Villa Market Turkeys

[jayboy]

For nearly 15 years we brought imported American butterball turkeys from Villa Market - pricey but happy to pay given Villa's excellent roasting service.

 

Then, for reasons which remain mysterious to me, the Government banned imported Turkeys. Villa then offered a local alternative which although still pricey was hugely inferior to the American bird - and generated much disappointment among my Thai friends who had become accustomed to a festive Yankee whopper.

 

Anyone care to recommend the best available alternative.

[NiwPix]

I believe they are selling frozen Norbest Turkey Breast @ ~600 Baht / kg. But as far as I know, they are not offering roasting service with the Norbest. Maybe prepare the Turkey yourself at home and buy the fixings from Villa...to keep the cooking at a minimum.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The difference, I believe, is that RAW, UNCOOKED turkeys from the U.S. are no longer legally (technically) available here. The reason for that change, which occurred several years back, supposedly was due to some kind of avian virus outbreak in the U.S. at the time (which I think has long since passed).

 

But, ALREADY COOKED and FROZEN turkeys from the U.S. are available from Villa and other outlets, at VERY dear prices.  And I was in Central Chidlom market the other day, and they too had frozen, precooked Butterball turkeys from the U.S., on sale for 450 per kilo for 5 or so kg birds, meaning typical price around 2500 baht.

 

Interestingly, I was talking to one of the western chefs in Central Chidlom the other day, and he mentioned that this year, unlike past years, they're not stocking any of the scrawny Thai turkey brands they've sold in the past, and only are stocking the U.S. brands (albeit only the pre-cooked varieties).  The chefs apparently prevailed on the buyers to avoid stocking the Thai turkeys, even though they're less expensive.

 

 

 

[Lacessit]

I am wondering if Trump will become the first American President to not extend forgiveness to a turkey at Thanksgiving.

[jayboy]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The difference, I believe, is that RAW, UNCOOKED turkeys from the U.S. are no longer legally (technically) available here. The reason for that change, which occurred several years back, supposedly was due to some kind of avian virus outbreak in the U.S. at the time (which I think has long since passed).

 

But, ALREADY COOKED and FROZEN turkeys from the U.S. are available from Villa and other outlets, at VERY dear prices.  And I was in Central Chidlom market the other day, and they too had frozen, precooked Butterball turkeys from the U.S., on sale for 450 per kilo for 5 or so kg birds, meaning typical price around 2500 baht.

 

Interestingly, I was talking to one of the western chefs in Central Chidlom the other day, and he mentioned that this year, unlike past years, they're not stocking any of the scrawny Thai turkey brands they've sold in the past, and only are stocking the U.S. brands (albeit only the pre-cooked varieties).  The chefs apparently prevailed on the buyers to avoid the Thai turkeys, even though they're less expensive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks a lot. That's really helpful. Norbest or the birds on offer at Central Chidlom look great options. Those scrawny Thai turkeys were the pits.

 

Forgive a stupid question. If a turkey is pre-cooked is it just a matter of sticking it in the oven on the day in question?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

27 minutes ago, jayboy said:

Forgive a stupid question. If a turkey is pre-cooked is it just a matter of sticking it in the oven on the day in question?

 

Well, the precooked ones are in the stores frozen solid. So I'd presume, you need to let them thaw in the frig at home for whatever period, and then once that's done, just heat in the oven to bring to temperature.

 

But I've never bought one of the whole pre-cooked turkeys here, so best to follow whatever instructions are on the package, which for a change, will be in English! 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

FWIW, Villa's Soi 33 store on Suk Rd in Bangkok has a range of precooked, prepared Thanksgiving dishes available for order, with 3 days advance notice.

 

https://shoponline.villamarket.com/catalogsearch/result/?form_key=uNEEHEhw0lpCgyMn&q=0041213+0057644+0097320+0225318+0225319+0225320+0225321+0225322+0225323+0225324+0225325+0225326+0225327+0225328+0225329

 

https://shoponline.villamarket.com/pub/media/book/images/image/m/o/monthly12_pdf_file.pdf

 

Just one caution re the first page linked above - their listing for pre-order turkey doesn't appear to say what brand of turkey that is. I'm assuming American, but it doesn't say one way or the other.

 

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And FWIW, the Food Story (eat-in/take-out) section of the Central Chidlom supermarket in BKK also has various prepared Thanksgiving dishes available for eat-in or take-out, including roast Butterball turkey that they're selling for 150b per 100 grams.

 

I bought about 350g of their slice-to-order, fresh cooked Butterball turkey to take home the other day for about 525 baht, and so far, it looks like that's going to provide about 3 meal servings worth for me. Along with that, they had an English style stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, roasted veggies, sauces, etc, with the side dishes usually priced at 35 baht per 100g (or 350 baht per kilo), which are pretty good prices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sungod]

Does anyone know if this 'ban' is limited to uncooked US Turkey only? Reason I ask is I/someone carried in an UK Turkey and were stopped, what would customs say?