Turkey, Pies and More: Our Thanksgiving Resource Guide

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Thanksgiving is less than three weeks away and it’s time to start planning your menu and procuring your ingredients–especially your turkey. We’ve rounded up the best turkey, pie and full catering options out there, to make your day a snap. All you have to do is add wine. Or whiskey.

Where to Order Your Bird:
Marlow and Daughters: Raised at local farms upstate, these pastured birds are antibiotic and hormone-free. At $8.05/lb., a 12lb. turkey (which will feed 8-10 people) comes in at $96.60. Call 718-388-5700, visit the shop or visit Marlow Goods online to order. Pick up in South Williamsburg.

Fleisher’s: Fully pastured birds that are raised at Hidden Camp Farm, an Amish farm in the upper Hudson Valley. They’re organic, and antibiotic and hormone-free. At $7.50/lb. a 12lb. turkey will come to $90. Call the Fleisher’s Turkey Hotline to place an order or ask questions, 845-338-6666, or order at the shop. Pick up in Park Slope.

Non-turkey suggestion: “Believe it or not, turkey just doesn’t do it for some Thanksgiving celebrations,” says Emily Bonilla, Fleisher’s CEO. “For those who may want a slightly less conventional meal I’d suggest a rack of lamb crusted with whole grain mustard and some of the traditional herbs of the season like thyme and sage, finished with a local cider reduction. Who wouldn’t be thankful to have that on their holiday table?”

Fresh Direct: Yes, there is a Martha Stewart brand turkey. They’re humanely raised in “Amish country,” antibiotic-free and available via Fresh Direct for $3.19 a pound, which makes a 12lb. turkey (they only sell 10-12 pounders) $38.28. Martha’s birds have plastic pop-ups that tell you when they’re done, step-by-step instructions, plus recipes for stuffing and gravy and carving tips. Also, there’s a picture of Martha on the turkey’s plastic wrapper. Fresh Direct also sells a variety of other turkeys, priced from $1.79/lb., including kosher birds and turduckens–that unholy chicken-inside-a-duck-inside-a-turkey combo–for $7.59/lb. Local delivery or pick up in Long Island City, Queens.

Heritage Foods USA: All Heritage birds come from Frank Reese, a poultry farmer dedicated to raising rare heritage breeds including Standard Bronze, Bourbon Red, White Holland, Royal Palm, Black and Narragansett turkeys. They’re all pastured and antibiotic-free and the prices are flat, with a $45 FedEx charge: 8-10lbs $85, 10-12lbs $99, 16-18lbs $149, 18-20lbs $129 (all other sizes are sold out). Birds arrive via FedEx on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

Non-turkey suggestion: Patrick Martins, one of the founders of Heritage, said that he’d love to see chacroute–the classic Alsatian dish in which cuts of pork and sausages are braised in sauerkraut–on the Thanksgiving table. He then wrote in an email, “On Thanksgiving I like to remember the sea creatures that are so forgotten in the flood of turkey meat. In the spirit of elevating the lowliest on that I day, I like to pick the tiny anchovy and prepare him in a myriad of ways: over butter and toast or in pasta with capers.” Sounds like a plan to make your appetizers more interesting this year, and, you can order excellent Italian anchovies from Heritage.

Dickson’s Farmstead Meats/Good Eggs: Dickson’s birds are cage-free, antibiotic and hormone-free, barn-raised in Lancaster, PA and slaughtered at Madani Halal in Queens for freshness. You can get a 10-12-lb. birds delivered from Good Eggs, a new company that delivers throughout Brooklyn, like Fresh Direct for locavores, for $120. If you want to pick-up at their shop in Chelsea Market or pay for FedEx delivery, there are more size choices for $6.50/lb., smoked turkeys ($150 for a 12-14lb. bird) and turduckens ($250 for a turducken assembled from a 12lb. turkey, 8lb. Muscovy duck and a 4lb. chicken).

The Meat Hook: These birds are antibiotic and hormone-free and pastured-raised, meaning they get to walk around, foraging and scratching for bugs and whatever else turkeys find delicious. At $6.99/lb. a 12lb. bird comes in at $83.88. The largest birds, 18-20lbs. are sold out, but you can reserve your 10-12lb. or 14-16lb. turkey online or by calling the shop, 718-349-5032.

Non-turkey suggestion: Sara Bigelow, The Meat Hook’s general manager, suggested either a cassoulet–the long-cooked French bean and various meat marvel, or a capon for a smaller gathering. “Capons are larger than your average chicken, but fattier and a little more tender than a chicken of comparable size,” says Bigelow. “They’re a good size for four to six people, if you’re a small group and don’t want to tackle a turkey.”

Read on for cooked turkey and catering options, as well as our pie guide>>>

No guessing, just warming with a smoked turkey from Dickson's. Photo: Dickson's Farmstead Meats

No guessing, just warming with a smoked turkey from Dickson’s. Photo: Dickson’s Farmstead Meats

Pre-Cooked Turkeys:
Don’t want to cook a turkey? You can still get your gobble, gobble. Dickson’s smoked turkeys just need to be reheated. Mable’s Smokehouse in Williamsburg is selling small (feeds 8-10, $100+tax) and large (feeds 12-14, $125+tax) smoked turkeys for Williamsburg pick-up on Thanksgiving morning or delivery to North Brooklyn ($25) or the rest of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan ($40). Sadly Jive Turkey, the formerly Clinton Hill-based fried turkey emporium has relocated to Chicago, but you can still order about a million flavors, including fresh herb, honey pecan and jerk, starting at $79.95, plus $29.95 for delivery via FedEx. Their website is unneccessarily annoying, but if you can tough it out, the birds arrive on Tuesday, Nov. 26 and come with special reheating bags and instructions so that they will re-crisp in the oven.

Turkey and All the Fixins’, Delivered

Brooklyn caterer Naturally Delicious will deliver a free-range turkey, brined and marinated with herbs and ready to roast in a pan, along with gravy, fresh cranberry orange relish, butternut squash bisque with sage and four sides like sausage and wild mushroom stuffing and roasted brussels sprouts with apple wood smoked bacon. The pricing is $38 per person plus tax and delivery ($50 in brownstone Brooklyn), with an eight-person minimum, and homemade pies are an extra $25. (If you have fewer people coming, you could order off the a la carte menu.) When you consider that a free-range turkey on its own will run you $100, this is all very reasonable for an amazing feast that you won’t have to lift a finger to make. They even throw in a turkey baster! Just order online by Nov. 22, but when BB readers order by Monday, Nov. 11 you’ll get a free pie with your meal.

Fresh Direct delivers full Thanksgiving meals, including a fully roasted turkey, starting at $95 for dinner for two to three, and going up to $296 for dinner for 14-18 people. You also order a sides-only package for four to six, $65 or a Thanksgivukkah meal for four to six for $165, which includes matzoh ball soup, latkes, sweet potato kugel, challah and chocolate and carmel covered matzoh, among other dishes.

If you want to cook, but don’t want to brave the supermarket or farmer’s market, or schlep all those groceries on the train, Good Eggs will deliver all your local goodies including fresh turkeys from Dickson’s, pies and pie crust from Pie Corps, pumpkin whoopie pies from One Girl Cookies, fresh veggies from local farmers including the Brooklyn Grange, as well as cooked sides and breads. Good Eggs is also fantastic resource for gluten-free items like pies, soups and even breads, as well as vegan options without a tofurkey in site. Gluten-free, vegan gravy: they have it. Delivery will be available four days a week by Thanksgiving, throughout all of Brooklyn.

Pie Corps shakes up the pumpkin pie with a brown butter crumb and warm spices throughout. Photo: PIe Corps

Pie Corps shakes up the pumpkin pie with a brown butter crumb and warm spices throughout. Photo: PIe Corps

Pies, pies pies:
Here’s a Thanksgiving etiquette tip–never show up empty handed, even if your hosts don’t ask you to bring anything (in that case bring flowers or a nice bottle of what they like to drink and stash it away for another day). If it’s potluck, you can’t go wrong with a pie and yes, you can go ahead and try to pass one of these off as your own.

Four and Twenty Blackbirds: Salty Honey ($38), Salted Caramel Apple ($38), Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan ($40), Brown Butter Pumpkin ($38). Order online for pick-up at their Gowanus shop on Tuesday, Nov. 26; Wednesday, Nov. 27 or Thanksgiving morning.

Butter and Scotch: Bourbon Ginger Pecan ($35), Caramel Apple ($35), Pumpkin Spice ($35), S’mores Pie ($35). Order online for pick-up at Ronnie Sue’s Chocolates on the Lower East Side on Monday, Nov. 25-Wednesday, Nov. 27.

Pie Corps: Nantucket Cranberry Pie ($35), Spiced Pumpkin Pie with Brown Butter Crumb ($35), Maple Pecan ($35), Apple Crumb with Rosemary Caramel ($35), Pear Sour Cream and Rum Raison Cobbler ($35), Fig and Chocolate Truffle with Sea Salty Crust ($35). They also make savory pies, like  Roast Turkey with Sweet Potato and Rosemary ($45) and Roast Cauliflower Gratin ($35), plus mini-pies in  most of the sweet pie flavors. Order online for pick-up on Tuesday, Nov. 26; Wednesday Nov. 27 or Thanksgiving morning at their Greenpoint cafe and bakery. Or, order through Good Eggs for delivery, or to buy pie crust.

Allswell: Caramel Apple ($35), Chocolate Pecan ($38), Pumpkin ($35). Order online for pick-up at their restaurant on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg on Thanksgiving morning or before.

Sweet Deliverance: Organic Maple Bourbon Pecan ($60), Maple Bourbon Pecan with conventional pecans ($40), Apple Pear Wild Cranberry ($38), Meyer Lemon Shaker Pie ($38), Pumpkin with Praline Crust ($38), Apple Spice Cake with Maple Glaze and Candied Walnuts ($36). Order online by Monday, Nov. 25 for pick up on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at the New Amsterdam Market Office in Lower Manhattan, Bia in South Williamsburg or By Brooklyn in Carroll Gardens.

Brooklyn Kitchen: Will be selling pies, details to come soon. Or, take their pie class on Sunday, Nov. 10 ($65) for a lifetime of piemaking skills.

 

Thank Fred Flare for this turkey cap.

Thank Fred Flare for this turkey cap.

One last item: This turkey hat is on sale at Fred Flare for $19.99 right now. There is someone in your life who needs it.

 

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