sarah-in-charleston
Well-known member
The saga commences with the mere mention here of the trashcan turkey. And I am always up for a cooking challenge (I now cook 30 beer can chickens for a yearly dinner, the night before we have to drink ½ of these thirty beers of course). Do you know how many sites there are that describe the process?
I am in charge of the equipment. The first quest was for a holder for the turkey, an overgrown beer can chicken holder. I remember seeing one called a turkey sitter, actually a nice ceramic one shaped like an upside down funnel, at a organic food store. They were out so I ordered it on line and naturally had to overnight itÉ..
Next the trash can. I did do a fair amount of research into the dangers of galvanized steel, but heck, you only live once and if the Boy Scouts do it, how bad can it be. The home improvement chain only had a 31 gallon one, way too big. I was able to find a 10 gallon one and a local hardware store that if they donÕt have something, nobody has one.
My partner in this venture got the 14 lb turkey. I convinced her to brine it for 24 hours.
We put beer, rosemary, thyme, garlic and hot sauce in the Turkey sitter. Put lots of tin foil on the ground. Put the turkey on its throne and the can on top. On another area of tin foil, we put coals down and put a charcoal chimney on top and lit it. We got the first batch of coals ready, put them on the top and around the bottom of the can and started the timer - 1.5 hours. We put down another area of foil to start the chimney again. After we re-enforce the coals with those. I said Òwhy donÕt we start the chimney in the grillÓ? The yard was beginning to look like aliens had landed Ð very round burn spots. We couldnÕt wait to see what it looked like under the turkey. We could hear the turkey sizzling. (We had the pizza delivery number handy).
And we started calculating how much this turkey cost Ð we figure we could have gone to Williams and Sonoma, bought the precooked turkey, the serving platter and serving pieces cheaper that this process.
Our next challenge was that when it was ÒdoneÓ, we had to get the coals off the top and away from the bottom to be able to raise the can straight up, a very very hot can. My brilliant idea was to get two people with pliers, grab the lip and lift (and put the can on the grass, and burn another alien circle.
Viola la!! Behold a beautiful browned (and slight burnt on the very top) turkey with lots of steam coming out of its neck hole and a little bit of ash on its rear end. Bone was showing on the legs and wings which made me a little afraid that it would be dryÉWe let it cool a while, turn the trash can upright, put the lid on upside down and pulled the turkey off the sitter and placed it gently on the lid, still steaming.
After we admired it a while, I took it in and got the carving honors.
And I gotta tell you Ð it was one of the best turkeys I have had, moist, tender, and flavorful. Even the slightly charred skin was really tasty, not burnt tasting.
We decided next time to get a bigger turkey and a 20 gallon can (reason it burnt was that it was too close to the top of the can, the taller can would solve this) and invite more people. But do everything the same, except to the coals in the grillÉ
And the entertainment factor was huge Ð it was 75 here and beautiful so everyone sat on the patio, had a little libation and kibitzed.
I will get the pictures and post if anyone is interested.
I am in charge of the equipment. The first quest was for a holder for the turkey, an overgrown beer can chicken holder. I remember seeing one called a turkey sitter, actually a nice ceramic one shaped like an upside down funnel, at a organic food store. They were out so I ordered it on line and naturally had to overnight itÉ..
Next the trash can. I did do a fair amount of research into the dangers of galvanized steel, but heck, you only live once and if the Boy Scouts do it, how bad can it be. The home improvement chain only had a 31 gallon one, way too big. I was able to find a 10 gallon one and a local hardware store that if they donÕt have something, nobody has one.
My partner in this venture got the 14 lb turkey. I convinced her to brine it for 24 hours.
We put beer, rosemary, thyme, garlic and hot sauce in the Turkey sitter. Put lots of tin foil on the ground. Put the turkey on its throne and the can on top. On another area of tin foil, we put coals down and put a charcoal chimney on top and lit it. We got the first batch of coals ready, put them on the top and around the bottom of the can and started the timer - 1.5 hours. We put down another area of foil to start the chimney again. After we re-enforce the coals with those. I said Òwhy donÕt we start the chimney in the grillÓ? The yard was beginning to look like aliens had landed Ð very round burn spots. We couldnÕt wait to see what it looked like under the turkey. We could hear the turkey sizzling. (We had the pizza delivery number handy).
And we started calculating how much this turkey cost Ð we figure we could have gone to Williams and Sonoma, bought the precooked turkey, the serving platter and serving pieces cheaper that this process.
Our next challenge was that when it was ÒdoneÓ, we had to get the coals off the top and away from the bottom to be able to raise the can straight up, a very very hot can. My brilliant idea was to get two people with pliers, grab the lip and lift (and put the can on the grass, and burn another alien circle.
Viola la!! Behold a beautiful browned (and slight burnt on the very top) turkey with lots of steam coming out of its neck hole and a little bit of ash on its rear end. Bone was showing on the legs and wings which made me a little afraid that it would be dryÉWe let it cool a while, turn the trash can upright, put the lid on upside down and pulled the turkey off the sitter and placed it gently on the lid, still steaming.
After we admired it a while, I took it in and got the carving honors.
And I gotta tell you Ð it was one of the best turkeys I have had, moist, tender, and flavorful. Even the slightly charred skin was really tasty, not burnt tasting.
We decided next time to get a bigger turkey and a 20 gallon can (reason it burnt was that it was too close to the top of the can, the taller can would solve this) and invite more people. But do everything the same, except to the coals in the grillÉ
And the entertainment factor was huge Ð it was 75 here and beautiful so everyone sat on the patio, had a little libation and kibitzed.
I will get the pictures and post if anyone is interested.
)