Commentary
Related Photos
-
photo by Lynn Agajanian / Indian
Turkey talk, 2009
It’s that time of year again, when serious cooks begin planning their Thanksgiving meal. We’ll be scanning November issues of cooking magazines for new dishes to try, dusting off the recipe cards for the family favorites that appear on our table each year, and DVRing hours and hours of the Food Network. Thanksgiving is chief among food holidays. This time of year I usually encourage readers to consider bypassing grocery store turkeys for farm-fresh birds. Sure, a frozen Butterball will work just fine, but a fresh turkey, one that was roaming free just a few days before the big day, seems so much more ceremonial.
In years past, our family has made selecting our Thanksgiving turkey a tradition on par with cutting a Christmas tree. When we get one from a farm, we make an afternoon of it, visiting with the farm family and catching up our lives over the past year. Sometimes we don’t make the trek to the country, but opt for buying a farm-fresh bird from one of a few locally-owned butcher shops where we learn about the breed of turkey we’re selecting and the farm family who raised it. This year there are more choices than ever for farm-fresh turkeys in and around central Indiana and here are a few of those options.
Promised Land Farms (9781 W. 275N, Thorntown) offers free-range birds that can be ordered and picked up a couple of days before Thanksgiving. You can arrange a pre-Thanksgiving visit to see the turkeys in action and meet Jim and Nancy Whelan. It is a fun trip for the whole family. They can be reached by phone at (765) 483-9268. Their Web site is www.promisedlandfarm.us.
Goose The Market (2503 N. Delaware St., Indianapolis) is a trendy retail shop in Indy’s Fall Creek Place specializing in top-rate foods from both near and far. They have a terrific year-round selection of meats, cheeses and all sorts of delicious foods. For Thanksgiving, they are offering turkeys raised by Gunthorp Farms in LaPorte. Guntrop raises these birds specifically for Gooses’ Chef/Owner Christopher Eley’s specifications. Orders for turkeys are being taken online at www.goosethemarket.com or they can be reached by phone at 924-4944. Goose The Market is where I’ll be getting our bird this year.
Moody Meats (11145 N. Michigan St., Zionsville) is a new shop specializing in beef, pork and chicken they raise themselves. Although the Zionsville location is new, it has been supplying customers with quality meats for years from its stores in Avon and Ladoga. Moody is getting its turkeys this year from a farm in Ohio. You can learn more about Moody at www.moodymeats.com or give them a call at 873-1800.
The original Thanksgiving was a time to give thanks for the harvest. You can certainly be thankful for the food you purchase at the local supermarket; but having on your table a few foods of more local origin can add a special dimension to your gratitude. Of course we don’t grow cranberries here in Indiana, and I’ll certainly have those on my table; but I’ll also have our locally-raised turkey, cornbread stuffing made from Indiana cornmeal and some great cheeses from a local dairy.
As we give thanks around our table, we’ll be especially thankful for our farmer and shopkeeper friends.
Scott Hutcheson is a food writer based in Lebanon. Visit the Hungry Hoosier Web site at www.hungryhoosier.com.
- Commentary
-
-
Oddities for sale
While searching the Internet for a gift for my eldest daughter, I happened upon a website that sold straitjackets.
-
My blending project
When I got divorced, I was certain that I would never get married again. Not only was I not interested in putting up with another man, but the divorce rate for second marriages is even higher than the rate for first marriages.
-
When stuck, act like a Chilean miner
On one side of the stair rail, two chubby legs kicked up and down as if in a swimming pool. On the other side, a tear-stained, reddened face howled for help.
-
The warnings of Sulfite
In my newsletter I try to touch on the subject of sulfite every few years because this seems to happen on a pretty regular basis. The latest visit was from the couple who were just back from Europe.
-
The numbers don’t add up
• 500 million: number of eggs recalled
• 1,300: reported cases of salmonella
• 82,000: number of hens allowed before a CAFO permit is required in Indiana
• 6: days needed for CAFO eggs to cool down
• 13: cost in pennies per industrialized CAFO egg
-
Untangling the Kudzu for a new school year
While walking the dogs on a country road the other day, I noticed a for sale sign on a lot hidden behind an overgrowth of vines and brush. The vague imprint of tire tracks nearby reminded me a house was visible on the lot a few short months ago. Gray, dilapidated and abandoned, nature totally disguised the house from sight after just one summer of neglect.
-
Germs are OK…sometimes
I saw a commercial last week for a motion activated soap dispenser. The announcer said something to the effect of did you know your soap dispenser pump is covered with germs?
-
Trying to tame the homework monster
“I can’t take it!! Four hours of homework every night — it’s just too much. What are these teachers thinking?”
-
Good year for crabgrass
Q: My lawn seems to be mostly crabgrass this year. What are reasons that my lawn has much more crabgrass than my neighbor’s lawn? A.N. Zionsville
-
The favor of a reply is requested
My best friend from high school used a rubber stamp and ink to stamp a message on the envelope of every letter he would mail (this was way before e-mail came about). The message said, “The favor of a reply is requested,” and it appeared just below a picture of an animal — I think it was a penguin.
- More Commentary Headlines
-
