Serious Eats
Ben Franklin's Thoughts on Tender Turkey
Ben Franklin once wrote his daughter to share his love for a certain feathered bird:
For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly...For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America.
As Tim Carman of the Washington City Paper notes, Franklin was also concerned with tenderizing this wattle-bearing poultry.
His favorite method? Electrocution.
“Birds killed in this manner eat uncommonly tender,” he wrote.
Maybe not the first thing you pictured in Thanksgiving cooking techniques.