time ever I cooked the Thanksgiving Turkey. And I loved it so much I did it again a week later and found myself wondering “Why don’t we cook these more often!?”
Why I am writing about Turkeys after Thanksgiving?
I grew up in Connecticut, and for my family, like most in America, Turkey was a Thanksgiving staple. As you may know, 99 Counties proudly provides Thanksgiving Turkeys each year courtesy of the Jewell family in Decorah, Iowa. And we just so happen to have 99 beautiful birds left from this years Thanksgiving harvest, and we are hoping to sell them all by Christmas. I happened to mention this to my brother’s fiancée (Clementina) who is from Mexico City and she replied “Of course, in Mexico a Turkey is a Christmas tradition.” And so began my foray into understanding why Americans typically eat Turkeys for Thanksgiving and why some other cultures eat them for Christmas.
An abbreviated history of the turkey
The turkey is native to North America and there are two distinct species: the wild turkey (of eastern and central North America) and the ocellated turkey of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The wild species was domesticated by indigenous peoples and it was most likely this turkey that eventually reached Eurasia during the Columbian Exchange (the period of widespread transfer of plants, animals, metals, diseases and much more between the New World and the Old World in the years following Columbus’ discovery of the Americas).
How did the turkey get its name?
The classical Nahuatl word for the turkey “huehxōlō-tl” is still used today in modern Mexico in addition to the general term “pavo”. So why do we call it a “turkey”. Most likely because during the Columbian exchange the domestic variety imported to Britain came on ships from the Turkish Levant via Spain. Thus the association with the country of Turkey.
Why do we eat Turkeys for Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving did not become an official holiday until proclaimed as such by President Lincoln in 1863. Its roots however date back to 1621 when the English pilgrims in New England celebrated their first autumnal feast which was later described as the “first Thanksgiving”. In medieval Europe there was a longstanding tradition of serving large wildfowl, particularly among the aristocratic class. Thus when European settlers first came to America they would have seen wild Turkeys as a bounty and perhaps even a luxury that was easily attainable given their natural abundance and predictable patterns making them easy to hunt. Furthermore as turkeys are significantly larger than chickens, ducks, and geese they are great for feeding a large crowd, and as a turkey does not provide edible eggs, harvesting one was not considered wasteful.
Who celebrates Christmas with a turkey?
In Mexico a Christmas Turkey is one of the most ancient and traditional dishes due to its historical abundance and its roots dating back to the Aztecs. In England many debate whether to credit the King or Charles Dickens with starting the Christmas turkey tradition: in the 1500s King Henry the VIII is famous for having swapped out the traditional Christmas goose for a turkey; in 1843 Charles Dickens popularized a Christmas turkey in A Christmas Carol. Furthermore, similarly to the American settlers British farmers viewed turkeys as a more cost effective option to slaughter than chicken and cows which can be used for egg and milk production.
Why don’t more Americans have Turkey for Christmas?
Despite being overshadowed by Thanksgiving turkeys, according to Time magazine, Americans consume an average of 22 million turkeys each Christmas, and ~318 million pounds of Ham, given the average turkey weighs 15lbs it’s actually more or less a tie between the two in terms of popularity. I think the most logical explanation for why Turkey is not more readily associated with Christmas is because so many more turkeys (46 million) are consumed for Thanksgiving.
Why should you consider Turkey this Christmas?
Because it’s delicious, makes for incredible leftovers (did someone say Gobblers??) and they are on sale!
How to cook it?
Head over to the 99 Counties blog for our incredible Turkey recipe complete with a brine and compound butter, courtesy of the one and only Ruth Flaherty, a 99 Counties customer in the Chicago area.
To watch an amateur follow and cook this recipe you can follow along on instagram!
Note: A special thanks to the folks at Wikipedia, realsimple.com and Owtons.com where I sourced most of this knowledge from.