Turkey and ham for the holiday - what brands are 'best'?

[realdocBBQ]

So at WalMart the other day, they had Honeysuckle White and Butterball. I know these aren't anything special, they just have good advertising.

Some of you might remember, my Cuban friends are coming for their first Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks, so I want to do it up right. We'll have probably 11 people, I'm thinking a 20ish lb bird and a big ham, 12-15lbs. I know ham leftovers I can send home with the kids.

So...


Best turkey? I don't know how to find a 'heritage' bird or locally raised farm turkey or anything. I know people always recommend that, but I don't have a clue how/where to find one. I found an ad on FB for farm fresh turkeys, looks decent, but it's 2 hours away. That's a half-day trip just to get a bird.

I think I'll post in some of my local groups and see.

What about hams? Frick's has been what I've gotten the last several years. It is good, but is there better out there? I don't think I can afford to splurge on a fancy-schmancy one from the online places, plus I did one a few years ago and was not impressed. It wasn't BAD, just wasn't worth the $100 or so I spent. It literally seemed like a pretty regular ham to me. This was a Duroc, I'm pretty sure.

I've gone with traditional the last few years, but carving is a bit of a pain, I thought I'd go with a spiral sliced this time, just to be able to get good, even slicing. However, at my local Wally World, every one of the 'Sam's Choice spiral sliced bone-in hams was covered with something. - Honey cured, brown sugar cured, some other kind of sweet cure. Blah blah blah. I don't know that I want that.

Frick's whole hams were l$3.46/lb
Frick's half hams were $2.73lb
Sugardale were $2.06/lb

What's a better option than Fricks? I've been pleased with them, but wouldn't mind trying something different. Have you gotten a major store-brand or chain store kind of deal that really shocked you and blew you away at how good it was? I don't HAVE to have a spiral sliced, I just thought with all I have going on on Turkey Day, it might be easier not to have to spend that time with the cutting. Does having spiral sliced make it drier at all? Or any other downsides? I'll probably smoke it in the offset for a couple of hours, then wrap in foil and bring it up to 150ºF or so.


Basically, without going to online sales - which I COULD do if it is SIGNIFICANTLY worth it - is there anything that stood out to you? Ham or turkey brands from Sam's, Costco, Target, Reasor's, Aldi, any particular brands or things that are just out of sight and unexpectedly good? As for online sales, especially hams - anything that is in the $60-100 range that is just out of this world? Like I said, I splurged on a Duroc and ended up thinking it was 'just a ham' - nothing special at all. But if someone I trust has one they just rave about, I'm willing to try it - Berkshire, Cheshire, Iberico, something? I can't spend $250 on a ham (without getting divorced), but like I said, I might be able to slip $60-100 under the radar...


So for the 'ramble' - my typical 'stream of consciousness' writing.

[RiverJeff]

We bought a spiral ham at WM the curing they offer is just a packet that is poured over the ham when you cook it other than that the ham is plan and ready to cook might want to look again. My world turkey is turkey and the same with ham. Your prep and cooking will be the star of the show.

[captainlee]

We tried turkey from our local organic market for two years and weren't at all satisfied with the cooking results. Very much on the tuff side. Went back to Butterball and they were fine. I have no idea what the best is but we just bought two more for this year's feast. We don't inject, just do surface rubs. I believe there is some injection from the processor of Butterball. We find most hams are too salty for our tastes so we don't have them very often.

[lostclusters]

I have had the same results with many different brands of organic turkey. Although I have not tried wet brining. I too have returned to Butterball. They are hard to beat.

+1 for butterball turkey.

Also my sister made a Sugardale ham one Christmas. It was excellent and I am a ham snob. Just as good or even better than honey baked ham.

[captainlee]

We don't brine because of the salt. Glad to hear that we aren't alone in our results of organic turkey.

[realdocBBQ]

Thank you for the comments. Very helpful, I truly appreciate it.

[Jfrosty27]

I bought a Berkshire ham from Wild Fork last year. Crazy expensive and we thought the Sugardale from our local grocery store that we usually get is better. So I won’t be doing that again! Just my two cents.

[realdocBBQ]

Very good to know. Thanks a ton for the information.

[Skip]

Our local grocery carries Sugardale Brand and they're usually on sale and Very Good.

[Murdy]

I saw an ATK episode recently where they rated supermarket turkeys. If you happen to be a member (I am not), its here:

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/taste_tests/1837-supermarket-turkey

[jtw]

I am an ATK member, but I have never seen any of their winning brands in a store near me. Here are just the results.
Recommended:
Mary’s Free-Range Non-GMO Verified Turkey
Plainville Farms Young Turkey
Diestel Turkey Ranch Non-GMO Verified Turkey
Bell & Evans Turkey Raised Without Antibiotics

According to them, Butterball is NOT recommended

[Murdy]

jtw -- most of these are available online, and Plainville is available through Wild Fork.

[Dan Deter]

We've been getting the "Fresh Whole Turkey" from The Fresh Market for probably 10 years now.

[Bkhuna]

I like Empire. They are koshered so the salting is already done. I quick soak in a water bath will remove the excess. The cost more than supermarket brands but the taste is worth it. The only issue is spending time removing pin feathers. But it isn't an arduous process.

[Skinsfan1311]

I smoke a Smithfield spiral ham and we're happy with the results. I'll buy pretty much any brand of turkey that on sale and, regardless of how I cook them, (smoked, fried, oven roasted), they turn out good.

[SheilaAnn]

Know that the heritage turkeys are not injected with all the solutions and other junk like a butterball. So, if you go with a heritage, brine! And reduce the cooking time (use your thermometer!).

Over by me, Diestel is my brand of choice.

[Draznnl]

We’re trying an organic turkey breast from WF and a, call me a heretic, rib roast from Creekstone Farms. No ham here. In the past, I’ve found wet brining turkeys to be useless so I’ll just dry brine everything. 🦃🦃🦃

[realdocBBQ]

Right, I will probably dry brine, though I may inject - just depends on how many turkeys I end up doing for others this year. Last couple years I've spent the whole day doing turkeys for other people. Maybe I'll take this year off...

[SheilaAnn]

Draznnl not a heretic sir, you just know what you want to eat!

[shify]

Turkey I usually buy the fresh turkey from Whole Foods. I like seasoning it myself and having a normal size bird (~12-13 lbs and buying 2 if I need more) vs. the monster butterballs that is all white meat. If I remember correctly, it was a shade under $2/lb last year. Organic I think was $1 more per pound

Never bought a ham outside of Costco, so can't really comment besides I thought the Kirkland ham was pretty good (regular one, not the spiral sliced). Not spongy, not overly salty but don't have much to compare it to.

[DennyWoo]

I've always liked the Aldi brand spiral sliced hams. They seem to taste a little less salty than others I've tried. I just put on a basic dry rub and smoke it to bring it up a notch, and then glaze it up to finish.

[klflowers]

Over the years I have tried heritage, free range, wild - pretty much every type turkey. I came back to Butterball. Probably cause I grew up eating them, my pallete needs all that stuff they inject. For ham, I get a spiral sliced from Publix or Aldi without all the pre-installed sugar/honey/whatever else stuff. I do like honey baked hams though, so if I have an extra 50 bucks or so I'll splurge on one of those.

[JoeSousa]

If you do decide to go online for a ham I am a big fan of the Porter Road hams. They are probably the best as far as a classic, pure ham flavor. The Snake River Farms hams are excellent too but they have a bit more going on. They almost have a slightly corned beef type of flavor to them. I have had one of their hams the past couple years and people always love it.

[PGH_RAM]

I put a deposit down on our Thanksgiving turkey a few weeks ago. His name is Micah and he's living his best life on a pasture farm an hour outside of Pittsburgh. He enjoys playing wingball with his flock mates, and always stretches after a game to stay limber and tender. He is vice president of the PTA (Pastured Turkey Association) and he gobbles tenor in the Eastern Ohio All Turkey Holiday Choir. Micah is going to be freaking delicious.

In seriousness, however, I was just shopping for a practice turkey because I want to use my rotisserie this year but don't want Thanksgiving day to be my first time. I also wanted an unbrined turkey. I compared Costco, Giant Eagle, and Whole Foods. Whole Foods won, $1.49/lb for unbrined, non-organic turkeys in a good range of sizes. $3.99/lb for organic or $2.99/lb if you're an Amazon Prime customer.

[SheilaAnn]

🤣🤣🤣

[Bkhuna]

Sounds like Colin's cousin.