Chances are most folks in the area had a big meal featuring turkey as the main course last week. I was lucky enough to have two, a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at the Senior Center a week before the holiday and a family dinner at home last Saturday.
No other meat is so closely associated with a particular holiday as is turkey with Thanksgiving. Research shows more turkey is eaten at Thanksgiving than at Christmas and Easter combined.
Historians are still debating what was on the table at the first Thanksgiving. According to the accounts of Edward Winslow and William Bradford, the colonists provided harvested crops and sent men out to hunt. The Indians contributed five deer. Winslow also mentions corn and Indian corn. Bradford lists bass, cod and other fish and wild turkeys. A Food Channel editor speculated that the main course was venison roasted on a spit, turkey - roasted or boiled - and boiled fish.
Other records that survive from Plymouth show possible foods that may have been part of the Thanksgiving meal include lobster, rabbit, chicken, squash, beans, chestnuts, hickory nuts, onions, leeks, dried fruits, maple syrup and honey, radishes, cabbage, carrots, eggs and possibly goat cheese. They surely had breads also. Nodoubt they enjoyed a bountiful meal.
Founding Father Benjamin Franklin lobbied for the courageous turkey to be America’s national bird, not the “lazy” eagle. Franklin praised the turkey as “a true original native of America.”
The turkey has a long history in North America. Early Mexicans tamed the turkey in pre-Columbian times, according to an article in the current issue of Grit magazine, and turkey carcasses have been discovered at archaeological sites dating back nearly 6,000 years.
Wild turkeys are beautiful birds. Most domestic turkeys have white feathers but their wild relatives come in a wide variety of colors, including brown, black, reddish and iridescent blue.
Hunting turkeys in the fall is an American tradition with the sportsman. Bagging one is quite a challenge since wild turkeys can run in great bursts of speed and fly as fast as the national speed limit. Wild turkeys were almost hunted to extinction about a hundred years ago but have returned to safe levels thanks to conservation efforts.
Americans carved about 46 million turkeys this Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation in Washington, D.C. Arkansas can be credited with many of those birds. The state ranks third in turkeyproduction, trailing behind only Minnesota and North Carolina. Over 20 million had been raised and processed in Arkansas by the end of September. Yellville, in Marion County, holds an annual Turkey Trot Festival and hosts the National Wild Turkey Calling Contest in October.
Turkey meat is low in fat and high in protein. A nutrition specialist with the U of A Cooperative Extension Service declared turkey “one of the healthiest protein choices.”
Today’s increasing emphasis on healthy eating has caused turkey to be included on the menu more often, all year long.Turkey consumption has more than doubled since the 1970s, according to the Turkey Federation. Turkey chili, smoked turkey and deep-fried turkey have joined the traditional roast turkey as popular favorites.
Woman’s Day food editors, in the November issue, recommended letting the cooked turkey rest at room temperature 30-45 minutes before carving to redistribute the juices and “guarantee the most succulent slices.” They suggested allowing a half pound of turkey per guest or one pound if you wanted leftovers.
We fed 20 people on Saturday and had a 20 pound turkey but there was very little turkey left, not even enough for turkey sandwiches the next day. We do have the turkey carcass though, and the bones will soon be boiled to make some tasty turkey soup.
Susan Holland, who works for the Westside Eagle Observer, is a lifelong resident of Benton County.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 12/01/2010