Thanksgiving Treats

[moderator]

Hello everyone,
Thanksgiving is coming and we know that many of you are getting ready to use your ovens to make delicious goodies for this special day.

We would love to see recipes and photos of your favorite foods. Please feel free to post. It's always fun to see what different foods families enjoy this time of year.


We hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween and look forward to the holidays!

[kbartman]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

I'll be the first to respond to this thread. I have no Thanksgiving treats or recipes to share at this time but hope to soon and on thanksgiving day.

I was nominated to host our annual family thanksgiving get together. I have never cooked a turkey in a WFO, as I'm sure there are many here on the forum like myself. We need everyones help. So lets get the discussions going so we all have a successful turkey day.

Attached is a picture I took last spring as I was just starting my dome. Please help my turkey have this bird's eye view.

[kbartman]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

Ok then, I'll be a little more specific..........................How much time and what temperature do I cook the bird in my WFO?.................I'm sure I'm not the only one with this question...............Who else is planning on cooking a bird this thanksgiving in there WFO?

[hodgey1]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

I'm with Bart, this is my first Thanksgiving with my WFO and I'm considering cooking the bird. Is there anyone out there with specific instruction on properly cooking a bird in the WFO?

1: Preheat instuctions
2: Proper oven temp
3: Appox time by weight
4: Foil-No Foil
5: Any other tips

[Les]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

I'll offer some input but mine is still a work in process. This year is number 3.
Last year we brined a 20 lb bird for about 24 hours (there are a billion brine recipes, just google one that sounds good to you). We stuffed it with citrus for flavor, not the typical bead stuffing. I put it in the oven with a hearth temp of 500 degrees. I am going to try around 450 this year. We had it in about 2 hours and then removed the foil to let it brown. We pulled it out at the 3 hour mark and the internal temp was 163. As mentioned, this year I want to try 450 deg and I will remove the foil 1/2 hour before it comes out (you can see that it is a little browner than I would have liked). I know others have had better success so maybe they have more to add.

[kbartman]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

Thanks Les for the input, I hope many others join in.

[kkgator]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

I was thinking about the same thing. Just build coals up so the oven temp on floor is 300F to 400F? What about using the retained heat from firing pizza and no fire to cook bird? My oven once the fire goes out with a nice bed of coals still registers around 300F the next day with the door partially on. Maybe I'll experiment with a small breast to begin with and see how it goes.

[Les]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

I was thinking about the same thing. Just build coals up so the oven temp on floor is 300F to 400F? What about using the retained heat from firing pizza and no fire to cook bird? My oven once the fire goes out with a nice bed of coals still registers around 300F the next day with the door partially on. Maybe I'll experiment with a small breast to begin with and see how it goes.

No fire - I used the residual heat from the night before. I did a small fire in the A.M. to recharge it but I got it too hot. I also removed all coals and ash.

[kbartman]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

Turkey day is right around the corner, what are you planning?

I still haven't work out how I'm going to do my bird yet................... I was wonder If any one has tried starting a small fire in the oven and very slowly bringing the oven up to smoking temperatures about 250F and keeping it there all day. I've seen online something called a charcoal snake. If you Google it you will see what I'm talking about. I was thinking that it would work on smoking a turkey. Has anyone used this method or others for slow smoking in you WFO?

Look forward to here what everyone is planning for the big day.

[Gulf]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

I think that that you will avoid wild temperature swings and bitter smoke flavors, if you do like Les is recomending. That is, cooking in a clean oven, with residual heat from the day before. That method works better for me on brisket, and roasts.

Trying to maintain a live fire and coals is to labor intensive for me. I tried a roast that way and was constantly having to rotate the pan and tend the fire. At one point, I thought that the oven was cooling down to quick and closed the door to finish for about an hour. I think that is where I trapped the smoke in the oven and ended up with a perfectly cooked "creosote flavored" roast .

The remains are still in the freezer, awaiting uninvited visitors .

If you are intent on adding some extra smoke flavor, you could add a pan with some smoking wood chips for the first hour or so of cooking the bird. At baking temps, I don't think the meat would accept the smoke flavor much longer than that. You would need to leave the door slightly cracked open for that time though, to keep the smoke from settling on the bird. The smoke has to keep moving and not allowed to settle on the meat. I would remove the pan of chips a few minutes before closing the door completely.

I plan on making one of these.

.

They are a little too pricey for me to buy. So mine, may end up more like this.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

Gudday
Sorry Gulf, but what is that ?
Regards dave

[Gulf]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

Gudday
Sorry Gulf, but what is that ?
Regards dave

No, excuse me!

I was working on a sentence or two for that but, accidently deleted them while cutting and paisting .

It is a maze smoker. (I'm trying to stay away from the brand name) They are mostly used for cold smoking, but if you have an alternate heat source like we do, they should work for hot smoking too. Usually it is loaded with saw dust. Some are designed for pellets.



Some are made in tube forms.


Either way, I think of them as a slow burning fuses. They can be lit on one end for a long lite smoke. Or lit on both ends for more smoke, but with less time.

I do think that someone could make something "easy and cheap" to get similar results. Perforating a disposabable aluminum pan and leaving a little separation in the snaking pile should work. I do intend to experiment some myself with a ham and a couple of chicken hens this up coming holiday .

[hodgey1]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

Turkey day is right around the corner, what are you planning?

I still haven't work out how I'm going to do my bird yet................... I was wonder If any one has tried starting a small fire in the oven and very slowly bringing the oven up to smoking temperatures about 250F and keeping it there all day. I've seen online something called a charcoal snake. If you Google it you will see what I'm talking about. I was thinking that it would work on smoking a turkey. Has anyone used this method or others for slow smoking in you WFO?

Look forward to here what everyone is planning for the big day.

I've been doing BBQ and smoking meats for years, thou I'm not an expert. I just want to say that poultry should not be in a environment of less than 300* without being cured first. If you want to smoke a turkey at low temp you must use a brine with a curing salt "sodium nitrite". I have smoked many turkeys at 300* and brined without a cure and they turn out awesome. Just a FYI.

[rsandler]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

I have no prior experience to tell me that this will work, but my plan for this Thanksgiving is as follows:

Wednesday Night: Pizza for visiting family, brine the bird. Keep the fire going an hour or two after pizza to get the bricks saturated.
Thursday morning: Oven hopefully 500-550. Bake bread.
Thursday afternoon: Oven hopefully 450-500, Turkey in.
After the turkey's out: Oven hopefully 350-400, casseroles in while the turkey rests.

I bought a remote barbeque thermometer, where the probe stays in the meat while it cooks. So we'll play it by ear with how long to cook the turkey.

-Ryan

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Thanksgiving Treats

Ryan. I don't want to burst your bubble but unless you have some super duper WFO...I would say I don't think so to your heating schedule.

So you may want to plan on giving the oven a bit of a kick here and there.