Monday, November 28, 2005

The Effects of the Tryptophan...

...have worn off, and I'm happy to report that we had some damn nice bird over the Thanksgiving weekend.
We did something a little different this year. Instead of timing the turkey so that it would come off the grill after everybody arrived. We, instead, decided that we'd do everything in advance this year.

Mrs. TBF prepared the bird in her usual manner - rubbed down with olive oil, lemon and garlic cloves in the cavity, and salt, pepper, and HDP (Herbes de Provence) on the outside. The turkey went on the Weber (charcoal, not gas) at 3:00 p.m. and it came off at 6:08.6 p.m. (11 minutes per pound, indirect method, start with 25 coals on each side of the grill, and add 8-10 coals per side every hour - it NEVER fails!!!!).

I took a shower while the bird rested (scrub off that smoky smell that had permeated my skin...), and then I carved the entire turkey before the guests arrived. A couple of hours earlier, I had shucked about sixty oysters. So, the major part of my work was pretty much done. And, or course, Mrs. TBF had taken care of all her stuff in advance which meant that we were pretty much ready when our friends began to arrive.
All in all, there were 10 adults and 7 kids at our house. The 17 lb. turkey fed us all, and there was a lot leftover. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law in Chicago had about the same number of people over at their house, and they had two 16 lb. turkeys. STRAP ON THE FEEDBAG YOU YANKS!!!!

I ended up not taking too many pictures because I was too busy being a bloh-ah (bloater) as Dr. John (wearing the Austin Powers shirt in the picture) calls it. But, here's my favorite picture from the evening: Kyle looks like he's really enjoying that bird!

2 comments:

Michael Lehet said...

THAT is one big bird...it makes Mrs. TBF's hands look really tiny!

I've never had a "grilled" turkey sounds yummy. We did a Deep Fried Turkey this year (only took 45 minutes to cook).

Ms Mac said...

I think I'm going to have to try the bird on the weber for Chrissie this year! Will direct the chef (for chef read husband) here for exact instructions!