Who is cooking Thanksgiving?!

[The Pol]

Good tips. Thanks!

 

[Remmy]

Agreed on the "Weber does it perfectly" opinion. I have several smokers, but always default to the Weber for the TG turkey. Been doing it that way for 20+ years. Learned the technique from Sunset magazine, tried it the first TG we hosted, and never looked back. We often get "it's the best turkey I've ever had" comment from newbies (we try to host a few "orphans" every year who can't make it home to their own families).

Downside: the aroma doesn't fill the house whetting your appetite all day -- you have to go outside for that.

Upsides:

1. Great tasting, moist turkey
2. Phenominally smokey gravy from the drippings
3. Smoked turkey soup from the carcass

Tips and Tricks:

1. Use a light fruit or nut wood for the smoke
2. Breast-side down until about the last hour to let the juices run into the breast meat. Then "flip the bird" to brown up the skin over the breast meat. Drape bacon strips over the skin for that "little extra something"
3. Don't stuff the bird; make the dressing separately.

Love my WSM. The smallest Thanksgiving turkey I've done on it has been 22 lbs. Biggest was 26 lbs. My WSM is the 18".

 

[bob1852]

I did two 14-16lb turkeys on my 18" WSM last year. It worked great.

 

[MaddBaggins]

I'm currently sitting on 4 turkeys in the freezer. My grocery store keeps giving away a free turkey everytime you spend $100. We've been racking up the free birds. I'll probably cook each one a different way to see what I like best. Not all at once though.

 

[binabik]

I've been cooking the turkeys for Thanksgiving / Christmas for the last few years using this method. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe.html I definitely brine my turkeys, I find that they taste much better especially the organic/farm raised birds that can be a little tougher than the mass produced turkeys.

I've never had a chance to fry a turkey, but my brother-in-law does and swears by it. It is certainly a time saver, but am partial to cooking it indoors as I love the smell of a roasting turkey.

 

[Zuljin]

I'm currently sitting on 4 turkeys in the freezer. My grocery store keeps giving away a free turkey everytime you spend $100. We've been racking up the free birds. I'll probably cook each one a different way to see what I like best. Not all at once though.

Isn't your butt getting cold?

 

[MaddBaggins]

Isn't your butt getting cold?

Isn't that how you thaw them?

 

[trimixdiver1]

Cook from frozen, nice and tender

Or smoke it for 2-3hrs then deep fry it.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

we're making pumpkin pie and my in-laws are making everything else. I'll probably bring some wine I made.

 

[Evets]

I'll probably roast mine in the wood-fired oven again this year, unless the weather is crappy.
I get the oven good and hot the night before and cook the next day with the residual heat.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Is there anything a WFO can't do?
Looking sharp Evets.

 

[Zuljin]

So instead of dicing sausage, how about skinning it and running it through a Keystone 10 grinder? We've both ground and link sausage link for the balls.

 

[bad coffee]

You basically want small meatballs of sausage. Haven't tried making them with loose meat, but it might work.

If you need to combine the two, cut open the links and mix it by hand. It's already ground, no need to make it mush.

You can use a 1t scoop if you need to make a lot of them. Goes much faster than two teaspoons.

 

[unionrdr]

A melon baller works well too. Quick-n-easy. I was thinking of doing them with andouille sausage the next day with bacon gravy. We can get the sausage fresh-made over at Fligner's market on Broadway in Lorain.