Starting the Turkey Fiasco

bettysnephew · November 2013

Went out at 0700 this morning to get the XL lit for the turkey. It is 20°F. The cover is frozen to the table! Took a half hour to get it peeled off without damage. Tried to open the XL. Froze shut! Lit a couple of starter cubes and put in bottom of Egg. In time the dome thermometer began to rise, but no love. Wadded up a lot of newspaper and stuffed into the upper vent. Lit one more and dropped it in. Roaring fire inside the Egg so no problems. Got the dome to open about 1/4" in the front, so stuffed in another load of newspaper and relit. Success at last! Except the recently installed gasket is pulled loose for about 6" at the rear seam. OK, fine (in my best Herb Tarlek voice) time to move on. Loaded the charcoal and started a chimney full to get everything going. Put in the platesetter, drip pan and grid. Placed the turkey on the invertabird stand and put in the Egg. Closed the dome and discovered the 14lb. bird completely closed off the upper vent. Regroup. Removed bird, grid, platesetter and upper fire ring. Put platesetter into Egg but it will not sit atop the fire box ceramic. Pulled out platesetter and rebuilt the Egg innards to original configuration, took bird off of vertical roast rack and placed breast down on V Rack. Slathered in butter/herb mix. Added 2 small pieces of Pecan wood for flavor and closed the lid. It's going to be a small miracle if this thing is done on time.

sstripes96 · November 2013

Same problems here too. It got down to 25 last night after it rained all day yesterday. The lid was frozen solid. Had to shove a wad of newspaper in the lower vent and hope that the charcoal lit. It did. Dome temp got to 350 before I could pry the lid up. My gasket survived.
Im doing the Mad Max Turkey. Im doing it breast up.

Skiddymarker · November 2013

Good luck! Miracles do happen, and they should for someone who stuck with it like you did, I'd had the damn thing in the oven before the cover was even off the egg! You are a much better man than I, nephew of Betty.

henapple · November 2013

I had to place my v rack in my pan.. I wanted to invert mine also but couldn't find a stand in short notice. Guess I'm glad I didn't. Oh well, the bloody Marys have gotten me by.

Canugghead · November 2013

Hope your bird comes up a winner in spite of the initial set back. Yes, I also learned the hard way that cover does not prevent eggs from freezing shut, on the contrary it dragged off and shattered my ceramic top once.

bettysnephew · November 2013

Lunch went well. The turkey came out great. It was actually done a bit early, but foiling in the pan allowed it to rest in the oven to keep it and other dishes warm. Even the grandkids ate well for a change. The pecan wood gave it a nice golden glow.

Coastalcooker · November 2013

I did a dry run the day before with the turkey still in its wrappings and the egg unlit. I found a way to fit, but a foil drip pan and rack were in the plate setter legs up. On a medium, a twelve pounder is the largest I can fit. My lid had never frozen shut-oh maybe its because we have not had a night below freezing yet.
Bob

bettysnephew · November 2013

If I had put the bird on the vertical roast rack Butt down it would have easily worked. I was attempting to do Little Steven's invertabird so that the legs would be on top and in the higher heat to cook a bit faster. I got frustrated after all the issues and did it on the V rack in order to be done on time. Next time I will follow LS's later advice and open up the neck cavity a bit. I also think it might work well on the chicken sized vertical rack, just not quite as stable. Fortunately we seldom have earth tremors here in Iowa.

Starting the Turkey Fiasco

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