Elegant, lush and as beautiful as anything found in a Dutch still-life painting, the smaller heritage turkey makes for an intimate Thanksgiving celebration, but it's also quite maddening to prepare. I have turned so many to wood that I could start my own national forest.

Slow cooking? Fast cooking? Everyone has an opinion but most would agree that the commercially raised Broad Breasted Whites -- the ones found in most supermarkets -- and heritage turkeys have little in common.

The Whites are bred to be a consistent product -- they are all about the end result. They live their entire life in a cage and develop a large amount of breast meat with limited musculature. Since they are all the same breed of bird and are harvested at about the same time (14 to 16 weeks), each bird is just like the other, with no variations on how the Whites taste. They provide a perfect canvas for brines that combine strong flavors, such as a Mexican-inspired mix of orange juice, cilantro and tequila.

Heritage turkeys are not that simple. First of all, the word does not define a specific breed but one of the 10 or so heritage breeds, which are genetically diverse -- some have white breast meat and some don't. The fat-to-meat-to-muscle ratio differs with each breed and that wildly affects the cooking process.

You don't cook a sirloin the same way as you cook a roast, do you? That's the case with heritage turkeys, too.

Even if you buy the same breed every year, the taste can be different. Since they're raised in an environment that approximates life in the wild, some farmers don't supplement grazing. Like honey from bees, each individual bird tends to take on the characteristics of whatever food sources are nearby.

All heritage breeds live at least 28 weeks, which gives the meat a deep flavor and makes them quite muscular, so they are more like a pheasant than your average Butterball and, I would say, much more delicious.

Back in the kitchen

The good news is that even with these challenges, there are certain ways to ensure a perfect bird.

First, it's important to ask what type of bird you're buying because that will affect how you cook it. Locally, as nationally, the Bourbon Red and Midget White are the most common. They range in price from about $5 a pound to $8.99, depending on whether you buy from a store or your local farmer. You can also mail-order breeds and have them delivered chilled on ice during Thanksgiving week, although the cost of shipping is nearly as much as the price of the bird.

The two local breeds are wildly different. Midget Whites should be thought of as the free-range version of the classic commercial bird. The variety was developed using the Broad Breasted White but has richer flavor, well-developed legs and thighs (from all that running) and abundant white meat. They are smaller, as the name suggests. The average tom is 13 pounds, while the hens run about 8 pounds.

The Red, also known as the Kentucky Red or Bourbon Butternuts, is a different bird all together. Named for its unique reddish plumage and for Bourbon County, Ky., where they were developed, it is one of the most popular heritage breeds. Created by crossing Standard Bronze and White Holland turkey, this bird is all about deep dark flavor, with a complex caramel body, but still has a good amount of moist, rich white breast meat.

Mature Bourbon Red toms can weigh as much as 33 pounds, but most birds are brought to market at about 10 pounds for the hen and 16 pounds for a tom. As with commercial turkey, the hens are considered juicier because of their smaller size and limited musculature.

A faster process

Both breeds lend themselves quite well to a high heat/quick smoke process. If you don't want to cook outdoors, you can use high heat in your oven. In any case, do use a meat thermometer (a programmable one is the best) because the differences in the bird's carriage will affect cooking times.

The key to these birds is to bring forth their complex nature by highlighting their moist richness through brining and larding. The wildness of honey in the brine balances any gaminess. The slight smoke and/or bacon deepens the richness of the meat. The butter assures moistness but doesn't overwhelm the turkey's assertive breast meat.

The result is a moist, rich bird with a golden crisp skin -- a jewel of a bird that would make Vermeer proud.

N.M. Kelby, of St. Paul, is the author of the new "White Truffles in Winter." Reach her at nmkelby@yahoo.com or at her website, nmkelby.com.