Gluttony Season Is Upon Us

The most glorious time of the year for stuffing your face is fast approaching with Thanksgiving right around the corner and then Christmas afterwards.  If you're hoping to host in your family and friends for a lavish and fully involved turkey (and ham and everything else) feast you've got two options: 

1. Cook it yourself from scratch.  

Hmm. Easy? Not easy. 

2. Order a package deal from a hotel or restaurant.

Not a bad idea but less than ideal if you're looking to serve a home-cooked turkey dinner with your own personal touch. 

Enter Shanghai's favorite purveyor of quality meat, Swiss Butchery with a third option for you to consider: pre-cooked turkeys.

Now, you can serve up a fully home-cooked turkey dinner experience for your family even if you're lacking the skill and / or prep time to do it yourself from scratch.  

Only 400 Turkeys...

In limited quantities -- 400 only and when they're gone, they're gone -- Swiss Butchery is offering pre-cooked turkeys imported from the US at all their four venues in Shanghai and available over their online platforms. 

Pre-cooked turkeys -- what's that?  

Basically, Swiss Butchery has directly imported the birds from the States, brined, prepared, and cooked them to 95% completion in their own kitchen.  They're then delivered to you 95% done to finish the final 5% cooking yourself. 

The result is a bird cooked to perfection right out of your own oven and ready for the table. 

An Unforgettable Meal for 8-10 People

Swiss Butchery's pre-cooked turkeys are a great solution if you want to put your own stamp and personality into your thanksgiving feast but are worried about screwing it up or time constraints in doing it from scratch.

You can't screw this up.  

If you've a conventionally sized oven and an hour of time to cook, two hands and the ability to follow 4 or 5 preparation steps -- voila, you've got yourself a home-cooked spread for your family and friends. 

And it only takes about an hour to get your turkey ready for the table. 

Swiss Butchery has sourced their turkeys from an accredited American farm. Their birds are hormone and antibiotic free. They are sized 6 to 8 kg, feeding 8 to 10 people, fits in a regular oven.

How to Cook Your Turkey

Your pre-cooked turkey shows up to your place looking like this.  (Or you can also pick them up from their outlets if you prefer.) 

Right here, it's already 95% done and it's all you now to get it to 100%. They're bringing you to the finish line, you just have to do a few easy preparations to step over it. 

Intructions are on the front.  Leave it out for a couple hours to bring to room temperature and pre-heat a conventionally sized oven to 150 degrees.  Take the bird out of the bag and baste it in a butter, lime, and thyme, and season with salty and pepper. 

Place the turkey in the oven for an hour at 220 degrees, taking it out and reapplying the butter mixture every 20 minutes. 

When the thickest part of the breast reaches 65 degrees -- about an hour later -- you're done. 

That's it! 

Easy, Juicy, and Your Own Personal Touches

Cooking a Turkey from scratch... did you know it can take up to two or three days of prep work for these birds. Mafan! Not easy! Swiss Butchery takes the headache away.

The instructions that come with your bird tell you specifically what to do for the last 5% of cooking finishing yourself at home -- the instructions call for a melted butter and thyme coating -- but you can also put your own creative / shanghai famous flourishes into it as well.  

A little seasoning here and there... 

You can do that salt bae thing. 

(Are people still doing that salt bae thing?)

Brined for 24 Hours

Swiss Butchery turkeys are brined for 24 hours with salt, lemon, garlic powder, white wine, honey, parsley, bayleaf, and black pepper.  At your place, they're ready after one hour in your oven.  

The results are a moist, succulent, delicious, golden brown honey flavor -- neither undercooked or dry.  

Don't Forget the Ham

In addition to their wide range of meat products imported from New Zealand, Europe, and the States, Swiss Butchery stocks honey glazed ham all year round sized to order. Their staff (all English-speaking) has chef or butcher background experience, so they can provide advice and tips on how to get the most out of your meat.

They can also offer up a range of options for recipes for side dishes.

Speaking of... 

Recipes Galore!!!

The Swiss Butchery website has loads of recipes for seasonal side dishes to compliment the bird, from Roast Brussel Sprouts with Bacon and Cheese to Sausage Broccoli Cauliflower Gratin to creamy, creamy mashed potatoes. 

Mmm... Smells Like Heaven

One of the other side benefits from cooking in your own place with your own oven is that your house smells great for like three days after.  Really creates the atmosphere for a great dinner for family and friends. 

Ordering a package deal is fine, of course, but nothing beats that smell coming out of the kitchen of a turkey being prepared in the oven.

Prices for Pre-Cooked and Frozen Turkeys

Swiss Butchery has 400 pre-cooked turkeys and they're available right now over their WeChat store or at any of their four locations in Shanghai.  They offer English-speaking service both in-store and over the app.

Pre-cooked American turkeys (6-8kg) are 820rmb.

For the brave, they also have uncooked turkeys (8-10kg) for 660rmb. 

Brand Story: Swiss Butchery

In Shanghai for six years and with four locations around town (with more on the way) Swiss Butchery is the first name in Shanghai when it comes to quality imported meats.  We've even given them their own SmSh search tag! 

Despite disruptions to supply trains in recent years, go to any of their stores, and you can see they've maintained the outstanding quality, safety standards, and hygiene in their products. 

Whether it's coming from New Zealand, Holland, Norway, or America, all their FRESH meat is air imported and thus spends way less time in transit than the product you would find at the mega superstores or grocery chains. Produce in those places might have spent some months frozen on a cargo ship to get to Shanghai.

Safe and Transparent Practices

Swiss Butchery locations are pristine, hygienic and open spaces.  All their product is prepare right out in the open in front of customers but their highly trained, professional staff.  

In addition to their butchery services, they also host workshops and classes relating to meat preparation in different cuisines, barbecuing, and special seasonal one-off workshops.  Get in touch with them over their app to find out more on those. 

... Yeah, It Was Real Good

To sample the pre-cooked turkey, SmartShanghai got ourself invited to a dinner the shop was preparing for a family of their regular customers. The turkey (and ham and everything else) turned out beautifully.  Moist, succulent, buttery, and rich in flavor. Cooked perfectly. 

So, yeah, it was reaalll good. 

If you've got a conventionally sized oven, definitely this is a great way to pull off a home-cooked turkey dinner, even if you don't have the time or are worried about your cooking skill level.  

Scan this QR Code to Visit Swiss Butchery's WeChat Store

Or visit their online shop here.