The Christmas I grilled the family turkey

By: Jeff

The 2014 Christmas Eve will be one I will remember, not just because of the time spent with family and friends, but also it was the first time we provided the main dish for dinner...the turkey. Not only was that a first for our family, but we cooked it a way no one had ever tasted before (including myself). 

The brine

The 2014 Christmas was the first time we ever grilled a 13-pound turkey, and to say the result was good might be the understatement of the year. We decided to take pictures of the process and share them with the readers of the site.

The first step in the process, and probably the most important for the best flavor, was placing the turkey into a brine. The brine was a simple concoction. About a gallon of water, a cup of salt, a cup of sugar, black pepper corns, minced garlic, freshly squeezed orange juice along with leaving the oranges in the brine.

After the brine has boiled, let it rest until the liquid cools to room temperature (you can expedite this process by adding ice cubes to the brine.) Once the brine has cooled, get a pot large enough for the liquid and the turkey (many use a clean Lowe's or Home Depot container) and place the turkey into the brine for at least 12 hours (some leave it soaking for up to 48 hours).

While the turkey is soaking, it is time to prepare the other ingredients for when the turkey is done soaking. Take 4 oranges and cut them into quarters, 3 onions cut and sliced and 3 apples cut into sections. These ingredients will be stuffed into the turkey, along with being placed in the drip pan underneath the turkey while cooking on the grill.

Once the bird has soaked in the brine, remove from the liquid and dry thoroughly. After drying, you will want to season the inside and outside of the turkey with salt, pepper and butter. If you are looking for a nice flavor and crusty skin, we took rendered bacon fat and also used that on both the inside and outside of  the turkey.

Once seasoned, we put the turkey onto a roasting rack which will go directly on the grill and will be rotated 180-degrees every 30 minutes.

Before I go any further, the grill is something which needs to be focused on. I cook with charcoal and smoke with wood chips. I decided to use apple wood chips, and had a healthy batch of chips soaking in water for 2 hours before using them.

The turkey will cook on indirect heat, which means a heat source will never be directly underneath the turkey, but rather to each side of the turkey. This operation requires frequent babysitting. Once you have your coals at high temperature, you will have to check every 30 minutes to add charcoal, as well as add hot coals every other trip to maintain proper temperature. I used one large bag of charcoal from the start of the grilling till I was done.

Before placing the turkey on the grill, place the oranges, apples and onions left over into a drip pan between the coals and fill with 2-3 cups of water. The drippings from the turkey will mix with the flavors of the fruit and vegetables to create an aroma and a basting sauce which is unbeatable.

As stated earlier in the article, you will rotate the turkey every time you check on it to ensure it cooks evenly throughout. I placed our turkey on the grill at 10:45 a.m. and took the finished product off the grill around 2:30 p.m. You want to maintain a high medium temperature throughout the process, adding wood chips to the coals every time you check on the turkey. The internal temperature should be between 170-180 degrees and should be checked in multiple areas on the turkey (thigh, breast, etc.) to ensure the meat is cooked throughout.

Once the turkey has reached proper temperature, take the turkey off the grill and place in a roasting pan inside. Tent the turkey with aluminum foil for about an hour. In the meantime, you can take the drip tray and baste the turkey to keep the turkey moist before serving. After the turkey has rested for an hour, it is time to carve and enjoy! Once you try turkey this way, you will never want a typical oven cooked turkey again. It is time consuming, but well worth the wait.

Real Men Cook

By: Jeff

Be a real man...get into the kitchen and cook!

I'm sure most reading this grew up in homes like mine. Mom cooked the meals in the kitchen, Dad took care of the grilling when necessary. Just the way it was, and how our home was before we had children. Nicole would get home and make dinner and all was right with the world.

After our second child was born, I quickly realized if I wanted to eat dinner, I was going to have to cook it myself. Nicole was typically taking care of the kids, which meant it was time for me to step into the kitchen and start cooking. To say I was clueless was an understatement.

Before you go rushing to conclusions, I knew the basics. I knew where everything was located and how to work all the proper appliances, but the methods and timing of cooking were very foreign to me.

Nicole would laugh at me and my endless questioning about this, that and the other, but what started off as a dreadful assignment turned into a pleasure for me. I started to enjoy having my day or two to cook dinner. It started off with simple stir fry using a rice cooker, then expanded to spaghetti using spaghetti squash rather than noodles, to black bean burgers and eventually more time consuming dishes like the Caribbean tilapia bowls we now enjoy (the recipe is below given for this delicious dish).

Now with 3 children, two dogs and working full time, cooking dinners has become my every day job. There are a few occasions where Nicole will put something in the crock pot the night before, but since I get home first and have time without the children, I take care of the cooking Monday through Friday.

Cooking can be a very rewarding task. Putting in the time to put a healthy meal on the table that your family enjoys and benefits from is something very difficult to explain to someone who has never experienced it before. In my opinion, any guy can throw burgers on a hot grill and move them around, but it takes another type of man to step into the kitchen with the confidence to say, "I got this..."

As I continued to cook, I became more interested in the Food Network, but one chef in particular. Mr. Bobby Flay. Everyone knows him as 'the grill guy', but he can truly do it all. I realize I am not a chef and will never attend culinary school, but you can always learn from people like this. It was from Bobby Flay and his grilling books I've received through the years that inspired me to cook entire meals on my charcoal grill. I took the kitchen, and just moved it outside. (Expect more grilling articles in the future.)

Cooking is something everyone should experience. Putting your stamp on a meal is something truly rewarding, and making the meal healthy just adds to the satisfaction of treating your family to a good-for-you meal.

So, guys, it is time to get off the couch and get into the kitchen and do some work!

Caribbean Tilapia Bowls:
(Feeds a family of 5)

2.5 lbs. Tilapia
3 packs frozen cauliflower
6 Bell Peppers
3 Onions
1 Can Kidney Beans
Chili Powder
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Old Bay seasoning

- Rinse off the tilapia and dry. Spray a glass dish and place the tilapia evenly on the dish. Coat generously with salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder. Place in the oven at 350-degrees until the edges of the fish start to brown and the fish is white throughout.

- While the fish is in the oven, place the frozen cauliflower into a pot and fill with water to boil. Allow cauliflower to boil for 5-10 minutes. After cauliflower is fork tender, drain the water, and mash the cauliflower to make cauliflower rice. Season with salt and pepper.

- While the water boils, cut up the bell peppers and onions and caramelize in a pan. Season with salt and pepper.

- Take the kidney beans, strain and rinse the beans, and place them in a small pot to warm on the stove top.

- When the fish is done, remove from oven and mix together breaking up the fish and mixing the seasonings on top.

Put the cauliflower "rice" in the bottom of a bowl with the tilapia, beans and pepper mix on top. Add Old Bay seasoning to specific taste and enjoy!