Anyone ever try one? Their chickens are quite good...basically pre-brined as part of the kosher processing as I understand.

I haven't tried the Empire turkey because in Cooks Illustrated, they panned it. The Rubashkin Aaron Best Turkey (Kosher) was given the top rating. I don't remember if Butterball was rated higher, but I think it was. Cooked the Rubashkin and it was very good. I'm not convinced, however, it was worth the extra $$$ versus the Butterball.

Here in the link for the Cook's Illustrated Turkey Ratings.

You can't view the ratings unless you are a member but you can get a 14-day free trial membership.

I actually did an Empire Kosher Turkey last year for Thanksgiving.

I had asked my father in law to purchase an all natural bird so I could brine and smoke it, however, he must have gotten confused and bought the Kosher bird. I was hesitant to brine it because during the Kosher process it get a heavy dose of salt.

I decided to flavor brine it anyway, just used half the salt I would have used.

I then smoked it using oak smokewood. I skinned the bird and used a cajun rub found in the 'skinned,rubbed,smoked' thread in Turkey Talk.

The bird was the talk of Thanksgiving and it was devoured in a little under 2 hours. It was a 17lb bird.