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The second major national holiday in the United Sates, after Independence Day (Fourth of July), is Thanksgiving Day. Although it was first proclaimed a national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, Thanksgiving has been celebrated by different colonies and states since 1621. Since 1863, the annual holiday has been celebrated by the entire nation on the fourth Thursday of November, to commemorate the original three-day thanksgiving feast organized by the Pilgrim Fathers in 1621 to give thanks for their first successful corn harvest in the New World. Historians cannot are not sure whether turkey was part of this original feast hosted by the Pilgrims, but the bird has become a traditional food eaten by over 90% of all Americans on Thanksgiving.

The turkeys Americans eat on Thanksgiving today are very different from the wild birds that were hunted, cleaned and cooked in colonial days. Turkeys in America today are commercially bred for size and amount of meat. It is no longer necessary to go out and hunt a wild bird since turkeys are widely available in supermarkets across the nation. However there are still decisions to make and the tips below can help you make the right ones.

A contemporary turkey hunt for most home cooks starts with deciding what kind of turkey to buy – fresh, frozen, natural, free-range, kosher, self-basting, with or without a pop-up thermometer. The next decision is the cooking method: roasting, grilling, barbecue, crock pot, covered, uncovered, stuffed or unstuffed, breast up or down, traditionally seasoned or spicy Cajun fried turkey. Baby boomer cooks can remember when there weren’t nearly as many choices in turkeys. In fact, it was once a major rite of passage for a homemaker to produce a well-roasted Thanksgiving turkey that wasn’t too dry, especially the white meat. There were no self-basting turkeys back then, and certainly none with a pop-up thermometer to tell the cook when the turkey was done.

Purists among home chefs still prefer fresh turkey without additives such as the water and oil pumped into a self-basting turkey. Some will concede that the pop-up thermometer is a helpful gadget, but still not an infallible test of a completely done turkey.

If you are wondering whether it is better to buy frozen or fresh turkey for Thanksgiving, the answer is that it’s really a matter of personal preference. While some people believe that fresh turkeys are juicier than frozen ones, the modern freezing methods used today result in minimal moisture loss, and most people can’t tell the difference between a fresh turkey and a frozen one.

When deciding between a frozen and a fresh turkey, think about how much time you have to cook your Thanksgiving meal. If you are buying the turkey the night before Thanksgiving, you have no other option but to buy a fresh bird; a frozen one won’t have time to de-frost. It takes several days to defreeze a turkey in the fridge (thawing poultry in the open, on a kitchen counter is unsafe). The size of the bird determines how long it will take to thaw – as well as how many hours it will take to roast it. If you use slow cooker recipes to cook your Thanksgiving turkey, you can go about your business as the turkey cooks.

Another essential factor you should keep in mind when you shop for Thanksgiving turkey is the bird’s age. Age affects the tenderness and flavor of turkey, with older turkeys being tougher than younger ones. If you plan to fry the turkey, make sure you don’t buy one that is over four months old. Roasters, however, may be as old one year and still taste good. The gender of the turkey makes no difference in how it tastes. Both hen (female) and tom (male) turkeys will be succulent and tender if you cook them correctly.

Michelle is an expert article author whose specialty is writing articles about simple, yet yummy, home cooking. Her articles generally stress the added benefits of crockpot recipes like slow cooker chicken recipes, which is among her absolute favorites.