This year's Thanksgiving meal was pretty epic because... ROTISSERIE TURKEY HAPPENED! Yes, you read that right. Grill Master DJ cooked the turkey with our grill's rotisserie and it was AMAZING.
We did the usual brining process the night before, and then carefully secured the turkey to the rotisserie pole to make sure the wings weren't flapping down with each turn.
DJ gets a lot of credit for his determination because the weather that day was a bit dreadful. No snow or rain, but the windchill factor made it feel like sub-zero at times. He equipped himself with a good puffy vest and a nip of whiskey in his groomsman flask from Josh.
All was going according to plan until DJ looked out the window and noticed smoke was no longer streaming out from the wood chips.
When he went to investigate, he discovered that the wind had actually blown out the fire. Ummmm... yeah.... we hadn't accounted for that in any of the planning. After a moment of panic and wondering whether we'd have to stick the turkey in the oven after all, we recruited some creative help from Toto and the two of them created a MacGyver hack to save the day:
A random piece of plywood, some cinder blocks, and the grill cover created a tent to block the wind from the flames and we were back in business. Though it took a bit longer than anticipated, it was definitely worth the wait! The turkey was juicy and had a wonderfully smoky grilled flavor.
We hope that we'll always be able to use this method to prepare our turkey, but now also learned the lesson that if it's a windy day we'll have to stick to the oven to minimize stress.
And as for the rest of the meal, we went with traditional sides. We tried to use recipes that were simple to prepare the day before so on the actual Thanksgiving Day we just had to reheat everything so we could focus on the turkey. These all wound up being a hit!
- Easy Creamy Mashed Potatoes
- Crazy Good Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese
- Slow Roasted Green Beans with Sage
- "Simple is Best" Dressing (Thanksgiving stuffing)
After a few years of hit-or-miss Thanksgiving meals, we were really pleased with how everything came together this time around. Holiday victory!
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