Is there any other brands of turkey that are a good alternative to Butterball?

[gmi3804]

Best method: butterfly it and roast at high temperature. Ready in an hour or two, depending on the size. Flavor UNDER the skin with butter and desired herbs.

 

[NannyBeBe]

This year we're buying prepared turkey breast from Rudy's.
I don't care much for turkey, so when I do cook a whole one, I stick him in the oven and roast him until he looks like a dried up old man. I don't see much difference in brands. I often wonder, tho, if the local grocers keep the frozen ones that do not sell and put them out the next year.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I know I can always count on you for some excellent cooking tips.

…red faced and shuffling feet in the sand…
I learned them the old fashioned way: lots of total screwups.

Like the first time I was hosting the family Thanksgiving dinner and guests were already arriving but I hadn’t taken my bird out of the freezer.
Better yet, ask my mom and elder sister who hacked that bird to death and somehow we had dinner before midnight; trust me, they’d tell you with all the gory details
Oh and I had the gall to be peeved that they cut up the bird instead of allowing me to walk in the dining room with it whole

 

[Cadiewampus]

Don't have all these problems with ham or tacos

 

[Giraffe_Zen]

This year we're buying prepared turkey breast from Rudy's.
I don't care much for turkey, so when I do cook a whole one, I stick him in the oven and roast him until he looks like a dried up old man. I don't see much difference in brands. I often wonder, tho, if the local grocers keep the frozen ones that do not sell and put them out the next year.

I don't think they legally can.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

This year we're buying prepared turkey breast from Rudy's.
I don't care much for turkey, so when I do cook a whole one, I stick him in the oven and roast him until he looks like a dried up old man. I don't see much difference in brands. I often wonder, tho, if the local grocers keep the frozen ones that do not sell and put them out the next year.

A fully frozen turkey (Zero or lower) can be kept indefinitely. Taste and texture start to decline after 1 year. So generally, they are not kept. And remember they want to make way for other more seasonal items in their freezers. Most stores will sell out their Thanksgiving extras by Christmas and be back to normal supply amounts in January.
Note that if you have a freezer that can maintain zero, you can buy one dirt cheep at thanksgiving and have it in the spring.

 

[fla4fun]

I often wonder, tho, if the local grocers keep the frozen ones that do not sell and put them out the next year.

Well, the one I just bought has a Best By date well into 2025, so I feel fairly certain it’s not old. Not too old to matter anyway. I normally don’t look for a date, but the stores seemed to be putting birds out earlier this year, so I wanted to be sure it wasn’t expired. I bought my Butterball this past Monday. Normally it would be another week or two before I would be able to get one.

We have always had good luck with Butterball turkeys, and not so great luck with store brands. I have not tried Jenny-O turkeys yet, but they are popular, so I would assume they are okay.

 

[dizneegirl]

I've had good luck with Honeysuckle.

Last couple of times I tried a Meijer store brand, cooked them exactly the same way I've always done it, and both times they were "dry, dry, dry" as my young niece put it.

 

[LuvBulldogs]

Name brand doesn't matter ... I think I've tried 'em all. The taste is all in the cooking technique.

 

[_19disnA]

I agree if you end up with a 'dry' turkey, you likely have overcooked it. Always use a meat thermometer to tell when it is done to the correct temperature. Every turkey cooks at a different rate based on the size, amount of bone, if you used stuffing, etc. You can't reliably tell when a whole turkey is done just by looking at it.

Have never tried to invert the turkey during the roasting process. Seems like it would be hot/slippery, difficult to do with something that large/heavy and you could end up with quite a mess in the process.

 

[DodgerGirl]

I've never heard of Shadybrook Farms turkeys. That sounds like a brand we might look up soon. My family got a turkey from Omaha Steaks and we were disappointed in it when my family cooked one for Dad for Father's Day. Is there also any store brand turkeys that are worth buying too?

 

[lovesmurfs]

We've used Jenni-O for years. We "splurged" for Butterball once, and it was super fatty. Never again.

This year, we're splurging again for a ButcherBox one. We've been subscribing to their boxes and have been really pleased with the meat quality. And this is from someone who doesn't generally care about meat quality.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I agree if you end up with a 'dry' turkey, you likely have overcooked it. Always use a meat thermometer to tell when it is done to the correct temperature.

This is a wonderful home gift and you’ll wonder how you lived without it. Years back I bought myself a ThermoPop and eventually upgraded to the full sized (and more expensive cha ching) Thermapen.

Oh and if you don’t want to spring for an expensive but rarely used roasting pan just use a sheet pan! It’s a real workhorse and allowed me to give my original roasting pan to someone else. NYC kitchens are often small so “multi use” is the name of the game.

 

[DodgerGirl]

One time we got a Zacky Farms turkey from Marie Callender's when they had boxed turkey dinners and we were disappointed in it and my family had pre-ordered our Marie Callender's turkey dinner the week before and we thought we'd take a chance on it and try it and when we picked it up the turkey was leaking all over everything and we had to exchange it for a new turkey but we decided never to get Marie Callender's turkey dinners again and that's why my family stuck with Butterball until last year. I don't know how Butterball went downhill in their turkeys because they were always the top turkey brand of Thanksgiving

 

[_19disnA]

We either purchase Honeysuckle or Butterball and always had good results. Haven't noticed anything different about either the past several years.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I bought a Honeysuckle turkey breast this year. I've had it before. They're good.

 

[Owlpost23]

…red faced and shuffling feet in the sand…
I learned them the old fashioned way: lots of total screwups.

Like the first time I was hosting the family Thanksgiving dinner and guests were already arriving but I hadn’t taken my bird out of the freezer.
Better yet, ask my mom and elder sister who hacked that bird to death and somehow we had dinner before midnight; trust me, they’d tell you with all the gory details
Oh and I had the gall to be peeved that they cut up the bird instead of allowing me to walk in the dining room with it whole

You bring up a good point about leaving it in the freezer.You need to take it out of the freezer about a week before if you've got a big bird-15 pounds and up.Let it thaw slowly in the fridge.Floors me to see people picking up frozen turkeys the day before.Of course I have a friend with an absolutely horrible MIL who thaws hers in the shower.Yes,my friend doesn't eat any of that...

 

[NYCgrrl]

Best method: butterfly it and roast at high temperature. Ready in an hour or two, depending on the size. Flavor UNDER the skin with butter and desired herbs.

I’ve spatchcocked other poultry with great results so can’t see how it wouldn’t work for a turkey . As for compound butter under the skin? Yes, yes, a 1000x yes, lol.

 

[NYCgrrl]

This year, we're splurging again for a ButcherBox one. We've been subscribing to their boxes and have been really pleased with the meat quality. And this is from someone who doesn't generally care about meat quality.

Do tell what you think of the bird. Their name keeps coming up in conversation.
Thanks

 

[LoveDaisy]

This year, we're splurging again for a ButcherBox one. We've been subscribing to their boxes and have been really pleased with the meat quality. And this is from someone who doesn't generally care about meat quality.

What do you think of BucherBox. I don’t know anyone who has tried it. Thank you!