This year we had Thanksgiving at Maureen's home.
The air was quite chilly, for So. Cal, anyways.
It was all the way down to the 50's, but warmed up to the 60's!
Terry was bringing the turkey and as we know,
has to practice his bird skills till all things
were assuredly perfect.
First, how to cook it.
He asks me "what is the best bird we ever made?"
Easy, about 6 or 7 years ago, he made it on the outside grill or
bbq. We no longer had that, or any outside grill now.
So, the research began for the best grill.
He narrowed it down to the Kamado type.
It was the perfect size for a vertical turkey and
the best way to grill the bird!
Bingo!
With the perfect Weber internal probe, it was on!
We made THREE 12-13 lbs turkeys in a week!
First one, he overcooked not realizing how hot this Kamado gets.
700 degrees! You need to watch this thing! They say you can grill pizza fast, now I
see why! I can't wait to try pizza in this!
The turkey wasn't bad, just a little dry.
The second one was perfect!
We were ready for bird #3 on Thanksgiving!
Maureen said dinner at 6. We timed the 13.11 oz bird for 5, allowing for transport and
carving time. We also had green beans and apple pie.
I made the apple pie in the morning.
By noon, we were snapping the beans, blanching the beans, giving them an ice bath to save them for last minute sauteing with the chopped shallots. We then got the bird ready
for the grilling.
We got in on the grill with perfect timing!
I think this is one Chef feeling pretty darn good!
About 45 mins into the grilling Taylor says, "we may have a problem".
In controlling the temp to stay below 400, he tamped down the
air vents and put out the charcoal.
The temperature was dropping.
OK, I'm not going to say there wasn't a little panic,
but after some fanning and desperate measures to get the
fire relit, this is where I found Taylor.
He was relighting charcoal in the fire started out in the driveway!
And with a joint effort, we had lit charcoal once again.
Notice the lonely bird on the table.
I guess we still have a learning curve on this baby!
But, we finally made it to this beautiful ending
only 15 minutes late!
Oops, guess I took this a little before done, I see the temperature is still
just 139. But it looks good anyway!
We packed it up and in no time I started carving while Terry heated gravy
and finished the beans.
Colleen brought yummy mashed potatoes.
Maureen had her famous stuffed squash!
Aunt Rita brought rolls.
We were ready!
It turned out magnificently, if I do say so, and at 6:15!
(this for us, is a feat in and of itself!)
It was quite a feast for quite a happy crowd!
And in the parlor, Maureen readied the dessert.
Time for dessert
Count me in!
I'm down with that!
Ok, what's up with the turkey glasses?
They were irresistibly cute!
They came with crayons, but we had so much fun with them,
we never got much color on them!
And we are Thankful for our wonderful silly family and their
all coming together for the holiday!
