You know that other one, that isn't chicken, and isn't pork either, or cornish game hen. I'm talking about turkey here!
Growing up my family would often experiment with turkey are a substitution for other meats. Turkey is considered leaner, healthier and I think cheaper than things like beef or pork. I'm not sure if any of that is true but that's how it was marketed. The only thing I really remember from then is that ground turkey in spaghetti always tasted funny. Everything else is kind of a blur. Recently my wife and I have decided to test drive the whole turkey substitution thing again. Our thought is why not? If it tastes good then we found a new thing to eat. If not we don't buy it again. Here are the results so far.
Turkey burgers - This was the first turkey substitute product we purchased. We had just finished a large pack or frozen burgers and when buying more decided to give turkey ones a try. As for the healthy part it did seem these had much less grease oozing out of them while being cooked. This also caused much less of a mess being made when grilling these on the stove top. Unfortunately less fat content also means they burn to the pan easier, are dry and have less flavor. That may seem bad but they actually didn't turn out that bad at all. Definitely not a complete replacement for real burgers but I do occasionally crave a turkey burger. With the right seasonings and toppings they are pretty good. I'd definitely go for more in the future at the very least to feel like I'm eating healthy again.
Turkey bacon - Yeah I know, blasphemy. How dare I try to replace real bacon! I was wary too but turkey bacon is pretty awesome stuff. Again it has less oozing grease and noticeably doesn't get as crispy and shriveled as normal bacon but it tastes great. Better yet it still smells like real bacon. My bedroom and office tend to get all the cooking smells in them. The bedroom smell is nullified with some well placed Scentsy and candles but my office smells like bacon for days! That and I'm not a fan of super crispy (aka burnt) bacon anyway. I assume it tastes the same because most the flavor has to do with how it is cured anyway. Kind of like the whole 'tastes like chicken' thing. If you prepare it like chicken it tastes like chicken. If you prepare it like bacon it tastes like bacon. When in Rome do as the Romans. Once a thief always a thief. It takes one to know one. And so on.... Plus turkey whatever is 'healthy' so I can go back to my pack a day.
Turkey meatballs - This one was kind of random. We were out at Sam's Club buying mayonnaise by the gallon and decided to check out their lazy food section. We noticed that instead of their normal mystery meat meatballs they also had turkey ones. Again we said, "why not?" This was the end of good turkey products for us. These are just plain nasty. They keep with the no ooze and dry pattern but they also tasted horrible. Not sure how to explain it beyond lack of any discernible or desirable taste. It's just balls of bleh. Oh well can't win them all.
And for all you vegetarians out there, tofu stuff is disgusting. Go eat some tasty animals!
