Throughout my married life, I've been happily preparing Holiday feasts for our extended families and us. Annually, we've enjoyed the Holiday Season with family, alternating entertaining between Hawai'i and California. To me, our celebrations have been a fun experience instead of a challenge to organize, cook, bake, and serve traditional American Holiday food items ranging from gourmet extravagance to simple local-style family and ethnic preparations for 12 adults. However, during the past decade, our extended family has increased by an additional nine mouths. Most of the additions range in age from pre-teen to infant, so I've changed my menu planning to reflect more simple or basic instead of complex or exotic flavors and food items while we adults seem to age gracefully.
For the first time in decades, I've been hunting for pre-made Thanksgiving Day feasts from local hotels and restaurants. These pre-made feasts are time savers, tasty, and can be used to add to the entrees and sides that I'd prepare. I heard about Guava Smoked's cold smoked whole turkeys that will not only reduce some of my cooking stress but also storage and oven space while I can focus on another entree, sides, and desserts. Besides, since 2012, I've eaten several Guava Smoked meat plates from either Farmers' Market stalls or this location. I remembered how their smoked meats (fish, pork, chicken, duck, and beef) were always succulent, tender, and flavorful from their cold smoking method using strawberry guava wood or waiawī. Having tasted their smoked meats, I assumed that their smoked turkey would be as tasty and succulent, so we headed to this location to place an order for their turkey.
While en route to place our order, we contacted a couple of relatives and mentioned picking up lunch plates to share. They've never tried Guava Smoked, so we were happy they could join us for lunch takeout.
-FOOD: All plate lunches came with two scoops of hapa rice or a mix of white and brown) with one side of Mac Salad, Kahumana Greens with creamy vinaigrette, or Kim Chee.
- Smoked Mixed Plate: my husband chose the combination of smoked pork and salmon bellies. He claimed he got the "best of two worlds" since the fish and pork were imbued with the strawberry guava wood flavors. The omega-3-rich salmon bellies were melt-in-your-mouth tender, and its sweet-smokiness was like eating "salmon candy." He offered me a taste of the smoked salmon belly, but because I've eaten it before and refused his offer, I noticed him hoard over his plate lunch. $19.58
-Smoked Chicken Plate: choice of thigh or drumstick. My relative chose the thigh as it was juicy and moist and close to what we'd expect a smoked turkey would taste. As she ate her plate lunch, she agreed that getting a whole smoked turkey would be a wise decision. $15.28
-Smoked Potk Plate: our other relative chose the mild-flavored instead of spicy pork plate lunch. The thick-cut slices of smoked pork showed their pink smoke ring and a bit of charring. We agreed the smoked pork was excellent.$16.24
-Smoked Pork Bowl: I chose the smoked pork bowl because I wasn't looking for a large meal like a plate lunch. The bowl came with one scoop of hapa rice and was served in a paper food tray, but I plated my dish into a ceramic bowl and added sprinkles of furikake. The savory furikake mixed well with the hapa rice and enhanced the sweet smokiness of the soft and juicy pork pieces. $9.55
After tasting the generously portioned plate lunches, our relatives agreed that our decision to get a smoked whole turkey would be a time-saver and a taste hit at our celebration. We'd return again for Guava Smoked duck, kalbi short ribs, or butterfish (black cod) collars. read more