90 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving Turkey

Nasaump, a Native porridge the Plymouth colonists adopted, was made by boiling what?

Cornmeal: Roger Williams recorded nasaump in 1643 as a 'meale pottage', and the English shortened the word to 'samp' for their own boiled corn dish.

The name 'turkey' was first used in English for which African bird, before the American bird took it?

Guineafowl came first: Europeans tied the African bird to Turkey and called it the 'turkey-cock', and the name passed to the American bird when the two were confused.

Which is the only US state with no wild turkeys?

Alaska is the lone holdout: after World War II, wildlife agencies trapped wild birds and moved them into restored habitat until every other state had turkeys again.

To kill bacteria, what minimum internal temperature must every part of a cooked turkey, and any reheated leftovers, reach?

165°F (74°C) is the USDA bar for all poultry, measured with a thermometer, and reheated leftovers must hit the same mark.

Which turkey bone do two diners traditionally pull apart for luck?

The wishbone, anatomically the furcula, was called the 'merrythought' when the pulling custom arose in the early 1600s; the name wishbone only caught on in the 19th century.

Which part of a roast turkey is dark meat?

The thigh is dark meat because the legs do the bird's walking, while the little-used breast muscles stay pale; ducks and geese, which fly far, have dark breasts too.

Which US president made the presidential turkey pardon an official annual tradition?

George H.W. Bush made it official in 1989, his first year, declaring the bird 'granted a presidential pardon'; turkeys had been sent off to farms for years, but nobody had made the pardon official.

What do cooks call the packet of offal tucked inside a supermarket turkey?

Giblets are the edible organs packed inside the cavity, usually with the neck; they go into stock or gravy, though the liver is often left out because its strong flavour dominates.

Which state raises more farm turkeys than any other, and leads in sugar beets too?

Minnesota raises roughly 40 million turkeys a year, more than any other state, and also leads the country in sugar beets, sweet corn and peas grown for processing.

Which naturalist gave the wild turkey its scientific name, Meleagris gallopavo, in 1758?

Carl Linnaeus named it in 1758, and every farm turkey is a domesticated form of that same wild bird, not a separate species.

Which amino acid in turkey is wrongly blamed for post-Thanksgiving drowsiness?

Tryptophan levels in turkey are comparable with other meats; a heavy meal rich in carbohydrates is a likelier culprit for the post-dinner slump.

What is the fleshy flap over a male turkey's beak that changes size and colour with his mood?

The snood is more than decoration: in experiments, females chose to mate with long-snooded males, and rival males backed down from them.

Which method cooks a whole turkey fastest, at about three to four minutes a pound?

Deep-frying wins: at three to four minutes a pound in hot oil, a 15-pound bird is done in about an hour, against three hours or more in the oven.

What is the term for a very young turkey?

Poult is the word for a young turkey; it is a clipped form of the Old French poulet, a diminutive of poule, 'hen'.

Which Founding Father called the bald eagle 'a bird of bad moral character' and privately preferred the turkey?

Benjamin Franklin wrote it to his daughter Sarah Bache in 1784; there is no evidence he ever publicly proposed the turkey as the national bird, so the preference lives only in that private letter.

What is the name for soaking a turkey in salt water before roasting to keep it juicy?

Brining seasons the bird and helps it hold moisture, so the whole turkey can cook through without the white meat drying out.

Which wild turkey subspecies is the most abundant in the United States?

Eastern: now the most abundant subspecies, though hunting and land clearing once emptied much of its range, until wildlife agencies trapped wild birds and moved them back in.

Which bird do the Cratchits feast on in A Christmas Carol, before Scrooge sends them a prize turkey?

Goose: the Cratchits marvel that 'there never was such a goose', and on Christmas morning the reformed Scrooge pays a boy to fetch them the prize turkey.

In which month do Canadians sit down to their Thanksgiving turkey?

October: the second-Monday date was fixed only in 1957; through the 1920s, Canada's Thanksgiving shared a November Monday with Armistice Day.

From roughly how far away can a male wild turkey's spring call be heard?

A mile is about the limit; males call in spring to attract females and to answer rival males.

Which herb is the classic seasoning in the stuffing for a roast turkey?

Sage is the classic stuffing herb, but it was grown for centuries as a medicine as well as a seasoning: its Latin name, salvia, comes from salvus, 'healthy'.

What grounds fully grown commercial turkeys, though their wild cousins fly well?

Their sheer size grounds them: the heaviest commercial birds are too heavy for their wings, while younger and smaller domestic turkeys can still manage short flights.

Which breed has dominated US meat-turkey production since the 1960s?

The Broad Breasted White took over in the 1960s from the Broad Breasted Bronze it was bred from; selected for a huge breast, commercial birds often top 40 pounds.

What is the common term for the fatty, triangular piece of skin at the base of a turkey's tail?

The pope's nose, also called the parson's nose or bishop's nose, is the uropygium: fatty skin built around fused tail vertebrae called the pygostyle.

What is the tuft growing from the centre of a male turkey's breast called?

The beard is a tuft of modified feathers growing from the breast; it grows continuously through the bird's life, and roughly one hen in ten sprouts a shorter one too.

Which bird is a close genetic relative of the turkey?

A 2007 genomic study placed turkeys firmly inside the pheasant family after years of being treated as their own family, Meleagrididae.

What is basting a roasting turkey meant to do?

Basting is meant to keep the meat moist and add flavour by spooning pan juices over the skin; done badly it backfires, since every oven-door opening drops the temperature.

What type of habitat do wild turkeys typically prefer?

Forests with openings, hardwood or mixed conifer-hardwood, suit them: cover among the trees, with food in nearby pastures, fields and orchards.

Which soup company's test kitchen created the green bean casserole in 1955?

Campbell's test kitchen came up with it in 1955 around a can of the company's cream of mushroom soup, and the dish became a Thanksgiving fixture.

Why is white plumage the norm on domestic turkeys?

Pin feathers show less on the carcass: white birds leave pale stubs after plucking, whereas bronze and brown-feathered varieties, still raised in small numbers, leave dark spots that buyers dislike.

In British butchery, what is a turkey 'crown'?

The breast with legs and wings removed, still on the bone, is a crown; it roasts faster and more evenly than a whole bird, so it suits smaller Christmas tables.

Which traditional turkey-cooking method uses indirect heat in an enclosed space?

Smoking a turkey is a popular method that uses indirect heat and wood smoke to slowly cook the bird, infusing it with a distinct smoky flavor and keeping the meat moist.

In Edward Winslow's account of the 1621 harvest feast, which meat did the Wampanoag guests supply?

Venison: Winslow wrote that Massasoit's ninety men 'went out and killed five deer' for the three-day feast; his only word on birds is 'fowl', with no turkey named.

What mainly distinguishes dark meat from white meat in a turkey?

Amount of myoglobin: dark meat is rich in the pigment and white meat very low in it, which is why dark meat needs longer cooking and white meat dries out first.

What muscular-walled organ grinds a bird's food in place of teeth?

The gizzard is a thick-walled muscular pouch; birds swallow grit that lodges there to do the grinding their toothless beaks cannot.

Why rest a cooked turkey before carving?

So less juice is lost when it is cut: the idea is that a short rest lets the liquid settle back into the meat instead of running out over the board.

What kind of eater is the wild turkey?

Omnivore: acorns and other nuts are favourites, alongside berries, buds and seeds, but wild turkeys also take insects, salamanders and even small lizards and snakes.

What is the fleshy flap of skin hanging from a turkey's throat called?

The wattle is the fleshy lobe hanging from the throat; like the rest of a male's bare head skin, it flushes with blood when he is excited.

What is the concentrated liquid that collects at the bottom of a turkey roasting pan called?

Drippings are the fat and juices that render out of the bird as it roasts; skimmed of excess fat, they are the base for pan gravy and for moistening the stuffing.

Which editor, rebuffed by four presidents, talked Lincoln into a national Thanksgiving?

Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book, had lobbied Presidents Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan without success before Lincoln's 1863 proclamation; she also wrote 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'.

In the US, what is a stuffing-style mixture called when cooked separately and served on the side?

Dressing is a common American name for it, and cooking it outside the bird is the safer way: stuffing packed in the cavity can stay undercooked after the meat is done.

Which tool do food-safety experts trust to show a turkey is fully cooked?

A meat thermometer is the reliable check; the pop-up timer built into many supermarket birds, a spring held by a soft plug that gives at a set temperature, should still be checked against one.

What is the distinctive sound a male turkey makes, especially during mating season?

The gobble is a male's advertisement to females, and he backs it up with a strut: tail fanned, feathers puffed out and wings drooping.

Where do wild turkeys usually spend the night?

Roosting in trees: at dusk wild turkeys fly up into the branches for the night, and in spring the males call from those treetop roosts.

Which cranberry growers' cooperative sells the familiar canned jellied cranberry sauce?

Ocean Spray began when three cranberry growers joined forces; today around 700 farm families own the cooperative.

What method prepares a turkey by removing its backbone and flattening it for faster, more even cooking?

Spatchcocking, also known as butterflying, involves removing the turkey's backbone and flattening the bird. This technique allows for faster and more even cooking, resulting in juicier meat and crispier skin.

Which three colours mark the bare skin of a wild turkey's head and neck?

Red, white, and blue: the bare skin changes colour with the bird's mood, and an excited male's red head can turn white or blue.

Which president is the first on record to call sparing his Thanksgiving turkey a 'pardon'?

Ronald Reagan joked about pardoning the 1987 turkey, Charlie, to deflect questions about pardoning Oliver North over Iran-Contra.

Which president sent a 55-pound turkey back to the farm in 1963, saying 'we'll just let this one grow'?

John F. Kennedy received the bird on November 19, 1963, three days before his assassination; it wore a sign reading 'Good Eating, Mr. President' and he sent it back to the farm.

The turkey pardoned at the White House in 2002 was the first National Thanksgiving Turkey to be what?

Female: Katie was named after her breeder's daughter, yet the president twice called her 'he' at the ceremony, joking that the bird looked nervous.

A likely apocryphal tale has Lincoln pardoning a Christmas turkey for which son?

Tad Lincoln, the president's youngest son, supposedly begged for the pet turkey Jack; the story only appeared in print after Lincoln's assassination in 1865, which is why historians treat it as legend.

Which department store's Thanksgiving Day parade first stepped off in 1924?

Macy's: store employees marched to the Herald Square flagship in 1924 to promote it, and the parade's first giant balloons followed in 1927.

Which 1947 Truman food-saving campaign enraged the poultry industry before Thanksgiving?

'Poultryless Thursdays' stung because Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day all fell on Thursdays that winter; farmers answered with 'Hens for Harry', shipping crates of live chickens to the White House.

From 2005 to 2009, where were the pardoned National Thanksgiving Turkeys sent to live out their days?

Disney resorts: from 2005 to 2009 the birds went to Disneyland or Walt Disney World as honorary grand marshals of Disney's Thanksgiving Day Parade; Mount Vernon took over in 2010.

What animal, sent for Coolidge's 1926 Thanksgiving table, became a White House pet?

The raccoon, sent from Mississippi for the 1926 Thanksgiving dinner, was named Rebecca by Calvin and Grace Coolidge, who kept her as a pet and walked her on a leash.

The 2001 pardoned turkey and its backup were named what, in the wake of 9/11?

Liberty and his alternate Freedom were pardoned by George W. Bush two months after the attacks; Stars and Stripes came two years later, in 2003.

Before the 2024 White House ceremony, the two finalist turkeys stayed at which DC hotel?

The Willard InterContinental has long hosted the two finalists, at the National Turkey Federation's expense, once the birds have been trained to cope with crowds, noise and camera flashes.

What were the two turkeys pardoned by President Biden in 2021 named?

Peanut Butter and Jelly were pardoned with a pandemic-era joke: 'instead of getting basted,' the president said, 'these two turkeys are getting boosted.'

What did Truman do with at least some of his presentation turkeys?

Truman ate them: he told reporters the gift birds were bound for the family dinner table, and sparing the turkey became an official tradition only decades later.

The mayor of which New Jersey resort coined 'Franksgiving' in 1939?

Atlantic City's mayor coined the name after FDR moved the 1939 holiday up a week, hoping a longer Christmas shopping season would help the economy.

A 1941 act signed by FDR fixed Thanksgiving Day on which day?

The fourth Thursday of November: the joint resolution took effect in 1942, so Thanksgiving always falls between November 22 and 28.

The 1953 turkey TV dinner came in a tray modelled on which industry's meal service?

Airlines: the first order was a cautious 5,000 trays, but in 1954, the first full year, ten million of the turkey dinners were sold.

Which frozen-food brand launched the TV dinner in 1953 with a turkey-and-stuffing meal?

Swanson sold it; salesman Gerry Thomas claimed the idea came from a post-Thanksgiving turkey glut, a story the Swanson family and the Los Angeles Times have disputed.

Which NFL commentator popularized the turducken during Thanksgiving Day broadcasts?

John Madden ate his first on-air turducken on December 1, 1996, at the Louisiana Superdome and once sawed one open with his bare hand.

Which Cajun chef is credited with the turducken and trademarked the name in 1986?

Paul Prudhomme trademarked 'turducken' in 1986 and said he first made it in 1963 while cooking at a resort; Hebert's Specialty Meats in Maurice, Louisiana, also claims the dish.

What is the culinary term for stuffing one animal inside another, as in a turducken?

Engastration is the term for stuffing one animal inside another; the turducken, a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, is its best-known modern example.

The vegan Tofurky roast is made by Turtle Island Foods, based in which state?

Oregon: founder Seth Tibbott started the company in 1980 making tempeh, and the Tofurky roast launched in 1995 from Hood River in the Columbia Gorge.

What is the most frequent question asked of Butterball's Turkey Talk-Line?

How long defrosting takes: Butterball's answer is at least a day in the fridge for every four pounds, so a 20-pound bird has to come out of the freezer five days ahead.

Butterball LLC moved its headquarters in 2008 to Garner, in which state?

North Carolina: the brand had been bought in 2006 by Carolina Turkeys of Mount Olive, which renamed itself Butterball LLC and settled its headquarters in Garner, outside Raleigh.

What does the idiom 'talk turkey' mean?

To speak frankly: one old tale behind the phrase has a colonist dividing a day's hunt with a Native partner and keeping every turkey for himself, until the partner objects.

Which safety certifier has declined to certify outdoor oil turkey fryers?

Underwriters Laboratories has declined to certify outdoor oil turkey fryers: hot oil over an open flame has destroyed a number of homes and other buildings.

The USDA bred the Beltsville Small White turkey from 1934 at a center in which state?

Maryland's Beltsville research center bred it from 1934 to suit small ovens and small families; its popularity peaked in the mid-1950s before larger birds took over.

The Bourbon Red turkey is named for Bourbon County in which state?

Kentucky: J. F. Barbee bred the dark red bird in the Bluegrass region in the late 1800s, and it was a leading meat turkey until industrial breeds pushed it aside.

The 'Bronze' turkey name came from an 1830s strain bred in which state?

Rhode Island's Point Judith Bronze lent its name to the whole breed, a cross of English domestic turkeys with wild birds.

The ornamental Royal Palm turkey first appeared in the 1920s on a farm in which state?

Florida: the variety turned up on Enoch Carson's farm in Lake Worth in the 1920s, and it took until 1971 for the white-and-black bird to be admitted to the APA Standard of Perfection.

Britain's oldest turkey breed, from Norfolk, is also known by what name?

Black Spanish is the other name: the Norfolk Black descends from Mexican turkeys that Spanish explorers took home in the 1500s, and black birds became the favourite in Spain.

How are commercial turkey hens fertilized, since mature toms are too big to mate safely?

Artificial insemination is standard in commercial breeding: semen from one tom can serve several hens, so far fewer males are kept, and the breeders' tough meat goes into processed products.

What do turkey eggs look like?

Cream with brown speckles: the eggs are rarely sold as food because turkeys lay far fewer of them than chickens, and whole birds are in more demand.

The Fibrominn power plant, opened in 2007, burned what to make electricity?

Turkey litter, the droppings and bedding, fuelled it: the plant made 55 megawatts from about 500,000 tons a year until it closed in 2018, undercut by cheaper power.

In the UK and Ireland, what is a male domestic turkey called?

A stag is the British and Irish word; Americans and Canadians say tom, while cob, gander and drake belong to swans, geese and ducks.

By the late 1930s, roughly how many wild turkeys were left in the entire United States?

About 30,000, after the species had vanished from 18 states; trap-and-transfer programs rebuilt the population to roughly 7 million by the 2010s.

Where does a wild turkey hen nest?

On the ground, in a shallow hollow hidden by brush; within a day of hatching the downy chicks can walk and feed themselves, and they leave the nest behind.

Which 16th-century English navigator is credited with introducing the turkey to England?

William Strickland of Boynton, Yorkshire, is credited with it; his 1550 coat of arms features a 'turkey-cock in his pride proper', one of Europe's earliest depictions of the bird.

In which Shakespeare play is the pompous steward Malvolio mocked as 'a rare turkey-cock'?

Twelfth Night: Fabian says of Malvolio, 'Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of him'; the offhand usage shows the word was already familiar in England by about 1601.

What Aztec-derived Spanish word is used for the turkey in modern Mexico?

Guajolote comes from the Classical Nahuatl huehxolotl; Spanish chroniclers described turkey tamales for sale in the markets of Tenochtitlan.

The Aztecs associated the turkey with which trickster god?

Tezcatlipoca took the form of Chalchiuhtotolin, the 'jewelled fowl' or turkey, possibly because of the bird's comical behaviour; Mesoamericans raised it for meat, eggs and decorative feathers.

The ocellated turkey, the wild turkey's only living relative, lives primarily where?

The Yucatán Peninsula, including parts of Belize and Guatemala's Petén, is its range; its tail feathers carry the eye-shaped spots that give the ocellated turkey its name.

Cranberry sauce was first paired with turkey in a 1796 cookbook by which author?

Amelia Simmons's American Cookery, the first cookbook written by an American, served its roast turkey 'with boiled onions and cranberry-sauce' but gave no recipe for the sauce.

Which British turkey tycoon made 'Bootiful' a catchphrase in his 1980 TV ads?

Bernard Matthews began with twenty turkey eggs and a paraffin incubator, and went on to rear birds in the bedrooms of Great Witchingham Hall, his Norfolk manor.

Which British chef's 2005 school-dinners campaign got 'turkey twizzlers' pulled from menus?

Jamie Oliver's Channel 4 series Jamie's School Dinners made the twizzler a byword for junk food; the maker withdrew it in 2005 and relaunched a reformulated version in 2020.