First American Thanksgiving

Well, obviously not THE first American Thanksgiving. That was a Pilgrim Fathers thing, allegedly in 1621. This was all-out Thanksgiving Dinner at our place, complete with turkey and all the trimmings … courtesy of Kamado Joe, family and friends.

American “holidays” (i.e. those days which are observed as exceptional “days off” for most employees in the USA) are few and far between in the calendar, and so they’re actually quite special for most people. Thanksgiving is one of the most important – arguably more important than Christmas. Cynics will say that it’s the combination of Thanksgiving Thursday with the highlight of the retail calendar, Black Friday the following day that makes for a very decadent long weekend, but the reality is that it’s become a time for families to get together – very much like the modern significance of a British Christmas Day. Like the 4th of July, its roots have a very patriotic theme – celebrating the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers to the shores of the New World.

Conversely, the significance of Thanksgiving in the UK is fairly diminished. I remember occasionally as a child in Wales being expected to take a tin of spaghetti hoops or its equivalent to school for the Harvest Festival (a month or two earlier than the US date)…but I don’t ever remember getting a day off.

The analogy with a British Christmas also stretches to the food being served – it’s essentially what we call a Christmas Dinner – Roast Turkey with all the trimmings. Not surprisingly, and just like us, turkey really only becomes truly popular for this one meal.

And one other tradition that stays with us is the strict adherence to the following rules…

I prepare the turkey – from selection to carving. No one else gets involved.
I do not get involved with anything else – not shopping, not preparation, not cooking, not serving, not cleaning…maybe opening the wine.
It’s all about the turkey. I take all the credit.

The Preparation (of the turkey)

That starts with the research, and I knew I was going to cook this turkey (turned out to be two !) in the Kamado Joe….naturally. I was concerned about turkey turning out dry, and so decided on a brine beforehand. So, this is about three things… selection of the recipe; selection of the turkey; and the brining itself.

Turkey(s) themselves were pre-ordered from our local, wonderful butcher at Wheaton Meat. We’d researched a couple of local butchers and these guys seemed to know their stuff. I had no hesitation in taking the recommendation for Thanksgiving turkey and some of their own recipe stuffing…why not ? We were not disappointed.

A combination of (a) indecision and (b) needing to do two turkeys anyway meant I was able to experiment with two brines…one for the kids, and one with bourbon ! I find brining bags and an ice-filled cooler placed outside/in a cold garage a great method for brining and/or curing safely rather than irritating the wife by taking up fridge space.

The Cook…

Twenty-four hours later, Phase 1 is complete, and we’re ready for the cook itself. Turkeys needs to come out of their bath and warm up a bit. We also need to apply moisturiser to keep them hydrated (butter and herb based) and a bacon wrap of course. Oh, and and a simple butter injection into the breasts for good measure…A little trussing, and some seasoning, and we were good to go.

Waste not, want not. “Bathing aromatics” become “internal aromatics”.

The KJ selected for this cook was the trusty Classic. Initially my gadget strategy (thermometers) was simply to use the Meater wireless thermometers (www.meater.com) but later on I added in a CyberQ WiFi just to keep the temperature up. Initial temperature at 350F, but with a tolerance to 400F, the KJ was fired and loaded up.