How to Select a Turkey

If you're serving turkey at a holiday meal - or any other time of year - follow these tips for choosing a quality bird.

Things You'll Need

• Turkeys

Instructions

1. Figure on 1.3 lbs. of uncooked bird per person. For more leftovers, allow for 2 lbs. or more uncooked turkey per person.

2. Order a fresh turkey online, from your meat market, from a grocery store or a nearby farm so it arrives no more than two days before you plan to cook it.

3. Allow two to three days for a frozen turkey to thaw in the refrigerator if you've bought a frozen one. It takes 24 hours to defrost each 5 lbs. of turkey in the refrigerator.

4. Pick a male (a tom) if you want a high proportion of white breast meat.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're feeding a crowd, remember that two small turkeys will cook faster than one big one.

• Most so-called fresh turkeys have actually been stored for several weeks at subfreezing temperatures before you buy them, but they still taste better than frozen turkeys, which have been in the deep-freeze much, much longer.

• Because of the backlash against mass production of poultry, you can also choose from free-range, organic and natural poultry. All of these birds are more expensive than frozen birds.

• Free-range means the bird had ready access to the outdoors. It does not necessarily mean it is organic.

• Almost all organic birds are, by choice of producers, free-range. Organic birds are raised without antibiotics, on feed that was grown in fields that have not been treated with chemical fertilizers or pesticides for at least three years.

• Natural birds are not clearly defined. If you're worried about the broad definition of "natural," stick with an organic bird.

• Never thaw a frozen turkey at room temperature; you'll have an invading army of bacteria.