You’ve heard this before. But there’s nothing wrong with a\nsecond shot… <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s the history: way back in 913, France was ruled by a king\nnamed Charles the Simple. He had a buddy named Aymar who lived along the Allier\nriver in the center of the country. Simple Charlie liked Aymar so much that he\ngave him vast tracts of land and a castle in the town of Bourbon-Archambault.\nHere Aymar had a bunch of kids, almost all of whom took the\n“Archambault” name, and that title continued until 1200, when\nArchambault VII died without a male heir. Whereupon his granddaughter,\nMathilde, took up the family mantle under a derivative name, thus becoming the\nfirst Dame de Bourbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bourbons slowly increased their power and influence\nthroughout the Crusades and the Hundred Years’ War, becoming an important\n“cadet family” in the court of France until, in 1589, Henry VI became\nthe first Bourbon king of France, ultimately earning the epithet, “Good\nKing Henry.” (Seven more Bourbons would follow him, including Louis the\nXIV “The Sun King” and Louis XVI “The guy who lost his head in\nthe French Revolution”).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the reign of the Bourbons, French exploitation of the\nNew World resulted in the royal family name being splattered across America.\nMost famously: Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Bourbon County in Kentucky, and\nPedro Borbon, the Dominican relief pitcher who won two World Series with the\nCincinnati Reds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bourbon County went on to become world-famous as a home of\nAmerican whiskey. But what you may not know is that, in the late 1800’s, a\nBourbon County farmer named J.F. Barbee crossed several breeds of turkey\nincluding the Buff (also known as Tuscarora), the Bronze, and the White\nHolland, and produced a new breed he called the “Bourbon Butternut.”\nAt first the breed was a failure, but shortly thereafter, Barbee launched a\nbird brand overhaul, rechristening his bird as “Bourbon Red,” and\nthat did the trick. Sales took off, and in 1909 the American Poultry\nAssociation recognized it as a distinct breed. By the 1940’s, Bourbon Red had\nbecome perhaps the most prevalent bird on Thanksgiving tables across the\ncountry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then came commercialization. The Bourbon Red was\nsupplanted first by the Standard Bronze (which could breed naturally), then the\nBroad Breasted Bronze (which cannot), and finally the Broad Breasted White,\nwhich is the standard for today’s large scale industrial turkey farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But hang on there, don’t count out the Bourbon yet. In this\ndeveloping era of free-range, organic, and locally grown, the Bourbon Red is\nfast becoming one of the most important heritage birds for Thanksgiving. Though\nsmaller than the broad-breasted standard, Bourbon Reds produce more flavorful\nmeat. And they are just fine living outdoors, foraging for themselves (and\nmaking the next generation of Bourbon Reds all on their own, thank you very\nmuch.)
\n
\nThere are only about 5000 breeding hens in the US, so they are hard to find.\nBut if you can find a source of Bourbon Reds, you will be promoting\nsustainable agriculture, helping the environment, and giving a small farm\nfamily something they can be thankful for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here in central Joisey we have a farm nearby which usually\nsells out of its Bourbons long before Thanksgiving. Luckily we remembered to\norder one a few weeks back. It’s just a 10-pounder, but it should be big enough\nto satisfy our small crowd next week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It may be too late for you to find a Bourbon in your area.\nIf so, you’ll just have to make do with the kind that comes in a bottle. Merde\nalors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You’ve heard this before. But there’s nothing wrong with a second shot… Here’s the history: way back in 913, France was ruled by a king named Charles the Simple. He had a buddy named Aymar who lived along the Allier river in the center of the country. Simple Charlie liked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Bourbon-Red.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1566,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564\/revisions\/1566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}