Not the prettiest, but it tasted great! It was smoked in a Big Green Egg over Lazzari hardwood mesquite with some cherry wood chunks mixed in. I kept the temp in the Egg at about 300 to 350. I had a temp sensor in the leg and breast, the leg had to get to 170, the breast to 160. Then it was done. Since it was just a 12 pound bird it didn't take too long. The temps the wrapper on the turkeys give is always way too high. 190? No way. Too dry!
Before it went in the smoker it had some butter slices jammed under the skin, and I used some Cajun Injector Honey Bacon Bbq into various parts of the turkey. That injector stuff works great.
The end result was a moist, smokey, sweet, slightly bacon-y and bbq-y turkey.
It was a smash hit! Woo Hoo!
And no gravy was on the table.
My brother in law did bring some really hot homemade hot sauce. It had some scotch bonnet peppers and some citrus juice mixed it. It was really hot, but also had fruit flavors. It was good but it was not for "beginners!"
The day before I smoked some baby back ribs with chunks of cherry wood I had soaked in red wine. I cut the meat off and used it in the oven baked stuffing. The stuffing was just some onions, celery, cranberries, and a bag of Pepperidge Farms stuffing mix. I added the bbq pork mixed it all by hand. I mean sometimes you just gotta dig in. I didn't use sauce on the bbq so it didn't really end up all wet and over bbq-y, it was just some nice smokey pork meat to add some flavor.
Our vegan guests (and non vegan guests too) really liked the Field Roast Celebration Roast. We just took it out of the package and put it in our bamboo steamer basket for about 10 minutes. It tasted really good, kind of nutty, with corn, and grain tastes. It doesn't try to be a fake turkey. We just served it sliced as is but you could dress it up all kinds of ways.
That's what I cooked. Everybody brought and cooked something. Appetizers included tail on prawns, ahi tuna slices, and awesome lox from Galvan's in San Leandro. They are my local family run meat market. They make great stuff like lox, sausage, and more. Plus they always have some very good cuts of meat and fresh fish.
I wanted to watch football, but was a little busy, and the games were crap. TV 20 (cable 13) had a roller derby and old Jim Gabbert hosted Dance Party reruns. Woo Hoo! They were way better than the football games.
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