Blog and website for William Rubel, author and cook specializing in traditional cuisines

A Narragansett tom is from Cyclopedia of American agriculture; a popular survey of agricultural conditions, practices and ideals in the United States and Canada, 1919.

As part of the renewed American interest in foods raised by small producers there is a growing interest in the animals that were raised on small farms, in addition to the fruits and vegetables. These pages are devoted to standard breed turkeys — also being called heritage turkeys. How a bird is raised has a great deal to do with its taste. Standard breed turkeys tend to be raised by growers who produce good tasting birds — though this is not always so. A heritage turkey raised on pasture offers the taste and texture of turkey as it was known for hundreds of years — up until the mid-twentieth century. I recommend heritage turkeys for everyone who is interested in historic cooking, traditional foodways, and in eating a good product. The modern turkey is “double breasted.” It is both better for the turkey, and better for cuisine, to get back to birds that don’t have unnaturally enlarged breasts.