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Keeping Tradition Alive, Cacia’s Cooks Your Turkey For You

Owner Sam Cacia and son Joey load turkeys into the bakery's massive brick oven. (credit: Mike Dougherty)

Owner Sam Cacia and son Joey load turkeys into the bakery’s massive brick oven. (credit: Mike Dougherty)

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A South Philadelphia bakery, for more than 50 years, has been cooking up turkeys for anybody who wants to drop one off for a few hours.

110 birds of varying sizes and dressings were loaded into the oven at Cacia’s on Ritner Street. It’s truly amazing how this process works — they don’t use any timers or temperature gauges — it’s all done by feel and experience.

One by one, customers filed in, got a number and were told to come back several hours later to pick up their cooked bird, “It’s tradition. My mother did it and now I’m doing it. And it leaves your oven open to do other things.”

And while some people are keeping the family tradition alive, others find a treat not to have to cook, “I think the convenience is they have a great reliable oven. And I think most people’s ovens at home get a little dirty and they can take care of the mess easily for you.”

The biggest bird of the bunch was a 45 pound behemoth, but the owners say it doesn’t take much longer to cook than the rest.

Reported By Mike Dougherty, KYW Newsradio

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