Turkeygiving plans

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
So....what's everybody cooking? We are having friends over on Saturday, so I'm doing the meat, guest bring sides.

I'm gonna grill/smoke a drunken turkey, and maybe do a boston butt or something.
 
My mom brings sweet potatoes and chicken dressing and we do the rest. Brined and roasted turkey w/ gravy and cranberry sauce, baked mashed potatoes, whiskey-glazed carrots, kale sauteed w/ brown sugar & bacon, steamed green beans, deviled eggs, and yeast rolls, followed by at least three kinds of pie I like best. I make pumpkin with fresh whipped cream, my dad might make chocolate or pecan...
 
Brined and smoked turkey on the Egg. I’ll figure the rest out as we go but everything is made from scratch. Got a few staples but always try something new and challenging.

I like being home so I’ll have mom and dad over and whatever misfit friends we know that can make it.

I’m going to reach out to my restaurant owning friends and get a hundred oysters so I have another excuse to stay outside and watch stuff cook while me and the boy shoot BB guns and burn stuff.

Looking forward to being thankful and enjoying my family more than anything.

On a side note I always get to see my childhood friend who visits for thanksgiving. He’s a big shot design guy who lives in London and travels back and forth to NYC for work. Fun fact, the redesigned George Dickle label has the portrait of George (it’s really his step dad lol) and he also did the newest design for Bud also. We are totally different folks and he’s always glad to come home have a good time hanging out. Time to order a few thousand rounds and a bunch of tannerite!!! Woot woot!!!
 
trailhugger said:
We should do a test run.
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Might have to do an after thanksgiving tweaked run, we don't have a free weekend until then. We aren't doing thanksgiving at the house until after thanksgiving since we are going to see family out of town the day of. If we can figure out how to fit it in before though, I'll let you know!
 
we are going to smoke a turkey for our "friendsgiving" hopefully have a deer roast to throw on and smoke as well. the guys are responsible for meat. i guess the girls are going to make some sides.
 
DSM Turbos said:
Might have to do an after thanksgiving tweaked run, we don't have a free weekend until then. We aren't doing thanksgiving at the house until after thanksgiving since we are going to see family out of town the day of. If we can figure out how to fit it in before though, I'll let you know!
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After is good. You do the test run and then you can dial it in. :lol:
 
Tree Stand.jpg
 
Making enchilada sauce and tortillas for enchiladas, and still have to decide the meat. Or maybe we'll do tamales. Or maybe cochinita pibil for tacos. Or gumbo. There's a huge list of things I would rather spend lots of time preparing for two people, instead of Turkey. All of that stuff is scalable though, and we're not sure how much family will be around because there's so much stuff going on.

I already had turkey and stuffing this past Sunday in Maine (for reasons that do not make a happy story), and have no desire to have it twice in the same month. Didn't have to cook it though, which was a bonus.

We haven't cooked a turkey in years, and I have no regrets. Well, I guess we did do turkey legs a few years ago, which was the perfect one-meal solution but still just boring turkey meat.

The trick is to let other people cook the turkey, if they're really hung up on the turkey tradition.

And you get escorted out of the house if you bring anything in a casserole dish with marshmallows on top that isn't a dessert item for the kids. That's my personal line-in-the-sand for Thanksgiving.
 
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Ends up I am doing 4 turkeys this year. One today, for family. A sixteen pounder Wednesday, for my nephews work dinner that evening, a small breast only for us on the day of. Finally, another sixteen pounder for some friends coming over next Saturday.

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Cranberry sauce is made and so is a ginger pear butter for the rolls. Test run on a new bread recipe was a hit, so I might make another half batch into cinnamon rolls for tomorrow's breakfast. I'll make up pie crust dough to chill overnight and then prep the pans tomorrow to freeze until Wednesday for a pumpkin pie and an apple pie.
 
Turkey #1 was a grand success. Ham #1 was the best I've done.

For the turkey, I used this rub: Turkey Dry Rub Recipe

The skin browned up pretty quick this time for some reason (did this on my holland grill) and started to burn in on the edges, so I made a glaze of equal parts white wine, honey, and dark brown sugar and kept it basted.

The ham was a spiral cut precooked, so all it needed was some seasoning, glaze, and heat. I used this recipe: Grill-Glazed Spiral Ham | GrillinFools

No pics, forgot 'em until we were down to bones.
 
Pumpkin pie crust is prepped and in the freezer and so is the apple pie (in it's crust). Kids helped peel apples and crumble the butter into the brown sugar for the topping.

I will thaw them Wednesday, make the pumpkin filling, put the crumble topping on the apple pie, and bake them both that afternoon while I make the brine for the turkey.
 
trailhugger said:
Pumpkin pie crust is prepped and in the freezer and so is the apple pie (in it's crust). Kids helped peel apples and crumble the butter into the brown sugar for the topping.

I will thaw them Wednesday, make the pumpkin filling, put the crumble topping on the apple pie, and bake them both that afternoon while I make the brine for the turkey.
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Sweet Potato Pie > Pumpkin Pie
 
kaiser715 said:
Sweet Potato Pie > Pumpkin Pie
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I agree but my mom makes sweet potato casserole and I do make a damn good pumpkin pie. I pick my battles and make sweet potato at Christmas.

@Rox&Mud has a damn good recipe for a squash pie...
 
Turkey #2 now seasoned with the same rub as #1 and sitting in the fridge overnight. Hits the grill after lunch tomorrow. :)

#3 and #4 lie in wait....

I'm gonna be tired of turkey by Sunday.
 
kaiser715 said:
Turkey #1 was a grand success. Ham #1 was the best I've done.

For the turkey, I used this rub: Turkey Dry Rub Recipe

The skin browned up pretty quick this time for some reason (did this on my holland grill) and started to burn in on the edges, so I made a glaze of equal parts white wine, honey, and dark brown sugar and kept it basted.

The ham was a spiral cut precooked, so all it needed was some seasoning, glaze, and heat. I used this recipe: Grill-Glazed Spiral Ham | GrillinFools

No pics, forgot 'em until we were down to bones.
Click to expand...

Did you apply the rub to the skin, or did you get it between the skin and the turkey, or did you do both?
 
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