Cisco founder peddles $335 Thanksgiving turkey

MarketWatch ^ | 11/16/12 | Charles Passy

[illiac]

The pitch

Talk about a rare bird. When it comes to setting the Thanksgiving table, the folks at Ayrshire Farm ( Web site ) in Upperville, Va., suggest that no meal is complete without one of their 20 lb.-and-up mail-order turkeys — for $335 (shipping included). Of course, it’s not just any gobbler, but a “heritage” bird — meaning a breed that goes back before the age of mass-market turkeys on commercial farms. And on top of that, it’s organic and raised to the exacting Certified Humane standards, which guarantees that animals have “shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviors,” according to the certification organization. Ayrshire says the result is a better bird taste-wise: “It is simply a different product than a typical grocery store turkey,” says the farm on its Web site. The birds come to customers’ doors frozen and shipped overnight — the shipping alone accounts for $110 of the price tag — “packed in a sturdy eco-friendly cardboard box, inside an insulated packer with ice blankets,” the farm says. (In the extra-value department, the farm adds that all packaging “may be recycled and used again.”)

The final day to place orders for Thanksgiving is Nov. 16, but the farm says it may have turkeys available next week “on a first-come basis” (yes, they’re that popular — the farm sells as many as 3,000 each season, including several hundred by mail). For those on a tighter budget, Ayrshire, which is the brainchild of tech entrepreneur-turned-farmer Sandy Lerner , sells smaller birds. A 7-8 lb. turkey breast goes for a mere $158 (shipping included).

[illiac]

Didn't know Obama could be bought so cheap...

Didn't know a turkey came with peddles....(gotta love headlines)...

[Free Vulcan]

Gotta love liberals. Cry about a penny of budget cuts for the poor, but love to take your money with overpriced environmentally friendly crap.

[Venturer]

I think mine cost a little over $20.00 at Walmart at 88 cents a lb.

It probably wasn’t spoiled with shelter, resting areas,sufficient space to engage in natural behavior, but it probably got beheaded and gutted the same way this spoiled one did.

[r0tten]

Based on the price of the stuff they sell, that’s cheap. I’ve seen Cisco equipment that costs more than my house.

[ari-freedom]

wow that’s even more expensive than the whole kosher goose that my local store carries

[illiac]

Yup....my 24 pounder was $20 at Costco....

[illiac]

Our local Albertsons had a 20 -24 pounder for $9.....maybe shoulda waited...

[Mr. K]

Is anyone else on this thread besides me getting hungry?

[RWGinger]

actually peddles is the correct word
as in to offer for sale or barter

pedal would not have been the right word

Where are the libs to complain these turkerys lived a better life than the ‘ poor”

[libertarian27]

They can Peddle themselves ;)

[kevkrom]

You want hungry? Look at this:

[proxy_user]

My niece’s boyfriend shot a 17-pound wild turkey for our Thanksgiving. I can’t speak for the cost, it depends on the value of your time and how you depreciate your guns.

We’ll see how the taste compares with these expensive deluxe mail-order birds.

[Texan5]

I get mine from one of my neighbors who raises enough chickens and regular brown turkeys for their own use and to sell to neighbors for about 1/2 as much as the supermarket in the city. They sell brown eggs, too-and everything is free range, organic and drug-free without that fancy price. The birds don’t come all prepared and wrapped in plastic, but the color and flavor of the meat is great-feedlot type poultry can’t compare to naturally farmed...

[eyedigress]

I was on the Cisco campus last week maintaining their data centers and 150sq ft of those rooms could cost well into the millions.

[HamiltonJay]

Sorry, but if you think what you got at Walmart remotely comes close to a Heritage breed turkey you are either utterly ignorant or completely insane.

While I wouldn’t pay $300+ for a Heritage Turkey, comparing the mass produced large breasted white to one is laughable.

The mass produced turkey can’t even breed naturally its so rediculously malformed from genetic tampering so its breast meat (which is tasteless, dry $#!% BTW) is so ungodly huge the damned things can’t even breed.

I am not anti mass produced products, its the only way you can feed the world effectively, but to try to compare the animal you bought at WalMart with a Heritage Bird is like trying to say a Yugo is the same thing as a Bentley.

[PLMerite]

Fascinating, is it for real ?

[posterchild]

It’s amazing to me that natural un messed with un breeded to trade off the tasty dark meat for bland dry white meat now constitutes a niche market.

I’m particularly tired of grocery store pork that is so lean that it is now has “tenderness and juiciness improved with up to twelve percent of a patented solution*.”

I buy from local farmers whenever I can.

[kevkrom]

For real as in did I actually do it? No, I just got the picture from elsewhere.

I am, however, about 75% of the way to convincing the Mrs. to let me do it for this coming Thursday.

[Texan5]

I have larded lean meat-turkey, venison, quail and doves etc-with bacon before, but isn’t that a bit much? Defeats the whole idea of lean meat...

[kevkrom]

Lean meat? I eat turkey because it’s traditional (and I like the taste).

I eat bacon, because it’s BACON!

[illiac]

Sounds good...you’d think here in north Idaho we would have something similar....but I have no found one yet...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Of course, it’s not just any gobbler, but a “heritage” bird — meaning a breed that goes back before the age of mass-market turkeys on commercial farms. And on top of that, it’s organic and raised to the exacting Certified Humane standards, which guarantees that animals have “shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviors,” according to the certification organization.

By this definition, the wild gobbler I shot last month during fall turkey season is even better.

[Texan5]

I will not eat the white turkey meat unless I’m starving-my daughter eats my portion. Fortunately, even that tastes better from a non-engineered, free range turkey (or chicken). You can buy free-range pork here in fall (the whole pig, or half of it large or small, slaughtered and butchered) from several small farms. Many of those pigs are raised and bred with captured feral hogs, which are naturally more lean, but also more tasty.

I think the “improved” hogs must be raised feed lot style rather than free range, because the meat tastes like something you would think came from some kind of a replicator in a sci-fi movie. And I shudder to think what that “patented solution” might contain...

I’m ranch-raised myself, so I’m happy to be back to the country where I can eat a natural diet of fresh meat and veggies and afford it.

[Talisker]

Brine: the great equalizer.

[steve86]

I will not eat dark meat-anything. Racist, I know.

[rightly_dividing]

Now that’s a great looking turkey. yum!

[Texan5]

Those farmers don’t advertise-they are too small, so it is all by word of mouth-and they only sell/barter to the people they know or who are referred by people they know. One neighbor who keeps a few beehives only barters her honey, and never takes cash.

Do you live near a rural area, or know someone who does? That is the way to get into that loop. I barter my home baked bread and fresh herbs to neighbors most winters, but I would not do that with outsiders-I can’t produce enough.

We’ve always joked about going galt out here, but it is not as funny as it used to be...

[Texan5]

Simply a matter of taste-I just find white poultry meat tasteless to the dark in comparison. I do not refuse to eat grilled rattlesnake, though-and that is white meat...

[PLMerite]

It sure looks tasty, but I think one would need a little skill in weaving to get the strips of bacon interlaced like that. If you ever do it, let us know what it’s like!

[ExCTCitizen]

Cisco founder peddles $335 Thanksgiving turkey,

For $335, it should come with Rachel Ray,Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver, Emeril Lagasse, Gordon Ramsay, Wolfgang Puck, Paula Deen, Giada de Laurentiis, Paul Prudhomme and Guy Fieri to cook it.

Of course, it’s not just any gobbler, but a “heritage” bird — meaning a breed that goes back before the age of mass-market turkeys on commercial farms. And on top of that, it’s organic and raised to the exacting Certified Humane standards, which guarantees that animals have “shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviors,” according to the certification organization. Ayrshire says the result is a better bird taste-wise: “It is simply a different product than a typical grocery store turkey,” says the farm on its Web site.

But most cooks will ruin turkey by overcooking it. (We are having game hens and ham for Thanksgiving, Wife and I don't like turkey.)

[libertarian27]

Simply a matter of taste-I just find white poultry meat tasteless to the dark in comparison.

So true, the dark meat is much better....
white meat? that's what gravy is for :)

[Chickensoup]

But most cooks will ruin turkey by overcooking it. (We are having game hens and ham for Thanksgiving, Wife and I don’t like turkey.)

_____________________

I love game hens and havent had them in a while. I have a crowd this Thanksgiving. Perhaps when there are less here? I wouldnt mind six or eight adults enjoying game hens with chestnut fruit dressing.

[Chickensoup]

there is something just wrong about this picture.

[Venturer]

IYes there are a lot of expensive thing that taste good, but in the end it all comes out the same.

I will give thanks that I have something to eat on Thanksgiving day.