I don’t think any of us need to be told that the price of food has gone up in the past year or so. Between the pandemic and the interrupted supply chains, we are paying more for almost anything we need at the grocery store these days.
That includes the price of a frozen turkey. The USDA Turkey Market News Report reports that there has been an increase in this past year. Last year you would’ve paid $1.13 per pound of turkey but this year, the same turkey will cost you $1.36 per pound.
There are also some turkeys that are more expensive than others, and that includes the KellyBronze bird.
The Times of London has been calling it the “Rolls-Royce of turkeys” and for good reason. Rather than spending a dollar or so per pound, you may actually spend $13 per pound for this particular turkey.
The owner of Dickson’s Farmstand in Chelsea Market said that the demand for the high-priced turkey has only grown over the past year. It is one of the few places in the city that is selling the KellyBronze, and sales have surged this year, being up by some 50%.
It might come as a surprise to you to learn that these turkeys are from a British family who has been producing them for many years. Traditional white turkeys were raised and sold by the family in the 1970s. They decided to do something different in the 1980s by selling a burnt that was in greater demand and therefore, more expensive.
This particular slow-growing breed originally came from Mexico and they purchased the last stock of them. According to the New York Post, 58-year-old farmer, Paul Kelly, said: “It has a more distinctive Turkey flavor.”
Many celebrity chefs, including Gordon Ramsay, have been singing the praises of this turkey as being the best of the best. More than 50,000 birds are sold by the Kelly family that are raised on dozens of farms throughout the UK.
A 138-acre farm was purchased in Virginia in 2014. These turkeys were wildly popular in Europe but now they wanted to bring them to the United States. In 2018, they started selling the birds and they were instantly successful.
Last year, they sold 2200 birds, but this year, they expect to sell about 3400 Thanksgiving turkeys. Those birds, which range in size from 8 to 27 pounds sold quickly. Only smaller birds were available closer to Thanksgiving.
You will also appreciate knowing that these birds roam freely outdoors, with about 200 birds per acre. That is quite different from the other turkeys that you would buy at a store that do not have a very good life before going to market.
Perhaps the most important aspect, according to Kelly, is the age of the birds. The birds are six months old when they are slaughtered for market, which is about twice as old as other turkeys.
Since they have more maturity, they’ve laid down the fat and muscle so you don’t have to take all of the time to baste them in the oven. The flesh is also marbled with fat, which adds to the taste, similar to the way that a good steak is marbled.
When most commercial turkeys are slaughtered, they are put into hot water so their feathers are looser. KellyBronze birds, on the other hand, are plucked dry and hung in a refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Kelly said that it just makes the bird tender, and that is what most people are looking for. It’s a more expensive option and many people are going for it, but you have to decide if you want to spend up to 30 times as much for your Thanksgiving turkey.