The Charlotte Jewish News - November 2020 - Page 28
Secrets to a Great Grilled Turkey By Robert "Ernie" Adler, Smokemaster Thanksgiving is almost here, and your best turkey will be made outside on the grill or smoker. The Pilgrims didn’t have a beautiful double range, they cooked over open fire or hearth, so you should too. This recipe and cooking method can be used with a whole turkey, a turkey breast, duck, capon, chicken, or just about any other poultry. First, you’ll need to brine the bird starting about 40 hours before you want to eat. Brining is the process of immersing the turkey or whatever you are cooking in a seasoned solution. Brining does several things; it infuses flavor throughout the turkey, it is a tenderizer, and helps add moisture to keep the turkey juicy from grill to table. Next you will need a bucket or container large enough to hold your bird. Some local home improvement stores sell 5-gallon paint buckets which have a food grade sticker on them so it’s safe to use, and they will hold a 20-25 lb. turkey. Otherwise any big enough food-safe bucket or container. To make the brine combine
2 quarts of apple cider, add in 1 lb. of brown sugar, ¾ cup coarse Kosher salt, 3 oranges quartered or ½ cup of orange juice, 4 ounces of ginger, 15 whole cloves, 6 bay leaves, and 6 crushed garlic cloves, heat up just to dissolve the sugar, then let cool. Pour into your container, clean your turkey and put in the bucket, and then add enough water so it’s fully immersed. Cover and put in the refrigerator for 24 hours. After 24 hours take out of the container and put in a pan uncovered back in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours. That will help crisp up the skin. Now for the grilling. The same rule applies as in the oven, cook at 325 degrees and cook 15 minutes per pound. If you are using a gas grill, buy a smoker box so you’ll get some great smoke flavor (I recommend apple wood chips). Only smoke for one-hour total so you get a hint of smoke but not overpowering flavor. Take the turkey out of the refrigerator an hour before cooking, turn your grill on high until you get see smoke, then reduce to 325 degrees. Place the turkey in a roasting rack which are avail-
able in local stores or on-line, rub all over with olive oil, and then put into 2 disposable aluminum pans. Add water to the bottom of the pan until it is just below the bottom of the turkey. Place the turkey on the grill and check every 30 minutes basting it. After one hour turn over so it’s breast side down and cook for one hour, then flip it back over. If the top side is darkening too much simply lightly tent it over with foil. It will be darker than an oven roasted tur-
key due to the smoke and seasonings. Once the thickest part of the turkey is 165 degrees it’s done. DO NOT trust the popup thermometers since they frequently get stuck. Use an instant read thermometer and check it in several locations. Once done let rest for 20 minutes lightly covered with foil. To carve first cut both legs off, then cut the wings, find the breast bone on the top and slowly use a knife to slice down the bone line through one
breast, then cut the bottom of the breast to meet where you cut from the top. The breast should fall right-off and you can then cut great slices from there. Remember to save the drippings for gravy. Courtesy of Ernie's BBQ, Traditional and Upscale Outdoor Food For more information on Ernies BBQ: www.erniesbbq.com
Table Talk for a Jewish Thanksgiving LOS ANGELES (JTA) When it’s time to talk turkey, what do Jews have to say? There is little Jewish liturgy for Thanksgiving dinner; not even seconds. You could say ha’motze, the blessing over the bread, and after the pie sing Birkat Ha’Mazon, thanking the Eternal Thanksgiving-giver for the food you ate. You could do that. You also could sit at the Thanksgiving table, throw the dice and blurt out one of those conversation starters that at first causes a lot of throat clearing and foot shuffling, earning you peeved looks from your host — but has the potential of stimulating an intellectual appetite or two. Here’s my modest starter: On Thanksgiving, what do Jews have to be thankful for? We are thankful for our families, homes and health; maybe even a national health plan. We are thankful for all that. But there’s more, isn’t there? So, Jewish America, I am sitting at the Thanksgiving table with all of you, thanks for the invite, and the question’s been asked. Considering it’s my question, you would think that I
could nail the answer. I want to say as a Jew what I’m thankful for, but I can’t find the words. Too personal a question? Maybe I’m just hungry. Then I just blurt out, “Thank God I’m a Jew.” Complete silence. Not everyone at the table is Jewishly involved, and I’ve taken what basically is a national nonsectarian meal and turned it into a Jewish conversation. With no postmodern irony or sarcasm, I said it because I’m really thankful that’s who I am. Among the morning blessings, Jews say “praised is God who has made me a Jew.” So why can’t I say it at the Thanksgiving table? “Shouldn’t the question really be,” a teacher from Binghamton, N.Y., says, “on Thanksgiving, what do people have to be thankful for?” “No,” I respond, working the peas around in my plate. “Let’s slice this turkey; what do Jews have to be thankful for?” “Not the turkey,” says a woman from Philly. “I am definitely not giving thanks for the turkey. I’m a vegan.” “Not necessary,” I answer.
“There’s no special blessing, no bracha for poultry, meat or fish.” “A bracha is one of those “baruch atah” things,” I add, seeing a couple of quizzical looks at the table. “It’s a Jewish formula for praising and giving thanks; acknowledging God’s presence in the world. They are said over different types of food and drink, when experiencing something exceptional, and when fulfilling a commandment.” “Look who went to Hebrew High,” a teacher from Phoenix comments. A software salesman from Seattle joins the conversation. “I’m thankful I have a job,” he says. “Is there a bracha for when I make a sale?” “In the birkat ha’mazon, there’s a blessing for parnasah, sustenance,” a woman from Los Angeles responds, adding that “I’m very thankful to my iPhone for that answer.” “How about a bracha for hangovers?” a college student from Queens asks. “Yes, there’s one,” the iPhoner responds. “There’s a prayer particularly good for this time, called Modeh Ani, of literally having your soul returned to
you — though you may not feel that way. The prayer acknowledges the miracle of being alive every day.” “Is there a bracha over pain, ignorance, hunger?” asks the table skeptic from Berkeley waving his fork. “Nobody blesses that,” I respond. “But there is a prayer for teachers, students and study, Kaddish d’Rabanan; another to help the needy, Ozer Dalim; and a Mi Shebeirach, a blessing to bring healing and restore to health.” “I’m thankful for getting engaged,” a guy from Florida says. “At our wedding, friends and family are going to recite seven blessings. Our rabbi told us that the blessings connect us to the lives of all those Jews who were married before us.” “In the Jews by choice class I took,” he continued, “I found there’s a bracha upon seeing a rainbow, hearing thunder, getting good news and bad. Traditionally, Jews say 100 blessings every day.” “Many brachot are included in the day’s three prayer services,” I add. “Whether you pray them or not, the idea of 100 blessings does get you to look
for the positive — definitely a counter-cultural mind-set.” Then finally, just as the turkey platter was passed to me, I had the answer to my original question — as a Jew I’m thankful for all this: Shalom bayit — peace in my house — the thoughtfulness, respect and love there. For books, especially Jewish friends with books. For herring of any kind — it’s proof of intelligent design. I’m thankful for a roof over our heads and the doorposts as well; when Jehovah Witnesses come to the door I explain expansively about my mezuzah. That an Israeli player made the NBA. That all our cars started and brought us back to the table safely to say Shehecheyanu for another year. And for Thanksgiving guests, there’s one more blessing: In Birchat Ha’Mazon, there’s a bracha for eating at another’s table. That one counts for plenty. (Edmon J. Rodman is JTA columnist writing on Jewish life from Los Angeles.)
