Thanksgiving 2009

We have twenty people coming over for dinner this year and we are doing two 16-18 lb turkeys and an 8 lb breast to cook. We are smoking one of the turkeys and it will take around 12 hours to do that. We are using the Char-Broil infrared fryer to do the other turkey and the breast.

The Char-Broil Infrared Fryer is great because you can safely cook a Turkey outside at a rate of around of only nine minutes per pound which frees up a lot of time and most importantly otven space. If you don't have one of these you have to get one. They turn out absolutely perfect Turkeys plus you can use them for a variety of different things.

I inject and dry rub all my turkeys. I find they turn out a lot moister and flavorful that way. If you have an injector it is pretty easy to make your own different mixtures. Here are a few

Smoked Turkey

I usually use an Apple Wood or a blend of Apple and Cherry for the right blend of sweetness. I have some friends who swear by Grape Wood which is actually pretty easy to find if you live by a vineyard. Pop by a vineyard during thinning season load up the car take it home and chop it up if you have a chipper.

I have been using a little red electric Brinkman water smoker for years. I prefer it over charcoal because it is easier to control the heat and you get pure smoke without any of the creosote you might get from briquet's.

I put cheap red wine, water, aromatics such as sage, rosemary, and thyme in the water pan. I also stuff the in the cavity with aromatics and place them under the skin along with rub and some butter. Butter keeps everything moist and adds good flavor.

Smoked Turkeys take around 30-40 minutes per pound depending on the temperature of the smoker and the local weather. Make sure you use a meat thermometer. It can get cold around Thanksgiving in Chicago so with a 16 lb or bigger turkey it still isn't up to 165 degrees even after 12 hours. I just throw it into our gas grill to bring it up to safe temperature in a roasting with a little water to develop some steam finish it off.

Smoked Turkey Injection Liquid

This is an absolutely original Smoked Turkey injection liquid which has worked well for us. What this does in combination with a 24 hour molasses brine is produce a sweet smoked turkey with ham like qualities.

One Cube Butter
Jack Daniels Whiskey
Brown Sugar
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Powdered Sage
Powdered Thyme
Powdered Ginger

Smoked Turkey Rub

Onion Powder
Paprika
Garlic Powder
Kosher Salt
White Pepper
Powdered Ginger
Powdered Sage

Fried Turkey Injection Liquid

This is your basic Cajun Injection. Nothing really new here unlike above but it is the perfect way to reproduce the flavors of a Cajun fried turkey when using the infrared fryer.Another thing we do in the fryer is take a large Heineken keg can and fill it full of aromatics and stick it in the butt of Turkey.

One Cube Butter
Beer
Chicken Broth
Kosher Salt
White Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Tabasco Sauce
Powdered Sage
Powdered Thyme

Fried Turkey Rub

You could just use Tony Chacherie's Creole seasoning rather than blending your own.


Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Dried Oregano
Dried Basil
Dried Thyme
Black Pepper
White Pepper
Celery Seed
Cayenne Pepper
Paprika
Kosher Salt

Savory Turkey Injection

This one turned out pretty good in fact people liked the seasoning blend for this turkey the best this Thanksgiving among the Fried Turkeys.

One Cube Butter
Chicken Broth
Kosher Salt
Worcestershire Sauce
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Ground Bay Leaf
Ground Thyme
Ground Sage

Savory Turkey Rub

Kosher Salt
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Powdered Thyme
Powdered Sage
Black Pepper
White Pepper

Andouille Corn Bread Stuffing

Making stuffing isn't the easiest process for our family because one of the kids has severe food allergies. That means everything we do has to be made from scratch including all the spice blends due to fears of cross contamination.

We make the Corn Bread ourselves muffin style with Jiffy Corn Bread mix. Using muffins rather than loaves gives us more cruch surface area to work with. We slice the muffins into cubes and dry them out in an oven over 18 hours at 175 degrees. Getting the bed bone dry rather than stale is the key to great stuffing. For this large batch we used three boxes of muffin mix to make the muffins.

Fry the sausage with the spice blend till browned. Add Onions, Celery, and Peppers and saute till onions are clear.

Melt the butter, add chicken broth, and two eggs which are scrambled in. Mix everything together in a foil turkey roaster pan and roast in the oven.

Fresh Cubed Corn Bread (Dried till bone dry)
Aidelle's Cajun Andouille Sausage (12 Links Diced)
Can of Corn Kernels (12 Ounce Can)
Diced Onions (6 cups)
Diced Red and Yellow Peppers (6 Cups)
Diced Celery (6 Cups)
Diced Jalapeno (2 small)
Tony Chacherie's Creole Seasoning (To taste)
Fresh Parsley
Three Cubes of Butter
Chicken Stock (you determine the amount depending on how moist or dry you like your stuffing)
Eggs (two)