MAD MAX'S TURKEY AND GRAVY - DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS

mad max beyond eggdome

Mad Max’s Thanksgiving Turkey and Gravy[p]Ok, here’s how I do it, but first a couple of disclaimers. One, I don’t brine my turkey. As I’ve state before, there is no particularly good reason for this other than I’m too lazy to do it, or I don’t think about it in advance. Plus, I’m not sure I could find the refrigerator space for the container it would take. However, this should have no impact on if you want to brine and still follow the rest of my method/recipe. Second, while this method will usually result in fairly crisp skin, it is not my focus. Because of the herb treatment, the skin isn’t necessarily that tasty anyway (pretty strong on the herbs), however, it will look great as far as the final presentation. My goal is a turkey where the breast is done at the same time as the legs (more on that later), the meat has a great flavor, and there are drippings that will make for the best gravy you ever ate (after all, how many times have you had good turkey but crummy or pedestrian gravy?). And, when the gravy is really good, you will make a really memorable impression on your guests. This is a very traditional turkey that benefits from the magic of the egg. All of this in my most humble of opinions of course.[p]THE BIRD[p]I typically start with a fresh killed bird from the grocery, not necessarily organic or free range, but one which hasn’t been frozen like a rock for a year. [p] First step in preparing the bird is to set up a large stock pot of water on simmer on the stove. Remove the neck, gizzards, liver, heart and the big chunk of fat from bird. Throw them in the stock pot along with a whole onion halved, a few stalks of celery, a carrot or two, and a bouquet of fresh herbs (I use primarily rosemary, sage and thyme. Let this simmer all day long, adding water occasionally to keep the level up. This will do two things; 1. make your house smell great all day long, and 2. create a wonderful rich stock for the gravy (which will be described later).[p]Back to the bird. Pat it dry, salt and pepper the cavity fairly liberally. Into the cavity stick one small onion (halved), one apple (quartered), one lemon (quartered) and a big bouquet of herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme, and whatever else you like. If you are a garlic person, it’s a good place to stick some of that as well). Take two sticks of butter, softened. Chop up more fresh herbs and mix it into the butter till you have a nice paste. Put the bird in a roasting pan, breast up, elevated either on a v-rack or in my case I have a trivet like metal piece that raises the bird about 1 inch above the pan. Quarter another apple and throw it directly in the roasting pan around the bird. Take your butter paste and liberally apply it all over the bird. You can work some under the skin if you want to, but its not necessary. [p]TWO VERY IMPORTANT STEPS[p]One. 20 minutes before you put it in the egg (or oven), take a one gallon zip lock bag full of ice cubes and lay it over the breasts for the 20 minutes. What this does is lower the breast temps sufficiently that over the course of the roasting, the breast and thighs will be done at the same time. Over the years (and I’ve been doing the thanksgiving turkey now for over 23 years), I’ve tried every trick in the book (paper bags, breast side down, terry cloth towels over the breast, etc.) and the ice bag absolutely works. I’ve been doing this now for about 10 years, and I’ve consistently had perfectly done, moist breasts finished right along with well cooked thighs. If you don’t do anything else, try this. Remove the bag of ice just before putting it in the egg.[p]Two. Last step prior to putting the bird in the egg (or oven), open a bottle of white wine (most any good white will do), and pour half the bottle all over the bird and in the cavity. DON’T drink the rest of the bottle, you will need it for the gravy.[p]THE EGG SET-UP.[p]Sometime before thanksgiving, test out your setup. Last year I found that my roasting pan would not work out with grid on top of inverted plate setter, it was just too high into the dome. I ended up borrowing a rig from Nature Boy that consisted of two metal bars and a pie plate that fit under the grid in its normal place on the fire ring. I kept the pie plate filled with water all day so as to create a good indirect heat barrier from my roasting pan, thereby avoiding any scorching of my drippings (this is key to having the good drippings for gravy). This year I will probably take a throw-away metal pan and lash it to the bottom of the grid for the same purpose. I have an 80 year old aluminum oval turkey roasting pan that fits perfectly in a large egg. This time of year, the grocery stores sell all kinds and sizes of metal pans. Figure out what you need to fit in the egg.[p]THE FIRE[p]I set up as full a load of lump as I could (almost to the top of the fire ring, there was maybe a ½ gap between the lump and the bottom of my ‘pie pan’). I added one good chunk of apple wood. I didn’t want a ‘smoked’ turkey. When it was done, the turkey had a nice hint of smoke. Its your call as to how smokey you want yours to taste. I got a good established fire going at 325 degrees. I let it burn for about 45 minutes prior to putting the turkey in. I found that a full load of lump at 325 degrees lasts only about 8 hours, so for a 20 pound bird, it gets a little close.[p]THE COOK[p]My turkey weighed in at around 20 pounds. At 325 degrees it took a good 6 ½ - 7 hours to be done. During the cook I regularly basted it with a bulb baster (about once every 20 minutes after the first hour). I also regularly checked the water pan underneath the roasting pan to insure it stayed full of water. When the skin started browning, I tented it loosely with aluminum foil until about the last hour, when I removed the foil to let the skin crisp up and come up to the color I wanted (a nice deep golden brown). I didn’t check temps. I pulled it when two things happened. First, when a deep poke in the thigh and breast resulted in clear juices running, and second, when the drumstick rotated freely at the joint (hey, this is how my mom and Aunt Elsie taught me to do it. [p]
VERY IMPORTANT[p]When you pull the roasting pan and turkey from the egg and you’re removing the turkey from the roasting pan, first tilt the bird up so that all the juices in the cavity pour out into the pan (you do NOT want to lose this). Put you bird aside on a cutting board or platter and cover in foil until ready to carve. [p]THE GRAVY[p]So, how do you make great gravy? Its really pretty easy, particularly at this point because you have created all wonderful ingredients that you really need to do it. [p]First, all that crud and juice in your roasting pan? Carefully pour it into a large bowl or pitcher, removing and discarding the quartered apple that’s still in there. Let it set for a little while so that the fat rises to the top. This will probably constitute about 1/3 to ½ of the total volume in the bowl. Carefully ladle off this fat and discard. What you should have left is a beautiful dark richly colored liquid. Have it at the ready as you’ll need it in a few minutes.[p]Take your now empty roasting pan (it will still have some crud in the bottom) and put it directly on the stove top on a high flame. Add two sticks of butter, and approximately ½ a cup of flour. As this heats up, whisk it continuously, scraping up any scraps of crud on the pan. Continue whisking until you have a nice smooth roux working in the pan (add a little extra flour if you need to). It will start to brown a little, that’s ok.[p]Now, remember that ½ a bottle of wine you were saving (you did save it didn’t you?)? Add the wine to the roux in the roasting pan. You should still have it on a high flame, so the alcohol will boil off quickly. Keep whisking (the key to a nice smooth lump free gravy is to whisk the roux till its lump free and then keep whisking the other ingredients in so that it stays nice and smooth. Because of the high heat, it will be constantly bubbling, this is why you have to keep whisking, so it doesn’t scorch or burn.[p]Next step, remember that bowl of crud/liquid you saved from the pan? Once the wine has been mixed in, and reduced about ¼ to 1/3, add in this liquid. This is the true key to the gravy, it imparts so much great flavor. One year, I had the bowl of crud in my sink, and while I was doing other stuff, some do-gooder (my sister in law I think, although no one ever fessed up) threw it down the sink thinking they had done me a favor. I almost killed somebody. [p]Now that you’ve mixed in the crud, remember that stock you’ve been cooking all day? Start ladling that into the pan, one ladle at a time, continuing to whisk it in. Keep the heat on, bring it all to a boil. Keep adding stock till you have it where you want it.[p]THE BIG FINISH[p]First, take the neck, giblets, heart and liver from the stock pot. Remove the meat from the neck (you’ll be amazed how much meat there is). Chop it all up (meat, giblets, heart and liver) very finely and add it to the gravy (its ok to feed a little of this to the dog(s), they love it). [p]Second, in a small bowl, mix some of the stock with some flour to create a thickening agent. By doing this in a separate bowl, you avoid the problem of adding flour directly to the gravy with the intention of thickening it but in reality, you’ll be creating lumps. If the gravy is too thin for your tastes, you can stir in some of this thickening agent till you get the gravy you want. Too thick? Simply add some more stock. [p]Finish up your gravy by adding some salt and pepper to taste (or as my mom would suggest, some worscteshire sauce). Final note, this gravy will not look like the creamy stuff from a jar, nor is it intended to, but I’ll bet it’s the best you ever had.[p]THE END[p]Ok, that’s how I do it. You are now serving a beautiful, moist, delicious turkey, with the best gravy you ever made. If not, don’t blame me, You obviously screwed up (little grinning thingy here). Seriously, I hope that whatever method you try, it comes out great and you have a fantastic thanksgiving.[p]max

Borders

mad max beyond eggdome, thanks for taking the time. This is a keeper.
Scott

mad max beyond eggdome

thanks scott. ..i find myself responding to folks with bits and pieces so much, i finally sat down, and typed out the whole thing. . .so now, i have it archived for myself, and i can cut an paste it anytime for anybody in about 10 seconds. . .[p]and like i keep saying, if nothing else, use that ice bag!!![p]best[p]max

Unknown

mad max beyond eggdome, thanks so much for the post.[p]Questions (re "The Egg Set-Up"): [p]1. What is the distance between the heat barrier (the metal pan that you fill with water) and the bottom of the grid?
2. What is the distance between the heat barrier and the top of the coals?
3. How deep of pan do you suggest?
4. When you say that this year you'll probably "take a throw away metal pan and lash it to the grid", do you mean attach it to the grid somehow, so that the distance between the top of the metal pan (the heat barrier) and the grid is zero?
5. Does the type of "roasting pan" or "drip pan" (they're the same thing, right?) matter? Flimsy aluminum versus ceramic, for example.[p]Thanks again so much. I'm cooking a turkey in my Egg for friends on Saturday, and then going to family on Thanksgiving (and eating, ahem, an oven cooked bird -- maybe I'll just eat the stuffing and pie...)[p]This forum is great. Thanks to all the experts that post advice, and the rest of you that post the questions that I might not have thought to ask...[p]John.

BBQBluesStringer

Hey Max![p]Awesome post! I'm smoking several (friends and neighbors) in the <name witheld> and I'm inspired to follow your directions exactly for a roasted bird on the egg. Shirley only drinks expensive red wine, so I should be able to keep that half bottle of white safe for the day. This will be my first time trying the bag of ice trick. Sure makes a lot of sense.[p]Thanks for the great turkey post! Hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving![p]Kelly

mad max beyond eggdome

JohnBrowning,
to answer your quetions[p]1. just about zero. . the rig i borrowed from nature boy last year left maybe a half inch gap. . the key here is to have some kind of heat deflection. . .if i could make the plate setter work, i'd do that instead. .. by having a round pan with water under my oval roasting pan, there was enough gap to allow some air circulation, but not direct heat.[p]2. when i started, there was probably only an inch or less between the top of the coals and the bottom of the heat barrier. .. not much i know, but for a large turkey, i really need as much lump as possible. .. with a twenty pound turkey in a roasting pan, everything was pretty tight, but it all worked[p]3. the rig i used was a standard pie pan. . .i probably add water to it about every 30 minutes or so during the day. . .or every time i basted. .. i kept a big pot of water next to the egg, and after basting the bird, i'd use my bulb baster to add water to the pan. ...[p]4. yes, i plan to take heavy duty wire, poke some holes along the top edge of the pan, and hang it from the grid. . .i guess i'll try to leave a little gap (maybe 1/3 to 1/2 inch between top edge of the pan and the bottom of the grid.. .haven't quite tried to engineer that one yet. .. that will be this weekend's task. .. also, the round pan will have to be big enough so that the oval roasting pan doesn't cover it completely so that i can add water. . [p]5. i don't think it matters much other than think about lifting it out of the egg with a heavy, hot turkey in it. . .i think that if i were using a throw away roasting pan, i might buy two or even thress and double/triple them up for a more solid pan. ..that would also probably prevent any chance of scorching in the bottom. . .[p]like i said, try some things out in a cold egg and see how it all fits for you. .[p]best[p]max

mad max beyond eggdome

BBQBluesStringer,
happy t-day to you and shirley and family from me, spawn, and the gang here. .. . i'll be smoking up a bunch of hams for people next week. . .only plan on roasting one turkey though. . .tried out and awsome stuffing recipe last night, the gang all loved it. .i'll be posting that on in the next day or so. . .[p]best[p]max

BucsFanJim

mad max beyond eggdome,
Thanks for the post. This'll have to wait til Christmas as we're going to a relative's house for T-Day. They're frying 2 birds...but alas, I'm bringing a Dr. Chicken double smoked black forest ham!
That gravy sounds delicious, can' wait to try it.
Thanks again.

mad max beyond eggdome

BucsFanJim,
i;ll bet more of that ham gets eatin than that turkey (grinning thingy). .. .

Unknown

I was reading your note today on a new dressing for turkey. Could you please share that with me. I have been traveling for a few years, and have dug my Kamado out for doing a turkey for thanksgiving, and would like to do a good one. Thanks, Duane Green

mad max beyond eggdome

Duane Green,
i'll type that one up and probably have it posted later. .. its actually a recipe from giada de laurentiis on food tv (my favorite italian hottie!!).. .did it in the oven last night. .it was easy and tasted fantastic. . .just keep an eye out for the posting later on today. . .

Unknown

Max, now we know why it took you a while to get this posted. Great detail, thanks. Why were you not able to make the platesetter work?

mad max beyond eggdome

Chet,
when i put the plate setter in, feet up with the grid on top, the grid was at the level w/ the egg opening. . .when i put in my roasting pan w/ turkey, it was sittin up so high that i couldn't get the dome to close. . . [p]i had a thought this morning that i might try. ..puttin ghte plate setter in feet up, then taking those little egg feet that come with our eggs, sitting them on the plates setter, then putting the roasting pan on top of them. . .this way, i'll have the good heat deflection of the plate setter, but the 'feet' will keep the roasting pan from sitting right on the hot plate setter and allow a little air circulation under the pan. .. i'll post again and let people know if this works or not. . .

eggor

mad max beyond eggdome,[p]thanks for the tips, you should submit this to the recipe section. I think i got a fix for your drip pan. watch for the drum rolllll. pakak is coming over to take some pictures in the next day or two.[p]Scott

mad max beyond eggdome

eggor,
thanks, and i will keep an eye out for the pics. .. see my response to chet regarding another way i might do the setup. . .basically, whatever it takes to have an indirect setup and still fit it all in. . .

ScottinKC

One other idea because I had the same problem is;[p]put in one grill. On that place both your "water pan" and 2-3 fire bricks on their sides. The height of both the water pand and fire bricks are similar. Place the main grill on top of the fire bricks. This leaves about an inch from the top of the egg and just enough room for the lid to close for my pan.

mad max beyond eggdome

ScottinKC,
thats a great idea. ..i didn't think of that one on account i don't own any firebricks. .. need to get me some. . .cause that is a great solution. . .[p]thanks!![p]max

Unknown

Max, I always shoot for a 20 lb bird too. Last year was the first year that I had a plate setter and I put drip pan on inverted plate setter and bird in standard v-rack on the main grate and yes it was a tight fit and I did have to negotiate postition in order to avoid the dome temp gauge sticking in the bird. Before that I only had one grate and placed the drip pan with ample broth that would last without running dry and the turkey in the v-rack right in the drip pan. One option I might use this year after reading all your responses here, is - inverted plate setter, 1/2 in cake cooling rack, drip pan, v-rack and turkey.

mad max beyond eggdome

Chet,
dang, "cake cooling rack". ...i've got some of those. ..that may also serve perfectly. .. .this is why i love the forum. .. post a problem, get multiple solutions. . [p]i think the key is to do a serious of test fits in a cold egg. .. i figure i'll stick a basketball in the roasting pan to imitate the bird, and see what fits best. .[p]THANKS chet. . . .

Unknown

Max, are ya going to paint a turkey on it first?

mad max beyond eggdome

Chet,
LOL, either that or go to the hallmark store and buy one of the those big paper cutout centerfold turkeys, and stick that in there. .. .

YankeeBBQ

mad max beyond eggdome,[p]Where are the pics dude ? This is the egg forum right ?[p]Steve

mad max beyond eggdome

YankeeBBQ,
LOL steve... when i did last year's turkey i didn't have a digital camera yet. .. .i'll be sure to take lots of pictures next week, and then next year, i'll have description and pics. .. .

egghead2004

ScottinKC,
Bingo, I was just thinking the same thing, or put 3 firebricks on the inverted plate setter so as to avoid using a water pan all then put your grid on the fire bricks , the the roasting pan.

Unknown

You guys are too funny. Thanks again for taking the time to post... Can't wait for saturday.[p]John