Woman who complained about ‘pink turkey’ embarrassed to find out it was actually gammon

Christmas dinner is a stressful experience for the best of us, but this year, one woman found it to be more on the embarrassing side thanks to the mistaken identity of her turkey.

Oldham family butchers N L Woodcock shared a screenshot of a text message exchange with one of their customers, known only as Zoe, who said she had been forced to put her supposed turkey back in the oven because when she carved it, the meat was still ‘very, very pink’

Zoe then told the butcher that she’d spent an extra two hours on Christmas Dinner trying to cook the meat before eventually ‘giving up’ and serving a meatless dinner.

Her message read: “So we cooked the big 12lb turkey yesterday and when we carved it was still very, very pink inside so we had to put it back in the oven.

Claudio Schwarz / Unsplash

“One hour later we got it back out again but still pink my husband carved it and all and put it back in because we thought it would cook quicker like this. Eventually, we gave up and had Christmas dinner two hours late with no meat.”

However, Zoe eventually realised that she’d been roasting a joint of gammon half to death when she went back to the kitchen later in the evening to ‘nibble on the outside of the now very dried out meat’.

When she informed the butcher that she was ‘very disappointed’ with receiving a gammon instead of a turkey, he pointed out she had ordered a Christmas hamper that didn’t come with a turkey.

Neil the butcher replied: “Hi Zoe we are sorry about that but looking at your previous messages you ordered the hamper 6 which was the full gammon joint and didn’t come with a turkey.”

N L Woodcock Butchers / Facebook

N L Woodcock Butchers / Facebook

Zoe, who is obviously a great sport, quickly realised her mistake and apologised before asking if there were any turkeys left for her to buy to which Neil offered her a new one completely free of charge.

He replied: “We will drop you a boneless turkey breast on Wednesday. The price is nothing as it’s the best laugh I’ve had this year. Hope all the family get well soon.”

Neil later shared the comical exchange onto the company’s Facebook page, where it was quick to catapult to viral fame. Followers of the page praised Neil for his generosity and good humour, with one person writing: “Bless you Zoe for being such a good sport. And how ace the butchers are in their response. Happy New Year to you all.”

Zoe herself later commented: “I’m so pleased everyone has had such a massive laugh at our stupidity.”