John's Meat Market
Menu
Tel. 908-322-7126

Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26th

Talk turkey.

Fresh turkeys, direct from the farm. No middleman. That's important. Order yours: 908-322-7126.

How to roast it How to carve it

The shop's sign: John's Famous Fresh Turkeys, shipped farm direct to ensure freshness, no middleman!

Order

908-322-7126

18 days to Thanksgiving.

Ask about sizes and pickup when you call.

Or use the order form.

Gloved hands in a white coat holding up a thick bone-in rib roast over a steel prep table, the cut face thick with marbling, butcher blocks behind.

Christmas, Friday, December 25th

The famous Christmas prime rib roast.

47 days to Christmas.

Call for sizes and pickup days.

Order yours online Or call 908-322-7126

Watch Vinnie make one

The short version, if you're in a hurry

  • GibletsOut of both ends before it goes in. They're for the gravy.
  • 325°FThe oven.
  • 165°FOn the thermometer.
  • 20 to 30Minutes of rest, before anybody touches it with a knife.

How to roast it

There's nothing to this that a thermometer can't handle. Buy one before you buy the bird.

  1. Keep it cold.

    Keep it refrigerated until you're ready to cook.

  2. Empty it.

    Reach into both ends and pull out the neck and the giblets. They're for gravy. They aren't for the oven in a paper bag.

  3. Set it up.

    Oven at 325°F. If the breast browns too fast, lay a loose foil tent over it.

  4. Start checking early.

    Go by the thermometer. You want 165°F.

  5. Let it sit.

    Rest it 20 to 30 minutes. The juices settle, the meat slices clean, and you get a minute to find the good platter.

  6. Leftovers.

    Reheat to 165°F.

A roast turkey Line drawing of a roast turkey.
165°F.

Stuffing

If it's going in the bird: cook any meat in it first and pack it loose. Stuff it right before it goes in the oven, never the night before.

The center of the stuffing has to reach 165°F, even if the bird's already there.

How to carve it

Not at the table. Nobody's grandfather was as good at this as they remember.

Where the cuts go The same roast turkey with dashed red lines and numbers: 2 between the leg and the body, 3 through the joint between thigh and drumstick, 5 at the wing joint. 2 3 5
The numbers match the steps. Step 1 is the knife.

  1. Sharpen the knife.

    Do this in the kitchen. A dull knife shreds the meat, and no one needs to watch.

  2. Take off the legs.

    Slice through the skin between the leg and the body. Pull the leg away until the joint pops, then cut through it.

  3. Split them.

    Cut through the joint between the thigh and the drumstick. Slice the meat off both, working along the bone.

  4. Take off the breast.

    Ask at the counter how the family carves the breast.

  5. Take off the wing.

    Find the joint and cut through it. Then turn the bird around and do the other side.

  6. Bring out the platter.

    Dark meat on one side, white on the other. Accept the compliments.

Not a turkey family?

The rest of the table

Same phone number. Ask what's coming in for the holidays.

By the thermometer

  • Any bird165°F
  • Beef, pork or lamb roast145°F, rest 3 min.
  • Stuffing, center165°F
  • Reheating cooked ham165°F

Those are safe minimums. Plenty of people like a rib roast rarer than that, and that's between you and your guests.

Call 908-322-7126

A cut ham on a worn wood block, with corn in the husk and wooden crates behind it.
From the old website. The corn was just visiting.
Crusted rib roast sliced open to a pink center, on a board with curly kale and cherry tomatoes.
A rib roast, cooked.
Black and white photo of a butcher in a bow tie and long apron walking out of a cooler door carrying a dressed bird.
Out of the cooler and not in a hurry. From the shop's old photos.
A smiling older butcher in a white coat beside a large Santa face, with a Days Until countdown clock behind them.
The Santa. He doesn't take orders.

Questions before the big day?

Closed now. Opens Tuesday at 8 a.m.

Call 908-322-7126

Tel. 908-322-7126 Call