Sklenarik’s Addresses Regional Turkey Shortage

When Paul Sklenarik, owner of Sklenarik’s Smoked Meats Inc. in Miles, placed his turkey order in June 2015 with Pak Quality Foods in San Angelo, his salesman told him there might be a turkey shortage this year. This shortage is a result of an avian flu outbreak, which started in the winter and ended the same month as Sklenarik’s order.

Sklenarik, like many people in the business, faced some genuine concerns, especially when warnings on media sites have plagued the internet. However, last week, the smoke house owner got peace of mind when his order came in with no issues.

“Everything we ordered came in as requested,” said Sklenarik  

Sklenarik said in addition to the order with Pak Quality foods, he went to the local grocer in Miles to buy turkeys because he has a few corporate sales he and his team have to prepare for.

“They said they don’t think they’ll have a problem getting turkeys too,” noted Sklenarik. “Maybe it was just something to drive up prices.”

This year, prices have increased $.18 cents per pound, but the turkey shortage is indeed a real threat. Luckily for Sklenarik's, however, the National Turkey Federation estimated only 3 percent of the nation’s supply was lost as a result of the flu, and turkey availability would be a hit-or-miss depending on grocers and the grocers' suppliers.

Gary Stokes with Pak Marketing stated San Angelo seems to be in the clear where turkeys are concerned. “This won’t affect us at all locally," he said.

However, that's only the turkeys people buy for the holidays. Stokes said the flu is actually affecting turkey breast distribution.

“We sell three or four different kinds of turkey breasts, and we buy in 20 and 40,000 pound quantities,” explained Stokes. “We can’t even get them. We’ve tried several suppliers and we give them an order. They just give it back to us. [Officials have] said it's going to take 8 or 9 months to recover. That’s if they don’t have any more issues."

Additionally, Pak Marketing has clients they have served for many years with turkey breasts, and when the salesmen told these clients they couldn’t provide the turkey breasts any longer, the clients went to other suppliers; but they were told the same thing.

As for H-E-B, the local grocery staff didn’t even know about the turkey shortage.

“We’re not being affected at all,” said a manager in charge who didn't know about the shortage. “If we were, there would have been a communication to all the stores that there would have been a shortage. We’ve got plenty of turkeys."

No Shortages Means Award-Winning Turkeys 

Since Sklenarik received his complete order with no issues, he and his team began the long process of preparing the turkeys last Wednesday into the national-award-winning smoked product people of Miles, San Angelo and other surrounding areas have come to depend on for their holiday tradition since the smoke house opened in 1992. His team will be adding national-award-winning hams to the menu as well.

Those two products help increase sales this time of year.

“[Sales] increases every year little bit by little bit,” Sklenarik said. “Probably the biggest deal is we won a national award with it."

The national award Sklenarik referenced was the 2003 American Association of Meat Processors in Kansas City. He and his team won Grand Champion. The smoke house also participated for several years in the Texas Association of Meat Processors for several years.

“We had a great winning streak for probably seven to eight years,” Sklenarik said. “We were Grand Champion Smoked Turkey.”

In fact, Sklenarik and his team have been the sweepstakes winner or runner up for the smoked turkeys from 1996 to 2011 in the state competition, and the only reason that hasn’t gone further is because the Association of Meat Processors has removed the smoked turkey category.

“Maybe we won too many shows,” Sklenarik joked.

Sklenarik’s smoked hams also won Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion at the competition from 1994 to 2014.

Sklenarik's Process for Making Award-Winning Turkeys and Hams

Many people may be wondering why they would go to Sklenarik’s for their turkey and/or ham for Thanksgiving or Christmas when they can go to H-E-B or Walmart. Well, Sklenarik said that choice has to do with the marinade his team injects into both of them, especially the turkey.

“It’s basically a cure,” Sklenarik explained about his marinade. “We’re curing it with water, salt, brown sugar and some spices. What we do that’s different than anybody else is we add pure maple syrup to our spice blend. We buy it from some people in Vermont who produce maple syrup, and we add that to our hams and turkeys."

Sklenarik added that the taste of maple doesn't overwhelm people either.

To process the turkeys, one worker peels the plastic off the birds and removes all the innards. He then cleans them really well using a large water hose. From there, the worker hands the cleaned turkeys to two other workers who marinate them using a pumper that leads to a large bucket of the mixed brine.

“We pump them and marinate them,” Sklenarik explained. The workers pump the birds at about 18 percent, so if they have a 10-pound turkey and add 1.8 pounds of water and seasonings to it, they cook the turkey back down to come below or back to the starting weight. 

Once the workers finish marinating the turkeys, they put the turkeys into a vacuum tumbler that’s like a big drum.

“We put the turkeys in there, put the vacuum on them, and then they slowly turn for about 45 minutes to an hour.”

The vacuum provides a massaging action and that pumps the brine into it and ensures it doesn’t leak out.

“So your seasonings stay in the meat,” Sklenarik noted.

After that, the staff will pull them out and place 60 turkeys onto “a truck” rack that holds them in place. They then put them into one of the room-sized ovens for about 12 hours.

“The process takes 24-hours if we went non-stop,” Sklenarik said.

Once the turkeys are cooked, the staff will wrap them, net them and box them. Some get refrigerated while the others are placed in the freezer until close to Christmas.

Once people make their purchase of the turkeys and the hams, all they have to do is warm them up on Thanksgiving or Christmas with no added effort.

“They warm up pretty quick,” Sklenarik stated.

Sklenarik added that in addition to the 160 turkeys this year, his team will cook 120 hams. They also plan on adding 50 boneless turkey breasts and 50 boneless hams; however, with the turkey breast issue, he may not be able to make that happen.

Overall, the sizes of the hams are about 18 pounds, and the prices will depend on the turkey sales.  As for the turkeys, Sklenarik said the prices will run about the same as last year.

“They’ll be about $5.29 a lb. which is what they were last year,” he said. “There will be a few around 10 to 12 pounds. Bigger turkeys will be in the 18 to 20-pound range.”

So for people interested in purchasing one of Sklenarik’s award-winning turkeys and/or hams for the holidays, they can call (325) 468-3501, or go into the store at 108 Robinson St. in Miles. Sklenarik said they usually sell out quick.

People can also visit http://westtexasjerky.com for more information.