This turkey is just for Christmas

First things first. I have a declaration to make; I like turkey.

I know, I'm supposed to say it's an uninteresting bird, dry and bland but you see I've not really had too many bad turkey experiences. For a start I love the dark leg meat which, in my opinion, is the most flavoursome meat on the bird. There is always lots of lovely skin to go around, it smells fantastic as it cooks and don't get me started about the carcass and making loads of stock! Besides it's Christmastime folks and turkeys are to Christmas as chocolate eggs are to Easter. Well, they are to me.

For almost the last 20 years I've either spent Christmas in sunny, hot Australia or crispy-cold Ireland (bar a couple of occasions) and I've had great turkeys On The Day in both places. In Australia the turkey is cooked on a Webber ("Here, Pete, throw a turkey on the barbie will ya?... OK, mate, pass me a cool one.") and in Dublin we've had either a whole bird or a turkey crown ("God almighty, how the hell am I going to fit this effin bird in that effin oven?"). Obviously you can see that I've had the good fortune of being spoiled by good cooks in both locations and I've happily enjoyed the results of all the methods of cooking the birds (note: I am a delightful guest) but now I've just gone and ruined it all.

You see, now I've tasted a great turkey! Great texture to the meat, great taste (yes, even the breast meat) dense and moist with sweet, gamey dark meat all underneath a great crispy skin (good fat coverage gives that, I'm told). Oh and there's lots of meat. This bird comes with a high meat-to-bone ratio which makes it an economically sound purchase. Maybe this is why this particular bird sells well in Scotland. Those canny Scots know that if one is making a key purchase one should spend well and that means getting the best for your investment (please note I do not say 'cheap' or 'most' or 'bargain'). A country that values the sublime nectar that is a single malt whisky, values taste and quality. 'Nuff said.

So, you ask, pens at the ready, what's the bird? A Norfolk Black? Bronze? Bourbon Red? Narragansett? Nebraskan? Blue? Buff? Pied? Standard White... well, perhaps. For it's not so much the breed (although that does play a part, especially for size) but it's the method of rearing, the maturity of the bird and the final production which in combination affects the final product. Which, of course, makes sense. If you feed a bird well, let it run around like it should, keep it happy and healthy, raise it with love and care without any chemicals, allow it to develop fully and make its slaughter as low stress as possible then you have the basis for great eating bird.

Copas have been raising turkeys on their farm in Cookham, Oxfordshire since 1957. A few weeks ago a small group of bloggers bounced out from London in a little minibus to wander around the farm and find out about their rearing methods. We were met and guided around the farm by general manager, Ed Hurford and marketing manager, Jodie Cavaye. We learnt about the feed they give to their 40,000 or so birds (they mix their own special cereal-based feed), how they have up to 25 varieties of breeds to allow for variations of size, how they buy their birds from quality assured breeders and how they raise their birds from a day-old chick to full maturity for 5 -7 months just in time for the Christmas market. And only for the Christmas market. This really is a turkey "just for Christmas".

What that means, to us the happy cook or diner, is that we get a bird that has had time to develop its body which naturally impacts on taste and texture and not one that is butchered when it gets to a specific size regardless of maturity. If you want a smaller size bird then choose a breed that is small at maturity. We were informed that Copas hand pluck the birds, you read that correctly. Hand. Pluck.

Each year 200 hand pluckers are employed for a 10 day period during which time each bird on the farm is humanely killed (after being herded in groups of 5 into the on-site abbatoir where they are killed individually, unseen by the following bird, to reduce stress) then passed on to the hand pluckers. Because they dry-pluck the birds they can hang them like game birds without fear of contamination and because the Copas method of dry-plucking is by hand they can hang the birds for a full 2 weeks. As a comparison the standard supermarket turkey is intensely raised, slaughtered from as little as 2 months as they reach various 'commercial' sizes, regardless of maturity. Intensively reared turkeys are also wet-plucked which means they need to be packaged and sold quickly. Google to read more about wet-plucking, not joyful reading.

Needless to say after our walk around the farm and all that turkey talk we were absolutely famished and looking forward to the tasting (turkeys are hilarious by the way, they love to follow movement and trailed all around us as we walked in the cherry orchards which they roam about in. They also like the colour red, I was wearing a red tunic and so had many, many feathered fans.). Owners Tom and Brenda Copas welcomed us into their home and we sat down to dine with the friendly Copas clan for a late lunch.

I felt we were in Australia. It was the hottest day in any October since records were kept 101 years ago (it hit 29.9C that day) and we were sitting down to a pre-Christmas, Christmas Lunch. We all 'ooohed' and 'aaahed' when 2 large golden, crispy turkeys were delivered to the table. Tom gave an impromptu carving demonstration and a cooking tip - don't cook your bird trussed up but leave legs out, very loosely tied together at ankles (stops them spreading too far apart) that way the heat doesn't have to penetrate through bent legs to get to rib section, this will mean an quicker, more even cook. Smart.

Carving demo over we handed up our plates. Each came back with a mix of white and dark meat and skin. One word; fanbloomintastic.

That's when I realised I was now a spoiled woman. Ah, well.

This Christmas I'm staying put in the UK. We'll be eating turkey and I've seen where it lived.

Copas turkeys can be ordered through good independent butchers and retailers. They have a variety of sizes of whole birds, turkey crown or rolled turkey breast. For full details visit their website or enquire at your local butchers.