5 Unique Ways To Cook Your Thanksgiving Turkey

While the rest of the country seems to be rush to get to Christmas, everyone here at PJP has been eagerly awaiting the most delicious holiday of the year: Thanksgiving. There’s nothing quite like an enormous home-cooked meal, spending time with your family, and remembering all of the wonderful things you have to be thankful for. Don’t get us wrong, we love the whole holiday season, and we’re as eager to get started on our Black Friday Shopping as anyone else, but it’s important to take time to enjoy Thanksgiving for what it’s really all about…

Turkey.

Yes. Let’s be honest with ourselves here: Thanksgiving is about that majestically scrumptious bird. Americans consume approximately 736 million pounds of Turkey every year on Thanksgiving. To use the same comparison we used in our Halloween blog, 730 Million pounds is the same as the Empire State Building. That’s right, Americans will eat about one Empire State Building worth of Turkey tomorrow. Feel free to share that fun fact at the dinner table.

Unfortunately, there is one somewhat disappointing thing about Thanksgiving turkey: everyone cooks it the same way. Oh, sure, you’ll hear stories about a friend of a friend who deep fried their turkey one year, but you never actually see it in person. It’s always the classic baking in a pan method. Now, don’t get us wrong, at PJP we love our tradition, but it never hurt anyone to shake things up now and again. Besides, don’t you want your turkey day to be something that get’s people talking? Something that sets you apart from the rest of the crowd?

As always, PJP is here to help. We’ve come up with 5 unique ways for you to cook your Turkey this Thanksgiving.

1. Brine It

Brining a turkey is probably the most common method people use outside of the traditional one. Simply put, brining involves soaking the Turkey in water and spices of your choice for 24 hours before you roast it. Using a brine ensures that your Turkey will be moist and infused with great flavor.

The tricky part about brining a turkey is finding the space for it in your fridge. It’s important to keep the turkey cold throughout the process, so you can’t just leave it out on the counter. If your fridge doesn’t have enough space, place it in an ice-filled cooler and keep replacing the ice as needed.

2. Deep Fry It

Like we said above, you’ve heard the stories about how amazing deep frying your bird on Thanksgiving can be, so why not makes those stories a reality a do it yourself? Now, this isn’t an undertaking for the weak-willed chef. Deep frying a turkey can be dangerous. There’s a reason one of the first results in google when you search “how to deep fry a turkey,” is an article from Wired.com titled “How to Deep-Fry a Turkey Without Killing Yourself.”

The key to deep frying is to not get over ambitious. Use a smaller sized bird, make sure it’s fully defrosted, make sure you have the right supplies to get the job done, and you should be fine. You don’t want hot oil splashing all over the place near an open fire, so make sure you’re extra careful. The benefit of all of this care is that you really do get one delicious turkey afterwards.

3. Grill It

“What!?” We can already hear you saying, incredulously. “I didn’t even know grilling a turkey was an option!” Well, it is. This is America. We can grill anything. If you want that amazing flavor that can only be achieved on a grill for your Turkey, then grilling it is obviously the only way to go.

The only challenge to grilling a turkey is making sure you have a big enough grill to fit your bird. You might have to use a smaller turkey rather in order to fit it in your grill. The other important thing is, if you’re using charcoal; make sure you add briquettes periodically throughout the cooking process to keep the temperature up.

4. Slow Cook It

Now, we’ll admit that the crock-pot method might not be for everyone. In this case, you’ll have to give up on the full turkey in lieu of a turkey breast. But if your family can do without the dark meat this can be an amazing way to prepare the meal while leaving the oven free for other dishes.

5. Cover it in Bacon

This may not really qualify as a brand new way to cook your turkey, because it still requires you roast it in the oven, but it’s still a way to take your turkey up a notch. I mean, who doesn’t love bacon? By wrapping your turkey completely in bacon you’re going to help it stay moist and add that amazing bacon flavor to the meat.

How could you pass that up?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. We hope you all enjoy your turkeys, however you decide to prepare them.