photo by ddaarryynn @Flickr
Florence, Alabama – Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching and soon everyone will be sitting down to a feast that traditionally has included a turkey dinner. This tradition dates back to about 1540 when the turkey was introduced to England and the British embraced it as a holiday celebration mainstay.
In 1863, when Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday, the turkeys were universally adopted as the symbol of the Thanksgiving meal.
The turkey had already been associated with Christmas when Charles Dickens in his book “A Christmas Carol” popularized the iconic meal of turkey with gravy, stuffing and plum pudding. This menu was used by both the wealthy and the poor for many years, but around 1900, the turkey became more associated with the working class since they were cheap and often times given to the workers by the company owners as a holiday gift. Additionally, charitable organizations started giving away turkeys to poor people who couldn’t afford one otherwise. The more affluent families started having top cuts of beef and other game such as venison to celebrate the holidays.
In the 1950’s the iconic turkey dinner enjoyed a new lease on life with the advent of TV advertising. Ads’ showing a typical family setting down at a table with the head of the household proudly carving up a large bird was common place and families again embraced the idea. Advertising in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s was a powerful force pushing everyone to live the good life like the commercials on TV and set a standard of a turkey on every holiday table.
photo by allenjaelee @Flickr
Then came the 1980’s, things began to change for the Turkey bird. No longer was it just basted and baked in the over by the mother, now dear old Dad had gotten one of the new LP gas barbecue grills and cooking of the turkey moved from inside to outside. Soon following that was cooking the turkey on more traditional style smoker grills, using indirect heat and adding a hard wood to impart flavors in the turkey such as hickory, apple, peach, mesquite, and pecan.
About that time is when things really took off and all of the outdoor deep fryers came on the market. Dad could pick-up one of the fryers for less than $100 dollars and with 5 gallons of peanut oil become a turkey-meister.. This trend continues today with lots of turkeys both smoked and deep fried.
Having had my own experience in the barbecue restaurant I formed my own opinions about the use of smoke to cook Thanksgivings favorite guest. I was out talking with the folks at Smokin on the Boulevard this past week and I sat down with Jeff and we talked about today’s challenges in smoking lots of turkeys. Jeff said “Due to the ongoing shortages of turkeys, fresh turkeys are becoming harder to purchase,” he went on to say “most suppliers want you to lock in an order by early November of what you expect to sell.” Even when I had my BBQ joint that was the case, you had to give your supplier an idea of what you expected to sell. Jeff and I both agreed that nowadays most turkeys are sold frozen to extend their shelf life.
Jeff said they would be taking orders for smoked turkeys through November 17th and they would be available for pickup on November 21 between 12 noon and 6pm. All turkeys orders do have to be prepaid when the order is placed. According to Jeff the presales they already have and what they expect still to come in the next few days, that they will cook somewhere north of a 100 turkeys. So, if you want to get an order in, now is the time to do it before they hit the limit on what they will be able to prepare.
Our good friends Jeff, Doug and Karen at Smokin on the Boulevard are located at 4080 Florence Blvd, Florence, AL. They can handle call in orders with a credit card at 256.757.0099. So stop by or give them a call and tell them you read about them here in The Quad-Cities Daily and they will give you a free smile.
