No Turkey by November in US?

And they're saying "A dozen Grade A eggs could reach $3 later this year"

Arirish, how ever much do eggs cost now? Over here it's $5 a dozen, and that's just nasty old battery farmed eggs. 

I'm talking NZ$. Prices here are high because everything costs to much. I buy a 25kg sack of layers pellets for $25 when it's on special. Eggs are pricey. The nearest eggs for sale at a farm gate are $5 a dozen but this is from an intensive unit. Free range eggs cost more. Organic eggs are $6.95 for half a dozen in the supermarket. 

You can freeze turkey for a year, so I might get one early this year for the traditional Turkey Day this Thanksgiving. Normally I'm a honey baked ham guy, but might go turkey since apparently it could be awhile.   

Albert, those people who do not like turkey do not (usually) know how to cook it.  

Technophobe- I do my turkey the same way only I cover it with a double layer of cheese cloth and smoke it at 225-250 in an off-set wood smoker basting it every 45 minutes or so. I use apple, peach or pecan wood for the smoke cause I think Hickory over powers the flavor of fowl. Remove the cheese cloth for the last half hour so it can brown. My stomach is growling just thinking about it!

Albert- See what you started! Now I have to smoke at least a turkey breast this weekend!

Safest place for all these bumpkins would be on my farm if I were a farmer. I wouldn't just have names for all of 'em, they'd have nicknames too! I cleaned a few rabbits once in Denver and all four of my chihuahuas were in the kitchen looking at me like what the what? A skinned rabbit looks just like a chihuahua. Ever since then I've been shy about raising or taking wild meats. But times are still pretty good. In bad times all bets are off.

I named our two Hogs! One is named Freezer, the other is Cash! They look a lot alike so I'm sure I get them confused. They're both Yorkshires from the same litter so they're twins. I don't do my own butchering anymore, I had enough of that when I was young!

KiwiMum- What curing method do you use? Do you cure and smoke?

Arirish, I dry cure in salt. I use rock salt, about 2 kg, and then about 50 juniper berries (crushed), about 30 bay leaves, also crushed, and about 2 cups of brown sugar. I mix this all together and then cut each side of bacon into 3 pieces. This is so it can comfortably fit in my big tupperware box. I then take the first piece, lie it on a big plate and rub a handful of the salt mixture into it. I keep adding more mixture until all the sides and cut edges are well covered with the salt. Then I put it in the tupperware box.

I use the belly too. You can make bacon from any part of the pig but I like the fatty parts. The method I use draws all the water out of the meat, so the fat renders beautifully but doesn't spit much. 

I use natural casings - strangely from America. I buy them in big packs from a butchery wholesaler. I'm making British sausages which are coarsely ground pork with lots of herbs and spices added to them according to taste, and for every kilo of meat, you add 50g of rusk. This can be breadcrumbs or oatmeal. I use oatmeal. It's only a tiny amount but it stops the sausage from splitting. 

...this thread is making me hungry!! 

I couldn't agree more Arirish. We've all broken the link between ourselves and our capable ancestors. It took me over a year to learn how to make really great butter. I read every single book on the subject but quickly realised that most of those authors had never made butter, or if they had, they'd made it, ticked the box and chucked it out. I finally learnt by trial and error but my butter can sit at room temperature and doesn't go rancid.

Shortening just means hard fat.  Lard will do ok, but some of your fine homemade butter would be even better.

Techno- You are absolutely correct! Shortening is any fat that is solid at room temp, including lard. In the U S we have come to think of shortening to mean Hydrogenated vegetable oil or Crisco (crystallized cottonseed oil). Most adults in the U S have never eaten pie crust made with lard, or a biscuit (scone) with fresh butter or even a real tomato. What we get at the grocery here is the shape of a tomato but in all other respects (color, smell, taste and texture) is nothing like the real thing! It's sad what society has given up for convenience!

Albert- I've never tried bacon wrapped turkey but after Googling it I'm going to try it on my next turkey! I've used bacon when I've smoked a pork butt or brisket that didn't have a large enough fat cap. It really helps to keep them from drying out! Does anybody know if you still need to baste it? None of the recipes I've read mention it. Is the bacon still useable when it's done? Any suggestions for using it?

I've not done a specific "bacon wrapped turkey" recipe, but back in the days when I still ate pork, bacon, pork fat, pork sausagemeat and many other pork-centred products went in and around the bird.  The tastes of pork (or better still bacon) and turkey compliment one another very well.  The more cured pork you use the more sage and onion become the best accompanying herb flavours.

arirish wrote: I went to the store today and bought two whole turkey breasts. I normally pay $0.80- $1.10 U S per pound. Today I paid $1.80/ lb. Stock up now if you like turkey! It's only going to go up!

arirish wrote: Chuck- I've been wondering the same thing but have not brought it up! I'm really not into the conspiracy stuff BUT if certain countries are willing to attack our computer systems why not our food supply?

Albert wrote: I also suspected China of exporting the avian flu here.  Was a little coincidental that they all arrived at the same time.  One a/i virus maybe not, but two at once (3 including h5n1) got me scratching my head a bit over that one.   Not sure if the idea is simply for them not to be blamed for the next pandemic, since most all pandemics have started in/from China.   Might not be proper for me to specifically name "China", but what can I say ...

FluMom, have you tried them yet? I went to a boarding school that used dried eggs for their scrambled eggs and I love them. I can't get them here but I remember them very fondly. They have an unusual dryness to them when scrambled. 

RPT-U.S. bird flu causing egg squeeze, emergency measures

By P.J. Huffstutter and Bill Berkrot

May 22 (Reuters) - As a virulent avian influenza outbreak continues to spread across the Midwestern United States, some egg-dependent companies are contemplating drastic steps: importing eggs from overseas or looking to egg alternatives.

A spokeswoman for grain giant Archer Daniels Midland Co said that, as egg supplies have tightened and prices risen, the company has received numerous inquiries from manufacturers about the plant-based egg substitutes it makes.

And with a strong dollar bolstering the buying power of U.S. importers, some companies are scouting for egg supplies abroad.

"The U.S. has never imported any significant amount of eggs, because we've always been a very low-cost producer," said Tom Elam of FarmEcon, an agricultural consulting company. "Now, that's no longer the case."

Still, companies wanting to import eggs may have to look far afield.

"Canada is short on eggs and has been buying heavily from the U.S. for the last several years," said Rick Brown, a senior vice-president of Urner Barry, a commodity market analysis firm. "Mexico has been dealing with its own outbreaks of avian influenza, so they're banned from importing into the U.S. The logical place people will be looking now would be Europe."

Avril, a farmer-controlled agri-food group that owns France's largest egg brand, Matines, said it has seen an increase recently in demand from the United States and elsewhere in the Americas and plans to start making shipments in June.


ECONOMIC BITE

Meanwhile, companies sticking with egg suppliers closer to home are facing sharply higher prices as a result of the outbreak, which has so far affected some 39 million birds. Nearly one-quarter of the hens that lay "breaker eggs" - which include liquid, dried or frozen eggs used by food manufacturers - have either died or are slated to be euthanized.

The outbreak has led to a sharp uptick in the wholesale price of such eggs, from 63-cents a dozen in late April, when the first egg-laying flock was reported infected, to $1.83 a dozen this week, Brown said.

The wholesale price of "shell eggs," typically sold in cartons at grocery stores, has also risen, from $1.19 a dozen in late April to $2.03 a dozen this week, Brown said.

Nevertheless, some food makers are turning to the more expensive shell eggs to supplement supplies, although that means an additional cost to send the eggs to a breaking facility that will crack the shells, Elam said.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs predict consumers will ultimately spend an additional $7.5 billion to $8 billion because of the egg supply squeeze.

Nestlé SA - which uses eggs for some of its Dreyer's, Edy's and Häagen-Dazs ice cream products - said it is braced for shortages and working with suppliers to help protect hens.

Dunkin' Brands Group Inc told Reuters it will leave it up to franchisees to decide whether to swallow the cost hikes they're seeing or pass them on to consumers.


A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH

For some companies, having an adequate supply of fertilized eggs can be a matter of life or death. Some vaccine makers, including Merck & Co Inc, maintain their own hen flocks to produce eggs used for incubating vaccines that protect against diseases such as measles and mumps.

Merck said it is taking no chances with its chicken flocks as avian influenza continues to spread: Security is tight around the birds, and the health of the hens is continuously monitored.

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, said it, too, is keeping close tabs on the outbreak - particularly with the state agriculture department in Pennsylvania, home to some of its suppliers and the U.S.'s fourth largest egg-laying flock. So far, no avian influenza cases have been identified there.

"We continue to maintain preventive measures for our egg supply system, including biosecurity and physical security procedures, to provide our suppliers with protection from being affected by this or any avian outbreak," the company told Reuters in a statement.

And GlaxoSmithKline PLC told Reuters it is reinforcing biosafety standards at more than 30 Canadian egg-laying farms that are dedicated to producing eggs for the company's human flu vaccines.

The company has more egg supplies than it needs for its flu vaccine production in Canada and Germany, a spokeswoman said.

But as the bird flu outbreak spreads in the U.S., she added, "we are monitoring the current situation closely and have alerted all of our supply farms." (Reporting By P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago and Bill Berkrot in New York. Additional reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago, Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, Anjali Athavaley in New York, Sybille de La Hamaide in Bazancourt, France and Gus Trompiz in Paris. Editing by Jo Winterbottom and Sue Horton)


http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/05/22/health-birdflu-egg-shortages-idINL1N0YD02H20150522