The Best Ham for Your Holiday Table

Want to know where our honey-glazed ham comes from? Scott Kersting, Director of Meat and Seafood, shares the story of how Lunds & Byerlys ham is made – and why it’s some of the best ham you’ll ever eat.

In our never-ending search to bring you the very best in quality and expertise, every department at Lunds & Byerlys is constantly on the lookout for new products, new trends and new techniques. We caught wind of a smokehouse down in Missouri putting out some truly great ham, so we asked their team to come up for a visit.

We tried it and were hooked in one bite.

Burgers’ Smokehouse in California, Missouri, is a fourth-generation, family-owned smokehouse with more than 60 years of experience crafting some of the nation’s best cured and smoked meats.

They start with fresh, never frozen hams that are less than 48 hours old, guaranteeing freshness at the time of curing. The art of curing used in crafting these hams was passed down through their founder’s mother, a native of Germany. We can tell you Burgers’ cure recipe consists of high-quality ingredients, including honey and brown sugar, but the rest is a closely held family secret. The hams are then marinated for days to allow the sweet solution to permeate the entire ham to ensure each bite is as flavorful as the next. While this process takes far longer than other producers, Burger’s knows there is no substitute for time.

Next it’s on to the smokehouse, where craftsmanship meets technology. Hams are netted by hand and hung on racks for cooking and smoking. Their ovens allow for precise computer control and exact cooking. Their smokemasters then use an all-natural hickory or applewood smoke to give the ham a natural flavor. As opposed to the liquid smoke injections that flavor many of the hams on the market, natural smoking requires the talent of a smokemaster to regulate the process. After approximately 24 hours of cooking and smoking, these hams have the perfect flavor, color and texture. Each one is then cut, packaged and vacuum-sealed by hand, making sure they are ready to be the masterpiece of your dinner table.

After multiple taste tests, our group of meat experts decided it was some of the best ham they had ever eaten. It has a mildly sweet flavor that’s not too salty and a firm texture that’s never dry.

We’re proud to put the Lunds & Byerlys name on these delicious hams! Our family loves them and we hope yours does, too.

Available in traditional boneless, sliced boneless, traditional bone-in and spiral-cut bone-in varieties. Pick one up in our meat department for your holiday dinner this year.