Well, I hate to ruin the run of great reviews, but there you go.
Sent my husband in on Friday the 23rd for a Christmas turkey. The man behind the counter finished tossing back a few pills and chasing them with an Irn Bru before barking "What's yours?". Merry freaking Christmas to you, Mr. Butcher Man.
No turkeys, in spite of my calling 20 minutes earlier and being assured by the woman who answered the phone that there were plenty. My husband was instead sold a £45 crown roast of turkey in a vacuum sealed plastic bag. Ok, that's fine, I can deal with that.
Roasted it up today, cooked it to juicy perfection (curtsies) and sat down to our lovely Christmas meal. Took my first bite, and...bland, non-turkey turkey. Looked at my husband, who was staring at his plate in puzzlement. I asked what was wrong, and he basically echoed what I was thinking. "It doesn't taste of anything. Certainly not of turkey, not really of chicken; it's just kind of there."
Before you get all riled up at the Yank slagging off your British fowl (foul?), my husband is English. Well, he *says* he's English in a rather convincing accent, but he doesn't drink tea and won't eat black pudding, so I have my suspicions.
Aaaaaaaaanyway, I'm not impressed. £45 for a tasteless hunk of turkey is not small amount of money. Don't get me wrong, we plan to finish all 8lbs of it, made more palatable by the drowning of it in gallons of gravy, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.
Lesson learned! Next year I'll opt for one of the beautifully prepared birds at Waitrose and pay about half for the trouble. read more