Charcoal-Grilled Turkey with Fresh Herb Butter

Makes: 10 servings, Prep time: 20 minutes,  Cook time: 3 hours, 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 whole turkey (12 pounds)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Coarse ground black pepper

Fresh Herb Butter

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• ⅓ cup chopped Italian parsley
• ⅓ cup chopped green onion tops
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1½ teaspoon garlic salt
• 1½ teaspoon celery salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Gravy

• 2 cups turkey stock (as directed)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

Place the whole turkey breast side down on a cutting board. Remove the neck and giblets and set aside to make the turkey stock. With a sharp knife or a pair of kitchen shears, cut the turkey down each side of the backbone, removing it completely. Open the turkey and press it flat on the cutting board. Using a sharp knife, loosen the breast bone from between the turkey breasts and remove it with your fingers. This will enable the turkey to open completely flat. Apply a light coat of olive oil to the turkey skin and liberally season the skin with kosher salt and black pepper.

Build a charcoal fire for direct grilling. The heat over the coals should be hot, (approximately 450 to 500 degrees F). Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan. Add the remaining fresh herb butter ingredients, mix well, and keep warm until needed.

To make turkey stock, add 3½ cups water, 1 ¾ teaspoons salt, turkey neck and giblets to a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 1½ hours.

Place the butterflied turkey directly over the coals, skin side down, and baste with the fresh herb butter. Grill the turkey for 5 to 7 minutes or until the skin starts to turn golden brown and begins to crisp. Transfer the turkey to a 10”x10” baking dish skin side up, place it back on the grill, and baste with fresh herb butter.

Cover the grill and close the air dampers reducing the cooking temperature to 350 degrees F. Cook for 2½ hours basting every hour with the remaining fresh herb butter. The internal temperature of turkey thigh should reach 175 to 180 degrees F while the breast meat should reach 160 to 165 degrees F.

Remove the turkey from the grill, cover it with foil, and let it rest for 15 minutes prior to carving.

To make the gravy, scrape all of the drippings and liquid from the bottom of the roasting pan into a small bowl. Skim the grease from the top of the liquid. Pour the seasoned liquid, about ¾ cup, into a small sauce pan. In a small bowl, whisk the two tablespoons water with the cornstarch until smooth. Add the cornstarch slurry and two cups of the pre-made turkey broth to the sauce pan and heat. Serve drizzled over the turkey or on the side as table gravy.

Recipe created by champion pitmaster, Chris Lilly, on behalf of Kingsford charcoal

These spirals saw my table many times when the book first came out and it’s time for them to start making regular appearances again. While the recipe calls for the rolls to be smoked, I’m willing to bet that they would be almost as good prepared indoors in a low oven.

Confetti-Filled Ham Spirals

Colorful confetti like bits of fruits, nuts and chives lace this roll-up treat, which gets some of its flavor from the bourbon, so don’t go cheap. Makes about 3 dozen spirals.

• 1/4 cup dried cherries or cranberries
• 2 tablespoons or more of bourbon (enough to cover)
• 12 oz. creme cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup minced fresh chives (don’t substitute dried)
• 1/8 tsp. brown sugar
• 8 to 10 individual slices of fully cooked ham , each about 1/8 inch thick, at room temperature (I usually use Boar’s Head boiled ham and ask the deli guy to cut it for me)

Bring your smoker to its proper cooking temperature. Place the cherries or cranberries in a medium bowl and pour the bourbon over them. Let the fruit sit for at least 20 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the fruit from the bowl and chop. Return the fruit and any juices to the remaining bourbon in the bowl. Mix in the creme cheese , pecans, chives and sugar until well combined.

Spread the creme cheese mixture on the ham slices, leaving about 1/2 inch uncovered around the edge of each slice. Roll up the slice from one of the wider sides and secure it with toothpicks. Repeat with the remaining slices of ham.

Transfer the rolls to the smoker. Smoke them just long enough to flavor the cheese and precooked meat, about 20 to 25 minutes at a temperature of 225 to 250 degrees.

Cool the rolls briefly, remove the toothpicks and wrap them tightly in plastic wrap.

Refrigerate the rolls until the cheese becomes firm, at least 2 hours. (The rolls can be made a day or 2 in advance at this point.)

When ready to serve, remove the rolls from the refrigerator and unwrap. Cut the rolls into 1/2 inch spirals and arrange on a platter. For best flavor let them sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy.

Hello there. You, yes you. I’m talking to you right now.

I know you’ve been thinking about sharing your thoughts, feelings, triumphs and disasters in your experiences with live fire cooking. Why not do it here? We would love to hear about your Dutch Oven cobblers, your daddy’s secret hamburgers, Grandpas hot dogs, the clambakes on the beach when you were newlywed, the meals you ate as a boy/girl scout cooked directly over the campfire, the lamb your family cooks in your front yard for every gathering or even your experiences on the competition barbecue circuit. Anything and everything to do with live fire or outdoor cooking, we want to know about it.

Or maybe you’re just an amateur food critic who hits all the barbecue joints and roadside grills as you travel this great big world?

Tired of reading articles primarily written for and by an American audience? We especially want to hear from you. Live fire cooking is practiced all over the world and your unique spin would be a wonderful addition to our stories. Tell us all you know about shrimp on the barbie or churasco or that wonderful Tuscan steak cooked directly on hot coals. We want to hear it!

And who better to tell your story, than you?

Get Your Grill On is looking for some new blood to join our outstanding team of writers. If you’re interested drop an email to: GYGO Editor and we’ll fill you in on all the details.

Grill It! is the latest cookbook by the team of Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby and is published by DK Publishing. This is the latest collaboration of these two chefs whose past work have included the classic The Thrill of The Grill.

I haven’t had a chance to cook anything from this book yet, but just looking at the photography has my mouth watering. This book has some outstanding food photography. I feel like a little kid drooling over pictures in a photo album. Anybody remember National Geographic?

A more thorough review is coming soon by our own Scott Anderson. C’mon back soon.

“High on the hog.” “Living the high life.” “Eating like Kings.” “Bringing home the bacon.” We’ve all heard them. There are a lot of food idioms out there that associate food with prosperity and wealth. How did this happen? Which foods were reserved for the well to do and which were reviled and given to the, shall we say, “less fortunate?”’

For every food idiom that associates food with wealth, there’s a food stuff. You know what I mean, truffles, chocolates, lobster, etc. but those are for someone else to write about. I’m only going to focus on meat and not the other food stuffs because I’m a barbecue guy and let’s face it, barbeque is about meat.

So how does “high on the hog” and “living the high life” relate to meat? It’s actually amazingly simple. The better cuts of meat, the choice cuts, the most tender cuts, either from a cow or a pig, all come from the muscle groups of the animals that do the least amount of work. And where on the body do you think that is? Well, on both the cow and pig, it’s “high” on the animal; it’s the back, the part furthest from the ground.

“High” on the back of the cow where you’ll find the T-bones, the Filet Mignon, the Prime Rib, the Porterhouse and finally the less desirable sirloin. If you look at the meat around the back legs, you’ll find the rounds. On the front shoulder you find the chuck and underneath that you find the brisket; tough and stringy and worn out from its constant use. The “upper cuts”, are tender only because they don’t do much work and they cook quickly.

Back in the mists of time when traditions began, in the barbecue belt a traditional “Southern Barbecue” was actually the cooking of whole pig over an open fire. Servants or slaves would roast the animal and serve the meat as it cooked to the boss. What did the boss eat while the folks were cooking and cleaning? You guessed it - the fast cooking meat from “high” on the hog.

On a pig, those cuts are the Pork Loin, the Rack of Pork, the Tenderloin, the Pork Steaks, and Center Cut Chops. Once the best cuts were served to the master and honored guests. The sirloin, the rounds and the chuck would be served to less important people. What was left was given to the servants, the slaves or the poor White Trash.

But the slaves, the servants and the White Trash got the last laugh. They learned that by slow cooking the tough cuts of meat such as the spare ribs, or the pork shoulder and butt, the lowly cuts of meat were transformed into a dish “fit for a King.” There was magic in the smoke and the art of “low and slow.”

The poor, the slaves and the White Trash all learned how to control a fire so that a full beef brisket or rack of pork spare ribs would cook slowly and tenderize the meat in the process. Good barbeque literally will “melt in your mouth.” Please don’t confuse barbeque with grilling. Grilling is cooking meat quickly directly over high heat. Barbecue is low and slow with fire temperatures rarely exceeding 250 degrees.

In the barbeque belt, most cooks cooked outdoors over wood or charcoal fires. This method became barbeque. In the north, most people lived in cities or in areas where the weather required indoor cooking for many months of the year, but the rules of divvying up the meat remained. The poor, immigrants, the working class and the White Trash were all given the tough cuts of meat. In the north, braising became the method of choice in transforming tough meat to edible goodness.

So the next time you’re looking for a way to stretch your food budget, take a look at beef brisket, pork butt, spare ribs or any of the traditional barbeque foods. Last I looked, pork butt was going for $1.09 a pound and brisket was $2.19 a pound in my local supermarket while the better cuts of pork and beef were all $4.00 a pound or better. A little “low and slow” cooking either over a wood and smoke fire – barbecue, or in a pot and braised will work magic.

And one is rising in Bayside Queens? In New York City? How is that possible?

Well, it’s a long and winding road, but nothing’s impossible in NYC. Southside and Kreuz began as butcher shops and added barbecue sometime way back in their evolution to feed the migrant workers who came in for lunch. As time progressed the barbecue surpassed the butcher shop and pushed the fresh meat to the side. Actually, if I remember correctly, only Southside still has a butcher counter. Kreuz gave theirs up decades ago. It’s a great story and if you want to read more about the evolution of Texas barbecue, check out Legends of Texas Barbecue by Robb Walsh. It’s a good read and highly recommended.

But how is a legendary Texas style barbecue shop rising in Queens?

Well, ya see, there’s this guy, Chef Tom as he’s called on their website, he and his brothers own a butcher shop called Three Brothers Butcher which is located at 40-21 Bell Blvd, in Bayside, NY right up the road from the train station. Chef Tom and his unnamed brothers run an old fashioned butcher shop that sells prime meat, deli meats, does some catering and sells real honest to goodness dyed in the wool barbecue. Unlike the the tepid copies or homages of the Texas markets in other parts of New York City, this is the real thing. A butcher who loves his barbeque and doesn’t need to emulate anyone.

Yup, real barbecue. And it’s pretty good. Chef Tom made me a BLT with some double smoked thick cut bacon that was just incredible. It’s not always available, and its not on his menu, but trust me this bacon is worth the wait. Ask for it. Demand it! It’s easily the best smoked bacon I’ve had in New York City. And don’t tell me bacon isn’t barbecue. Was sausage barbeque before it became a staple in the Texas Hill Country?

His brisket was excellent. Eating this I could understand some people’s love for this cut of meat.

But like Kreuz and Southside, before they became Kreuz and Southside, Chef Tom’s barbecue is still evolving. The smoked hot Italian sausage was nothing special and his pulled pork suffers from the fact that he doesn’t have a holding pit and he microwaves the meat prior to serving it. In my eyes that fact would usually condemn a barbeque joint as just a hack, but talking with Chef Tom and seeing the love of the Q in his eyes, I’m willing to overlook it for now. He tells me that he is planning on taking out one of his cold cases and putting in a holding pit ala Fette Sau.

Talking with Tom was an experience that everyone should have.There’s nothing more fascinating than talking with someone who truly loves his work. Clearly, this man loves his barbecue and is still learning the art. He is working his way through the New York barbecue scene and absorbing what the other folks are doing. As he learns and discovers new methods and recipes he’s adjusting how he cooks. I would recommend he visit a few competitions as well. He could learn much from the teams.

Three Brothers does have some limited seating and they serve their food on real plates with silverware so pay the parking meter quickly and head on over for lunch.

Will Three Brothers approach the legendary status of Kreuz or Southside? Will Three Brothers create a new New York style of Que? I don’t know, it’s still too early to tell, but I will be watching the evolution closely and cheering from the sidelines. Go check him out.

All photos courtesy of Three Brothers Butcher.

THE CHILI TAKEDOWN IS A NO-HOLDS BARRED CHILI COMPETITION.

Any ingredients welcome: Beef, Vegetarian, Seafood- just so long as it stuns our judges senseless!

Come on out to the  Union Pool is on 484 Union Ave. Brooklyn, New York. Get off at the Metropolitan stop on the L train!

Free to enter if you cook, and $10 for your friends to come down and enjoy “all you can ea”t chili!

Just cook up 2 GALLONS (no exceptions!) of your secret recipe, and bring it down to UNION POOL in the August 10 at 4:30PM! We provide you with a sterno-heated tray for this 2 hour event.

This is a judged event, with a $100 GRAND PRIZE and a $50 PEOPLE’S CHOICE PRIZE!

ANY QUESTIONS? email mtimms7@hotmail.com

Facts on Types of Smoking Processes:

Cold Smoke:

• Smoking occurs at 70°F to 100°F, imparting flavor without firming proteins. Items may be cold smoked, then finished in the oven. 80 degrees is average in a smoke house. There will be slight dehydration but very little actual cooking.

Hot Smoke:

• Smoking occurs at 160°F to 225°F, imparting flavor and cooking the product. Temperature of smokehouse 160°F for all sausage (casings) 185°F for all solid meats.

Final internal temperature of uncured hot smoked items

• Beef (suitable cuts) 130°F to 135°F for rare

Methods:
Addition of smoke to an item that will be finished by some other cooking method.

Conventional:

• More smoke flavor, the air does not circulate as much.Product must be dry.

Convection:

• Less smoke flavor because the air is being circulated.Product does not have to be dry because of the air circulation.

Pan:

• Pan smoking gives a lot of flavor in short period of time. Can be done with no special equipment.

Key Cooking and Smoking temperatures:

• 103°F Proteins begin to set or denature
• 137.5°F Trichinosis bacteria is killed
• 155°F Federal requirement for cooking pork
• 155°F All meats
• 160°F All proteins are coagulated
• 165°F Federal requirement for cooking all poultry

The craving for truly great Barbecue has hit a fevered pitch in New York City. This culinary sensation, a staple of the South and the West for years has finally worked its way north of the Mason Dixon Line and the NJ Turnpike, replete with new BBQ “Joints” popping up every day, all over the city. Why travel to them, look for parking and wait on long lines (if the food is any good) when you can now learn the secrets that will make YOU an expert and culinary “Master of the Pit?”

Come spend the day at Staten Island’s Historic Richmond Town, learn the art and the secrets for cooking authentic wood-smoked Barbecue from expert Pitmasters; and, as a bonus, you will enjoy a great meal of True-Blue Texas Barbecue with all the fixin’s! Smokin’ Joe Mizrahi proprietor of the 20 year old, critically acclaimed, Staten Island based Smokin’ Joe’s True-Blue Texas Barbecue, Inc. will be joined by Stephen Harkavy long time BBQ buddy and Pitmaster on the grounds of the bucolic Staten Island Richmondtown Restoration to teach the secrets of a “BBQ Pitmaster”.

Both Joe and Steve are accomplished Pitmasters and Memphis in May (MIM) Certified Barbecue Judges; having judged at both the MIM World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest and the prestigious Jack Daniels Invitational Barbecue Cooking Contest. In addition, Steve is a Kansas City Barbecue Society Certified Judge and Pitmaster for the award winning “Fuhgeddaboutit” BBQ Cooking Team.

Come early to explore the Restoration’s buildings and grounds then settle in for your training, loaded with practical demonstrations and some hands-on experience. All of which will culminate with a full BBQ Dinner, served family-style by period dressed interpreters. Dinner will include Slow Smoked Beef Brisket, BBQ Pulled Pork Shoulder, Spare Ribs, Slaw, Pit Baked Beans, Cornbread and a specially prepared Dessert baked on the open hearth in a reflector oven made at the historic village.

Get more information from their website here.

Photo courtesy of WhiteTrash BBQ