Making your Christmas Turkey different - roast it on the BBQ

Barbecuing the turkey on Christmas Day is a cracker of an idea

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Cooked to perfection - Turkey on the barbeque

Photo by Jim Marks

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Cooking dinner on Christmas Day, with its multitude of scrumptious trimmings, for a hungry gaggle of family and guests is quite a challenge, especially so when the hard-pressed cook has to make do with rather limited cooking resources.

However, a golden opportunity presents itself for those lucky enough to possess a covered barbecue – be it charcoal or gas fired – for the cook of the day to earn lots of browny points, and the unfortunate person who drew the short straw to clean the fat splattered, ex turkey oven, a welcome respite.

Barbecuing the bird will also bring several worthwhile benefits

1. Valuable oven space is freed up for other culinary duties

2. The succulence, terrific taste, beauty to the eye of the beholder and the bewitching aroma that pervades the atmosphere transcends, in my humble opinion, the impact that oven-cooked birds usually produce AND, if the turkey is smoke-cooked, the resultant golden mahogany veneer will be the propellant responsible for projecting the taste buds of all those nearby into mouth watering overdrive !

3. The oven (see above) retains its original pristine state (which is nice!)

4 After the cook has retrieved the bird, perhaps braving the elements*, and presented it for approval to the hungry throng he, or she can bask in some well deserved back-slapping hero worshiping (always good for a barbecue chefs ego).

Neither rain or snow should prevent you from using your barbecue but a cold wind whistling around the cooking area will require an extended cooking period which should be factored into your time table.

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Methodology -

Prepare your barbecue for 'Indirect cooking'

Ensure the giblets and neck have been removed from the bird's cavity. Rinse the turkey all over with cold water, and inside its neck and body cavities. Pat dry with kitchen toweling. Sprinkle the cavities generously with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Tuck the wings behind the bird's back but leave the legs free ie not tucked into the band of skin by the parsons nose (the tail end) or tied closely together.

Use your clean hand, or a small brush, to spread groundnut oil or softened butter (margarine if you prefer) all over the bird. Lightly season the oiled surfaces with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Carefully position the turkey , on its back, down the center of the grill, partially shielding the sides where it touches the grill bars with a double band of foil about 4” wide. Tuck one edge of the band under the bird's back to help secure it. Wrap a 2 to 3 inch wide band around each knuckle and the lower part of the legs. Position a meat thermometer deep inside the fattest muscle section of a leg. Make sure that the tip of the thermometer does not touch the bone – it will give a false reading if it does.

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