LMichaels
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
So for the first time ever I was selected to host dead buzzard day. Now let me give a little background. 1. I don't much care for turkey and once a year is once too many. 2. Last time I cooked one was about 15 years ago perhaps and I FRIED that one. So now I have set the background.
So I offered to my family to cook a prime rib, roast lamb, almost anything. Nope had to be dead buzzard and oh the request was out there for me to somehow satisfy everyone's taste for dark meat over white. So rather than 1 large bird I chose two "smaller" ones of just under 9 lbs each. I also wanted to cook them in the grill(s) so I decided to turn to my "fleet flagships" my Wolf gigantor and my Summit 450. The Wolf would do Infrared rotisserie duties and the Summit a conventional roast/smoke.
Now the trick here was going to be timing. I wanted both done at the same time and with enough time to let them rest for minimum 30 minutes. Things were going along very well. A mix of hickory and pecan wood in each grill producing aromatics. I should also mention I concocted a wonderful brine of kosher salt, real maple syrup, lemon, bay leaf, thyme, pepper corns and sugar. BTW thank HEAVENS I decided to brine them for 2 days (reason to come).
So at 12:30 both birds went on the respective grills. Smells on my deck were WONDERFUL. about an hour in I decided to temp the birds. Now came my first "oh s&*t" moment. I forgot to turn off/down the IR burner I had a nearly done bird looking wonderful at about 145F. Went to the Summit. Another beautiful bird but only at 115F. ARRRGH!
So I took the catch pan out from the Summit bird (allowing more heat to get to it) and went WAY down on the outside burners on the Wolf and off with the IR. Short while later another "oh s&*t". Now the Summit bird was passing the Wolf. So back on with the IR (but lower) and cranked the outside burners up and tuned down the Summit burners. Of course the Summit continued to shoot up and in the blink of an eye shot up to 180! Luckily I caught the Wolf bird as it was shooting past 170. Pulled both and carved. Somehow both were tasty (still pretty juicy) had wonderful smoke rings (and yes for you purists who say gas grills cannot do this news flash they CAN). I can only attribute my salvation to VERY high quality birds from Mary's Turkey Farm in California, the long luxurious bath the birds took prior to cooking, my skill as a cook, and my ultimate faith in the Lord
Of course I had made giblet gravy (again a first time since I never eat buzzard) and to my surprise the gravy was outstanding.
After reading my little novella I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving
So I offered to my family to cook a prime rib, roast lamb, almost anything. Nope had to be dead buzzard and oh the request was out there for me to somehow satisfy everyone's taste for dark meat over white. So rather than 1 large bird I chose two "smaller" ones of just under 9 lbs each. I also wanted to cook them in the grill(s) so I decided to turn to my "fleet flagships" my Wolf gigantor and my Summit 450. The Wolf would do Infrared rotisserie duties and the Summit a conventional roast/smoke.
Now the trick here was going to be timing. I wanted both done at the same time and with enough time to let them rest for minimum 30 minutes. Things were going along very well. A mix of hickory and pecan wood in each grill producing aromatics. I should also mention I concocted a wonderful brine of kosher salt, real maple syrup, lemon, bay leaf, thyme, pepper corns and sugar. BTW thank HEAVENS I decided to brine them for 2 days (reason to come).
So at 12:30 both birds went on the respective grills. Smells on my deck were WONDERFUL. about an hour in I decided to temp the birds. Now came my first "oh s&*t" moment. I forgot to turn off/down the IR burner I had a nearly done bird looking wonderful at about 145F. Went to the Summit. Another beautiful bird but only at 115F. ARRRGH!
So I took the catch pan out from the Summit bird (allowing more heat to get to it) and went WAY down on the outside burners on the Wolf and off with the IR. Short while later another "oh s&*t". Now the Summit bird was passing the Wolf. So back on with the IR (but lower) and cranked the outside burners up and tuned down the Summit burners. Of course the Summit continued to shoot up and in the blink of an eye shot up to 180! Luckily I caught the Wolf bird as it was shooting past 170. Pulled both and carved. Somehow both were tasty (still pretty juicy) had wonderful smoke rings (and yes for you purists who say gas grills cannot do this news flash they CAN). I can only attribute my salvation to VERY high quality birds from Mary's Turkey Farm in California, the long luxurious bath the birds took prior to cooking, my skill as a cook, and my ultimate faith in the Lord
Of course I had made giblet gravy (again a first time since I never eat buzzard) and to my surprise the gravy was outstanding.
After reading my little novella I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving
