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Talking ‘Timeless Turkey’ at Ayrshire
It was time to talk turkey at Ayrshire Farm Nov. 2.
Farm proprietor Sandy Lerner invited local farmers, restaurant owners and food writers to Timeless Turkey 2009 – a blind tasting of nine breeds of heritage turkeys.
The nine that made their way to the tasting pans in Ayrshire’s Manor House, Lerner told her guests, lived in the same space, ate the same food (all-vegetable, organic-certified) and drank the same water. Ayrshire executive chef Rob Townsend cooked them all the same way – trussed, no salt (the arrive pre-brined), some basting – and even he did not know the breed of the individual birds he prepared.
“The tasting experience should be entirely due to breed,” Lerner said.
A quintet of chefs and food professionals -- the “celebrity chef” panel -- dined first in the privacy of the sunroom. Guests filled their plates with small chunks of light and dark meat, each identified only by a numbered toothpick. Neither chefs nor guests knew the identity of each sample until after the voting.
The Royal Palm, first bred in Lake Worth, Fla., in the 1920s, took first by one slim point in the chefs’ ratings over the Midget White, developed at the University of Massachusetts in the 1960s to meet demand for a smaller version of the popular Broad Breasted White. Third place went to the Chocolate, so named for its feathers and the dark brown of its shanks and feet -- a rare breed, possibly of French origin that was common in the antebellum South.
All the breeds represented meet the heritage breed criteria of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy – they are able to mate naturally (not true of the commercial, factory-raised turkeys); they have a long and productive lifespan and can live happily outdoors; they have a normal rate of growth.
The commercial turkey matures to market weight in four months or less. The heritage breeds require twice that or more.
That explains why the humane-certified, organically raised turkeys at Ayrshire cost more, than the one in the supermarket, Lerner said. No one at the factory farm is investing money to protect the environment, or to raise the animals in a natural environment. Even at her prices, ranging from $95 to $225 per bird, she will at best break even, Lerner said.
Panelist Ed Matthews, owner and executive chef, concentrates on local produce and meats at his One Block West restaurant in Winchester. The lush dark meat of the Royal Palm, reminiscent of dove, got his vote. “I love the rich, gamey flavor of the dark meat,” Matthews said.
Panelist Anya Fernald, founder and director of Live Culture Co., praised the “sweet finish" of the Royal Palm and the Narragansett. “That finish makes [turkey] distinct from chicken,” she said.
Chris Edwards, executive chef at the Restaurant at Patowmack Farm in Lovettsville; Lisa Brefere, founder and CEO of GigaChef Culinary Solutions; and Ayrshire’s Townsend rounded out the panel.
When Americans turn away from the inhumane and energy-inefficient factory farms, Lerner said, breeds like the ones she is raising at Ayrshire will be available to offer their genetic diversity – and their flavors – to American farmers and cooks.
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