This was posted on the Big Green Egg Forum too at https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1226480/thanksgiving-turkey-with-pictures-and-my-experience.
Had a fun two days preparing for Thanksgiving. Nothing special, but
did a turkey back-to-back days. I used the same process on both. A
pecan seasoning we got from our local BGE store a year ago which is
really good. We used it all up and I forgot to get the exact name, but I
know our local store carries it, so I will go back to get some more.
Both
turkeys were about 12 lbs. I did the first one on Wednesday after I got
home from work. Sprinkled the pecan seasoning all over the turkey.
Stuffed it with celery, carrots, and apples. Pretty simple, but it
worked out well. I put it on the BGE with a raised rack. Cooked about
2.5 to 3 hours. It turned out good, but a little black on the top. No
pictures from this one cook, but the meat tasted good. Nice and moist
but a little black on the top.
For the second
cook, yesterday, I did not use the raised grill and kept the bird down a
lower. Again, this was another about 12 lb turkey and cooked it for 2.5
to 3 hours. Lower gave it a nice color on the outside. Used the same
seasoning and stuffed it with everything we did the day before except
for apples.... we ran out.
Pre-picture before
going on the grill. Had it in a pan to catch drippings for gravy. Some
onions, celery, and chicken broth in the pan. Did this for the turkey
the day before too although did not keep it filled throughout the entire
cook. Started it off to give a little moisture and basically to catch
drippings.
Had
to get a picture of my dog helping me with the lookout. He wears
himself out going in and out of the house with me anytime I grill. He
gets very excited each time I grab the lump to take out and start
getting ready.
While
it was cooking, did not open the lid at all. Let it cook and trusted
the process as I have seen on here many times. Target temp was 325 which
it went to immediately for this cook. In the cook the day before, I had
a difficult time getting the temp up to 325. Odd how some days I go to
cook and it is easy to get high temp and other days it is difficult.
I
think it came off looking really good. Better than the one the day
before. It had one of those temperature pop-out sticks in it. My wife
pulled it before I snapped the picture. I was pleased with how it looked
as a final product.
A final picture of
everything on the table. Made a lot of turkey this year as we were
giving it out to my family as we were social distancing and sharing food
with one another. We made the turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy for us
and shared it with everyone else too making plates for them and
delivered on my in-laws driveway about 3:30 during the day. Ham was done
by my brother-in-law and then two different kinds of dressing. I forgot
we also did giblets and neck in the gravy which we had not done in a
long time... it was so good!
Following
dinner, we played Yahtzee and I probably had way too much to drink. It
was a good day even though completely different from any other
Thanksgiving, it was the first Thanksgiving that my wife and I had
together with just the two of us since we were married which in a way
made it special.
I wanted to share as I had not
done pictures of previous turkey dinners I had cooked. Last year was
the firs time I had ever done a turkey on the BGE and it turned out
great, but did not take pictures or document it at all. I wanted to get
this one recorded so I could reference back next year to what we did.
