In less than two weeks, it is estimated that Americans will consume nearly 50 million turkeys for the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the US Poultry & Egg Association. The method and preparation in which Americans will prepare the centerpiece of almost every Thanksgiving table is unknown, but several years ago I was introduced to a backbreaking turkey recipe by two of my graduate school mentors at Saint Louis University, Lewis and Elisabeth Perry. The Perrys loved food and delighted in hosting graduate students for lunch and dinner. At one of those dinners many years ago, they spoke at length and with much enthusiasm about their sacred Thanksgiving tradition, the Morton Thompson Turkey.

Born in 1907, Morton Thompson was a journalist and wrote for several well-respected periodicals and magazines including Collier’s, Reader’s Digest, The Saturday Review of Literature, Time, and the American Mercury. He also contributed a column in the Hollywood Citizen-News. He also wrote two novels, The Cry and the Covenant (1949) and Not as a Stranger (1954). The latter novel was a best-seller in 1954 and was turned into a film starring some of the biggest names in Hollywood at the time, including Gloria Grahame, Frank Sinatra, Lee Marvin, and Olivia de Havilland.

While most of Thompson’s works have faded into obscurity, the one that persists is his famous turkey recipe. Thompson first ran the recipe in one of his columns, and then continued to do so “just around Thanksgiving” for several subsequent years. Thompson decided to include it in his memoir, Joe, the Wounded Tennis Player in 1945, which shared a story behind the stories. In typical fashion of Thompson’s prose, the recipe is humorous, laborious, and not for the faint of heart. It requires no less than 30 ingredients, calls for basting the turkey every 12 to 15 minutes, and requires most of the day. The true hook of Thompson’s turkey is the stuffing recipe that includes ground veal, ground pork, and a quarter pound of butter. The stuffing is particularly difficult and requires stamina. As Thompson put it, “Mix it with your hands. Mix it until your forearms and wrist ache. Then mix it some more.”

The “giblet-neck-liver-heart” gravy is equally delectable, as it is made from the drippings and cider, and it also serves as the basting liquid. The paste applied to the turkey also keeps the turkey moist and encased, but don’t despair when the turkey looks like it is burned. The jet-black paste kept the turkey moist. Just flake off the bark with tweezers, as Thompson suggested, and under the jet-black turkey is a brown and crispy turkey that would befit any magazine cover. After all that effort, it is very easy to break apart. In Thompson words, “You do not have to be a carver to eat this turkey; speak harshly to it and it will fall apart.”

Thompson died in 1953 at the young age of 46, but his recipe was picked up and republished four years later by American author Richard Gehman in Gourmet: The Magazine of Good Living. Gehman aptly named the Thanksgiving centerpiece, “A turkey from Heaven.” Gehman later published Thompson’s recipe in his cookbook, The Haphazard Gourmet in 1966. Canadian author Pierre Berton popularized Thompson’s recipe in 1967.

Since that time, the recipe has been republished several times, most notably in Jeffrey Steingarten’s The Man Who Ate Everything (1998), shared countless times in newspapers, and reprinted in various forms on the internet. The most authentic version of the recipe can be found here, which has been preserved for posterity by a Thompson acolyte. Put simply, Thompson’s turkey has a cult following.

If you haven’t decided on your method of preparation this year, I strongly recommend you try Thompson’s recipe if you have the time, patience, and counterspace. Given that Thanksgiving has been a limited affair for many families during the pandemic and turkeys are more widely available this year than the past three years, Thompson’s recipe will create one of the most memorable Thanksgiving feasts for your family and loved ones. I’d also bet the ranch that you’ll create more Thompson disciples in the process. The Perrys did so for me.

The Thompson turkey: A Thanksgiving masterpiece

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