The entree is the centerpiece of any holiday meal. In some families it might be a turkey. For others it is a ham or a prime rib. It might even be a goose, rack of lamb or a pork crown. But whatever the entree is, it is important to select carefully in order to have the best tasting meal in town.

John Kalberg knows all about choosing the perfect holiday entree. The owner of Silvana Meats has prime rib and ham as well as smoked turkey at his own home during the holiday season. As a specialty full-service meat cutter, his expertise is often called upon to help others decide what to put on their own tables during this festive time of year.

“For both Christmas and Thanksgiving, we do old fashioned dry cured hams,” Kalberg said. “Then we do raspberry hams and honey apple hams, spiral sliced hams and honey baked hams.”

The hams at Silvana Meats are particularly sought after because they are dry cured. This means there is no water added to bulk out the weight. “Our hams weigh less when they come out of the smokehouse,” Kalberg said.

What the customer gets is a full muscle, hand-rubbed, cured product that has actually been put in a real smokehouse and smoked with a mix of hickory and maple wood. This is far different from large commercial operations that hang hams in a smokeless smokehouse to be sprayed with liquid smoke or tumbled in great vats to force-in brine.

“We do a smoked turkey that we hand rub with honey, brown sugar and salt and we cure it for about 10 days and smoke it,” Kalberg said. “We sell a lot of those.”

He also sells a lot of the more traditional turkeys, many of them free-range. Free-range birds are those who have been allowed to roam and build up muscle. Muscle, Kalberg said, is what gives the meat its good flavor. They are also all naturally fed with no antibiotics or steroids.

The prime rib at Silvana Meats is another naturally produced specialty. “Fed in the pastures of Montana, they’re all Black Angus and they’re all vegetarian fed,” Kalberg said. “They have no hormones or antibiotics. They’re really a superb beef animal.”

The prime ribs are aged four to six weeks to ensure the meat is tender and flavorful. Customers have the option of choosing bone-in or boneless.

While ham, turkey and prime rib are among the most popular holiday entrees, there are, of course, many other favorites to choose from.

“The Christmas goose used to be really popular,” Kalberg said. Duck is another dish people often choose. For spectacular presentation, rack of lamb or crown of pork can’t be beat.

No matter what people choose for their specialty holiday meal, Kalberg strongly recommends ordering early. Silvana Meats also offers a full range of party platters as well as old world-style specialties such as lutefisk, pickled herring, potato sausage and other Scandinavian delights.

Silvana Meats is located at 1229 Pioneer Highway in Silvana; (360) 652-7188.