42. Around The World in 80 BBQs - USA

Arguably the home of BBQ and we intend to cover as many dishes as we can during our around the world in 80 bbqs odyssey, state by state. We've already tackled Texas and Tennessee but what better way to represent the entire United States of America than to have go at the traditional Thanksgiving meal, obviously not that traditional however as we've busted out our trusty Weber BBQ and Rotisserie. As ever, the results are stunning. In addition to the moist meat and crisp skin of the huge rotisserie turkey, we whipped up candied yams, turkey gravy, cranberry sauce (albiet spooned from a jar), bread stuffing, green beans, mashed potato, and followed this feast with a super sweet pumpkin pie! Some of the sides are belt bustingly rich and tooth tingingly sweet but for an annual celebratory meal you really can see why Thanksgiving Dinner, is a winner.

Traditional American Thanksgiving Dinner

IN THE KITCHEN

TURKEY

• Using a good pair of kitchen scissors, cut off the wing tips (they lack much meat and often burn - waste of time, sling them in the bin).
• Generously season the bird both inside and out with salt and pepper.
• Lightly coat with turkey with olive oil and massage into all the crevices of the bird.
• Truss and then mount onto the spit/rotisserie shaft.

MASH

• Peel and chop up your lovely spuds into even pieces, if you want to be fastidious then aim for a pyramid shape for even cooking (shown here).
• Bring to the boil in cold heavily salted water, cook until soft.
  If you have a Weber Genesis with side burner then use this feature, alternatively settle for your kitchen hob.
• Mash with a splash of whole milk (or single cream if you're looking for a really rich version) with a generous knob of butter, a pinch of salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg (season to taste).

GREEN BEANS

• Wash and trim fine green beans.
• Add to boiling salted water.
• Cool until soft.

CANDIED YAMS (sweet potatoes)

• Chop the sweet potatoes into chunks, parboil and cool.
• In a saucepan, melt butter, brown sugar and marshmallows until the mix looks like something that would kill a diabetic.
• Add the potatoes to the mixture, and spread evenly in a baking dish or drip tray.
• Add extra marshmallows on top because you've come this far, so you might as well go the whole hog. Only we're not doing a hog, we're doing a turkey, nice one.
• Bake for 25 minutes at 200c.

STUFFING

• We've found that the Turkey cooks best unstuffed so we made our stuffing seperately.
• Tear bread and arrange in one layer on baking sheets, bake at 205 degrees Celsius until crisp but not brown, rotating halfway through.
• In a large saucepan, melt the butter and add the celery, shallots and garlic. Season well and cook down until the vegetables are softened.
• Add the wine and cook until evaporated.
• Combine the vegetables with bread, parsley and eggs in a mixing bowl. Season and mix in half the stock.
• Keep adding more stock until the stuffing is moistened but not wet.
• Lay out the stuffing in a buttered shallow rimmed dish or drip tray, cover with tin foil.
• Cook in the oven or better yet if you have another weber BBQ to hand then cook indirectly at 200c.
• Bake until warmed through (around 20-25 mins) then uncover and bake until golden for a final 10-15 minutes.

PUMPKIN PIE

• Combine all wet ingredients, spices and seasonings
• Mix until smooth
• Pour into pie crust
• Bake for 35-40 mins at 180c until the filling has set.
• Leave to cool, serve chilled - dust with icing sugar if you're feeling fancy.

AT THE BBQ

TURKEY

• Set up the Weber Genesis BBQ for a rotisserie cook by removing the cooking grates (for extra space and to improve airflow) and attaching the motor.
• Lock in the rotisserie shaft with the turkey already prepared and loaded, switch on the rotisserie and leave it to work it's magic.
• You're looking for a cooking tempreture between 180 and 200 celcuis. For a large bird, say 6 or 7 kg this can take up to 2.5 hours.
• When the skin is looking crisp and you think the bird is cooked, check by inserting a instant read digital thermometer probe into the thickest part of the meat (the deepest part of the thigh) - the safe core tempreture for turkey is 75 celcius (ah ah ah ah 75, 75, ah ah ah ah staying alive!).

TO SERVE

• Carve the turkey and enjoy along side a generous scoop of mash, mounds of stuffing, candied yams, green beans and a large pour of turkey gravy.
• Last but not least, de-jar your best quality favourite brand cranberry sauce and dollop into a bowl or directly onto your plate.