is butterball better?

[DougE]

John you would so love being in a Minnesota dive bar with a jar of pickled turkey gizards in the cooler. Some even leave the jar on the bar top. I love those things. Might be the beer talking though.

They don't make enough beer .................. just sayin' lol

 

[Fueling Around]

They don't make enough beer .................. just sayin' lol

I said the same thing before trying them.

 

[DougE]

I said the same thing before trying them.

I'll prolly die without ever trying them, but I'll take your word for it that they are good.

 

[bigfurmn]

They don't make enough beer .................. just sayin' lol

Enough beer and anything is possible! Except that for me. Especially if it's on the bar. I've done some crazy things in small town Midwest bars, but not that.

 

[DougE]

To each his own, as far as where the boundaries lie on what is offal vs what is edible.

 

[Fueling Around]

Enough beer and anything is possible! Except that for me. Especially if it's on the bar. I've done some crazy things in small town Midwest bars, but not that.

Tom Tom Tom (there's a pun in there)
You disappoint me, I would have thought it would have passed your lips. by now.

 

[Fueling Around]

To each his own, as far as where the boundaries lie on what is offal vs what is edible.

If you ever had Burgoo, I rest my case. If you haven't had Burgoo well ....

 

[bigfurmn]

Tom Tom Tom (there's a pun in there)
You disappoint me, I would have thought it would have passed your lips. by now.

Lots of weird things have for sure but that is one I just can't bring myself to do. I mean throw it into a bloody and maybe we will talk.
On subject though, I am not aloud to cook/smoke Thanksgiving turkey so I get my mom's mistakes
Like timing the cook (not by temp as I told her and got her a thermometer for) for s stuffed bird then forgetting to stuff it. No seriously that happened. Just the latest in her ahem cooking skills.

 

[DougE]

If you ever had Burgoo, I rest my case. If you haven't had Burgoo well ....

I have not.

 

[Fueling Around]

Really sorry John fxsales1959 for the hijack.

I have not.

That must be a western Kentucky experience. The best Burgoo is where you don't want to know the ingredients.

 

[TNJAKE]

Really sorry John fxsales1959 for the hijack.

That must be a western Kentucky experience. The best Burgoo is where you don't want to know the ingredients.

We’ve had this conversation before but I hate burgoo and yes it’s a western Kentucky thing. All around Owensboro

 

[DougE]

We’ve had this conversation before but I hate burgoo and yes it’s a western Kentucky thing. All around Owensboro

Rest of us know the hogs gotta have something to eat, too lol.

 

[jcam222]

My personal experience with Butterball is they're nothing special.

Used to buy at the local turkey ranch but now it's just the two of us this year.I'll pick up a store brand frozen after TG for .39/lb and some legs/thighs to have on hand.

Agree, just marketing in my opinion

 

[cptnding]

I wet brine/cure my birds and smoke them and the brand hasn't seemed to matter. Also if it was packed in solution or a fresh bird hasn't mattered either. My equilibrium brine/cure seems to work the same way no matter the bird or what claims are made on the bag. I do 1.65% salt and and the proper amount of cure for bird+water and boom, all is good no matter what.

I've always dry cured bacons ect. Been spatchcocking turkeys with good results but read about wet curing and I'm interested. I understand meat plus water weigh for salt and cure measurements but I'm curious how long it should be in the brine. Is injecting the brine needed?

 

[tallbm]

I've always dry cured bacons ect. Been spatchcocking turkeys with good results but read about wet curing and I'm interested. I understand meat plus water weigh for salt and cure measurements but I'm curious how long it should be in the brine. Is injecting the brine needed?

The rule of thumb is that the salt and cure will travel 1/4inch every 24 hours.
So if you have a 4 inch thick piece of meat submerged it will get 1/2 inch travel total (from all sides towards each other) in 24 hours. So a 4 inch piece of meat in theory takes 8 days and then a couple days extra to be sure.

Now, with that said, if you have a thick piece of meat like a ham or a turkey, you will want to inject that same solution all over and deep into the meat. This will then ensure everything gets cured all the way through AND you get faster curing times with the liquid traveling both outside-in and inside-out. This is what I do with my hams, turkey, and chickens. It speeds things up and makes it fool proof.

I like doing pork butt's as hams because the flavor is still amazing, the cost is way cheaper, and there is the flat shoulder blade bone to work around versus big round leg bones.

I have a full "how to" on how to wet cure and inject a pork butt to make a holiday ham here in the Thanksgiving Central https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/how-to-holiday-ham-from-pork-butt-pork-shoulder.318276/

FYI, I dry cure my bacon as well but have wet cured it before out of curiosity and it was all the same in the end. The difference was the amount of extra steps and cleaning of a web cure on the bacon. With big cuts like pork butts/hams, you will want to wet cure so you can inject and ensure it is cured all the way through and around the bones.
The same process works with a salt brine that has no cure in it. I do salt brines like this every time but have fell in love with the cure flavor on whole chickens, so I do that more wet cures than straight salt brines these days.

I hope this info helps :D

 

[fxsales1959]

W/D sale turkeys started at 18lbs. went to Publix. found one(Publix brand) with neck and giblets for$.49/lb.

 

[yankee2bbq]

turkey-thon at WinnDixie.
Store brand $.49/lb
Butterball $.99/lb
I'm leaning butterball cause sometimes the store brands hose you on the giblets (and that's my gravy stock).
Not smoking, oven in the bag.

I had a friend who worked on a turkey farm. (Butterball turkey farm in Arkansas). He told me the bird is graded on “bruising” when handling/loading turkeys on the trucks. The highest graded non-bruised birds are Butterball, the lower graded bruised birds go to other “store brand” birds.

Since I was told this (about 13 years ago) I’ve always bought the cheaper bird…

 

[zwiller]

I had a friend who worked on a turkey farm. (Butterball turkey farm in Arkansas). He told me the bird is graded on “bruising” when handling/loading turkeys on the trucks. The highest graded non-bruised birds are Butterball, the lower graded bruised birds go to other “store brand” birds.

Since I was told this (about 13 years ago) I’ve always bought the cheaper bird…

THANKS Figured it was something like this. BBall/$$ birds seem to have an edge appearance wise.

 

[DougE]

THANKS Figured it was something like this. BBall/$$ birds seem to have an edge appearance wise.

I guess appearance might be an issue if the bird is your centerpiece on the table and you carve it in front of everyone. Mine get carved ahead and are served already sliced.

 

[zwiller]

I guess appearance might be an issue if the bird is your centerpiece on the table and you carve it in front of everyone. Mine get carved ahead and are served already sliced.

All the pro chefs break birds down, carve, and slice before serving. Always loved that ChefJJ backed me on that. MIL taught me that. She worked pro kitchens. Norman Rockwell carve moment be damned.

FYI Bird that is my avatar was one of the 39c/lb if spend $20 birds (Pops low salt smoked 20hrs)