Alternatives To 'Roast Turkey or Ham'

While searching for tasty alternatives to the traditional 'roast' turkey or ham dinner, I mentioned my quest in an E-mail to my generous friends in Spokane, WA, George & Linda Allen (of Glacier National Park travels posted about earlier this year). They responded in their usual manner and provided me with these 3 mouth watering ideas. Thanks for sharing with us, both of you!!

George's Holiday Prime Rib

5 lbs prime rib roast, trimmed

6 or 8 cloves of garlic crushed

1/4Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tbsp Graded fresh horseradish

1/8 Cup Fresh Rosemary

1/8 Cup Fresh Oregano

1/8 Cup Fresh Thyme

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Zest of one lemon

Make a thick paste of all ingredients, rub top and sides of the roast, chill overnight. Remove 1 hour before cooking.

Preheat oven 450F degrees. Cook for 25 minutes. Then lower temp to 350F. Cook until meat at the thickest part reads 125F for rare or 130F for medium rare.Let cool in warm place for 30-40 minutes before carving.

We serve with fresh graded horseradish and au Jus Serve with a nice Latah Creek Huckleberry d'Latah from Spokane Washington, or tall 'Bloody Marys' with Dry Fly Vodka also from Spokane, Washington.

Looks Good Enough To Eat!!

Deep Fried Turkey a la Allens

We have no precise recipe for deep fried turkey, just a few steps before doing the deed.

Put 14 lb turkey in cooker and cover with water.

Mark water level.

Remove Turkey & wipe and pat until fairly dry.

Empty water from pot.

Fill pot to high water mark with peanut or cottonseed oil.

Heat to 325F.

Inject with Cajun Garlic butter marinade. Usually can buy marinade in most supermarkets or Sporting Goods. (Or look 'online' for one of your own choosing)

Hang until excess drips off (otherwise, if wet makes pot boil over possibly causing loss of hair on arms & eyebrows as George can verify).

Just before lowering turkey into oil, turn off flame!

Slowly lower turkey into pot, cook at 275F to 300F degrees for approximately 3 minutes per pound or until thighs are 180F or breast is 170F.

Remove from oil, rest for awhile(perferably with drink in hand), then carve and dig in!!!

Safety Tips: 1. Don't try this indoors. (duh) 2. Place cooker on gravel or dirt. 3. Avoid brines containing sugar as it will burn a inedible crust onto the turkey. 4. Wear long sleeves and gloves when lowering turkey in the pot. 5. All this has been learned the hard way (arm hair and eyesbrows grow back eventually according to George)

Deep Fryer for Turkey

Prepped Turkey

Going down!!

Cooking away

Looking good!

Dinner's ready!!

Brined & Smoked Turkey Brine Preparation In a large stock pot mix: 1 gallon water 2 cups kosher salt 1 cup brown sugar 12 bay leaves tablespoon of cloves tablespoon of course ground pepper 6 or so thyme sprigs 6 or so rosemary sprigs Bring to a boil until the salt and sugar dissolves. Pour into a clean 5 gallon bucket, add ice cubes to cool brine. Place turkey in brine and add water until covered, then cover bucket and place in a cool spot for 12 to 24 hours. Place in Smoker1(1) or (2); or Weber Kettle(3) with apple wood for smoke. Each smoker or kettle is different, so cook until breast reaches temp of 170F or thighs 180F. Let rest 15 minutes before carving. We have a Bradley Smoker and I slow cook for 10 hours at 200 degrees and only use smoke for half of the time. NOTES: The black smoker is like our Bradley(1); blue one(2) is a Brinkman; the other(3) is a Weber Kettle. These are the most common types in our area. Some smokers are charcoal, propane or electric, ours is electic.

Wood Chips For Smoking

Smoker #1

Smoker #2

Weber Kettle (#3)

Yummy!!!!

Well folks, after all that, I still find myself thinking about something REALLY different: Lobster!! This is prompted by the fact that the current economic crisis has caused the price of lobster to drop into a nearly give-away price range. Whatever we decide, you can bet that the 3 methods of preparing beef & turkey will be on the menu at Chez Indian in the coming year. Mostly dependent on 'snow depth'. Until next time, take care. New Holiday Fare at Chez Indian??