Turkey Giblets: We Got Robbed!
This is our turkey, and it was missing one very important thing that we were looking forward to: the giblets! We love giblets in stuffing, and we were looking forward to putting them in our turkey stock (for gravy) and in the bread dressing itself. Well, lo and behold, when we went in to get them there was only a lone neck – no giblets.
But it turns out that, given the kind of turkey we bought, we should have been ready for this. Read on to learn why.
See? No giblets in the body cavity – just a neck. Sometimes the giblets are hidden in the neck cavity or inside the neck itself, but I chopped up this turkey myself for braising and there were no giblets squirreled away.
We were giblet robbed!
This was disappointing at the time (although the stock, gravy, and dressing all turned out fabulous – more on that later). As I did a little more research, though, I discovered that since I bought a kosher bird it was likely that I would not get giblets.
According to a thread on Chowhound, which strongly advocated the Rubashkin’s Aaron’s kosher turkey that is repackaged under Trader Joe’s brand, these kosher turkeys often don’t include the giblets. During the koshering process the giblets are handled separately, and if they are damaged in any way they are discarded instead of being packaged with the turkey.
• Read the thread here: Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Best Turkey at Chowhound
Did your turkey have giblets, and if so, what did you do with them?