Going back to butterball next year!

[Shadowdog500]

This is the second year for a fresh bird from the local butcher, and we used the same process as last year. The bird looked awesome, but had an off flavor and texture. It smelled ok before cooking. My wife is concerned that she will get sick. The soup we made yesterday from the innards and tail seemed fine.

We are going back to fresh Butterball next year.

At least it looked good! LOL!

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Sorry to hear this Bird looks Great Hope everyone is OK We got ours from a local Turkey Farm Will go back their again

 

[Fooball]

Looks good....hope it was. I go cheapest every year...Publix brand $.49 a pound. Never disappointed me.

 

[scp]

The past 5 or 6 years...I started trying all those designer birds...free range, organic, all natural,never frozen etc....and really at the end of the day...cant tell that much difference between these and Butterball. Cooking and prep seem to be the most important.

Went back to Butterball this year...turned out great....so from now on it will be a sale bird...Butterball/Honeysuckle white.

 

[Robert]

The past 5 or 6 years...I started trying all those designer birds...free range, organic, all natural,never frozen etc....and really at the end of the day...cant tell that much difference between these and Butterball. Cooking and prep seem to be the most important.

Went back to Butterball this year...turned out great....so from now on it will be a sale bird...Butterball/Honeysuckle white.

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Kinda reminds me of the hype of the beer can chicken. I keep going back to the plumped by pump Butterball mainly because the family, in laws and outlaws, all seem to rant and rave over it versus the above mentioned designer birds. The Butterball is cooked in a roasting bag and I do insert about 2 sticks of compound butter underneath the skin and inside the cavity along with celery and onions. We capture the juice from the roasting bag and use it to wet the dressing before cooking, which makes for a very rich and savory dressing.



But, the real star of the show is still the 10-12 pound pumped up boneless turkey breast cooked on the smoker over hickory and charcoal.

 

[Whumpa]

We waited a bit to long and had to buy a Costco organic turkey this year. Twice the price of a run of the mill Butterball, but it was one of the best birds I have ever had. Moist and very flavorful.

 

[elcapitan]

One of the biggest differences is most of the store bought turkeys are already in a wet brine which usually consist of Salt, sugar, "secret spices" and some have nitrates etc.....

Wild Turkeys have a strong game taste.
So maybe the Turkey from the butcher still had that "wild game" taste and were not pre brined like the box store stuff? Or maybe it was old???? IDK


I smoke a lot of Turkeys and I usually just buy Butterball or the box store brand that is with no hormones or antibiotics... etc... and Dry Brine.

 

[food4thot]

This is the second year for a fresh bird from the local butcher, and we used the same process as last year. The bird looked awesome, but had an off flavor and texture. It smelled ok before cooking. My wife is concerned that she will get sick. The soup we made yesterday from the innards and tail seemed fine.

We are going back to fresh Butterball next year.

At least it looked good! LOL!

Fresh Butterball? Where do you get those?

Been getting Amish turkeys/breasts from the same local place over 30 years.
Thanksgiving plans changed so not doing the breast until tomorrow.

Find a butcher you can trust. Many times better than Butterball.

 

[Shadowdog500]

Fresh Butterball? Where do you get those?

Been getting Amish turkeys/breasts from the same local place over 30 years.
Thanksgiving plans changed so not doing the breast until tomorrow.

Find a butcher you can trust. Many times better than Butterball.

The supermarkets carry fresh Butterballs in limited quantities. They are never frozen, Have no hormones,etc, but are pre brined. https://www.butterball.com/products/whole-turkey/fresh

We’ve been cooking fresh butterballs for years. But tried local last year and this year.


Here is a photo below of the fresh butterball I bought on sale after Christmas and made on Dec 28th. It looked and tasted great!

 

[oldgfbbq]

We have been getting the Butterball from Costco and a frozen emergency turkey at Wally World. The cheap one was wet brined in salt, light brown sugar and peppercorns, BB brined using Mean Green Turkey Machine recipe. Wmt bird was smoked and just as juicy and flavorful and the BB.

 

[smokeisgood]

May have something to do with the bird flu that is wiping out turkey farmers right now. I always try to get a Butterball. If I can't I usually get the brand Kroger sells (don't remember the name, Heritage Farms or something) I find a Butterball, brined for 12 hours in Kinder's Butchers Brine and seasoned with the seasoning that comes with it to be just about the best turkey I have had anywhere.

 

[Charny]

I kept seeing mentions of Turkey shortages, but my local Costco had Fresh Butterballs for .99/lbs. But they had no whole briskets, just flats.

Friday after, the brids were on sale some $$ off marked price. Birds were $6-8 total. Whole pork loins were .99/lbs.

Their spiral sliced hams were not on sale, unfortunately (I think they were around $3.50-$3.89). Those are Excellent. I need to check back, because they only have them during holidays.