Kitchen Chase, Keeping Meals simple, Keeping you Satisfied
Starting back in about 1990 I came up with the idea to B.B.Q. a turkey! My buddy Rene' bought me a terrific "Red Weber" B.B.Q. and we had a lot of fun and a bird that was bar none the best Turkey I've ever had, so to this day it is the ONLY way I desire to cook my bird... IT's super Easy, Fast, and the flavor depends on the Wood chip you use. I personally really like the Oak bark but it's tough to find in Arizona so I'll use whatever... I hope you'll be brave and try this method as I can't imagine screwing it up, at least I never have! Enjoy and while you cook I hope the true real meaning of Thanksgiving come through the love you provide in your meal...
Ingredients!
A TURKEY! Doesn't really matter what size but I like birds under 20lbs. just my choice, as they seem to cook more evenly and have a better flavor.
A Weber B.B.Q. Grill
10 lbs of B.B.Q. Charcoal any kind will do, but you get what you pay for here for sure.
Some wood bark, Oak, Mesquite, Apple or whatever it's going to be a Smokey bird and delicious.
Molasses
Soy Sauce
1-2 Whole onions quartered
1 bunch of celery
1-2 green apples
Salt and pepper to taste
Some sort of a cooking thermomator, Meat is fine.
Here's how it goes... Take you thawed bird out the night before rinse with your KangenWaterMagic 5.5 or 2.5 acid water inside and out! Pat dry then mix the Molasses and Soy Sauce together in a cup... enough so you can paint the bird all over with a cooking brush and allow it to absorb into the bird and it will actually sort of stain for color sake, refrigerate of course overnight.
Next morning, take that bird and put it into a roasting rack (I have one just for the Weber) and salt and pepper the inside, add the celery, onions, apples to the cavity, add a few dabbers of butter and rub around the outside of the bird in the usual places behind the wings, and legs etc.
Get your charcoals going for at least 20-30 minutes ahead of time! So they are almost but not quite white. Your going to put a aluminum foil drip pan in the middle of those coals and have about 20-25 coals on either side of the pan. Then your rack goes on top in the usual position! "Are you following me here?"
Take your prepared bird in it's cooking rack and just set it on top of the B.B.Q. normal grill surface so that the drippings of the bird will fall into the aluminum pan!
Your coals are HOT, the bird is basted with Molasses, and stuffed With simple onions, apples and celery and is sitting on the grate, close the lid! Open the bottom vents about 1/2 way only... open the top vents of the weber to put the meat thermometer in and the idea is to keep the tempature as low as possible... NOW don't freak out because the B.B.Q. will be very hot in the beginning... and that is O.K. as the temp drops your going to drop in several of the wood chips/bark on both sides directly into the coals and more coals as necessary! Keep the lid on, and leave the bird alone! About every 20 minutes lift the lid and check to add more charcoal...
How will you know when it's done? You either have one of those pop ups inside the bird or just put a meat thermomator in the Leg/Thigh of the bird and watch it, My birds usually take about 4 hours tops, but it will depend on the weather if there is a breeze.
I promise this will be the tastiest bird you've ever experienced and it's so easy! I'd probably screw up a regular oven roasted bird now adays as this is my favorite and most tastie bird and I get rave reviews!
P.S. note, you might want to put the bird in rack breast side down, it's your call, as I do both...
This photo is my very first BIRD done this way and if I can do it with white gooffies I know you can!
Happy Thanks Giving to all!
