Fire Pit Turkey

[DonsCountryGal]

DH and I often like to do entire meals over an open fire. We'd done this about 4 years ago but didn't take pics of the process. It worked so well, we did it again this year - with pics - thought I'd share it here.

 

I have a fire pit area that is about 3' wide (round) and roughly 10" deep. On each side, and the back, supporting the recycled freezer shelf grill are cinder blocks - solid-side up allowing air circulation. In the pit is a steel bar fireplace grate. Air flow is pretty much open on all sides.

 

This was taken just before lighting the fire:

 

Turkey prep: I mixed some olive oil with spices like thyme, marjoram, Spike, dried leaf basil and some parsley flakes. (Not much rhyme or reason to the mix...just browsed the spice cabinet and added what sounded good.) As the spices are softening and flavor-blending, I rinsed the turkey well (about 12.5 pounder), mounted it on a vertical turkey roaster (wire cone), and set it in an 8" square drip pan.

 

Next, I lit the fire and placed a (well-used) half of a 55-gal steel drum on top of the grill.

 

Place a metal crate inside the drum to hold a smaller crate away from direct fire.

 

Rub the turkey well with the olive oil and spices. Set the turkey and drip pan in another crate and place this crate onto the first one in the drum. Add a couple cups of water to the drip pan. Hang an oven thermometer on the top crate so it is viewable after placing the lid on.

 

An old Webber grill cover is just the right size to fit over the drum.

 

The thermometer is right where I can keep an eye on the temp to maintain a preferred 325-350.

 

Find some good reading material and have a seat where you can see the thermometer. Feed the fire as needed to maintain the temp.

 

DH prepares the cooking pots for the yams and potatoes. For the white potatoes, he combines potatoes and cauliflower half-n-half. About 1.5 hours into the turkey roasting, he brings the pots out and they are placed on the back side of the drum with a shield (old microwave cover) to form kind of a secondary oven. The potato pots will slow-cook and eventually boil.

 

A second fire is started in our table-pit so DH has a higher level to finish off his yams, and to keep the mashed potato/cauliflower warm. Once again, use of a microwave cover keeps today's slight breeze from whipping the fire around.

 

When the veggies are soft, he takes the pots inside and drains them. The yams get brown sugar and butter added and placed back outside over another fire to melt down. The potato/cauliflower get mashed up and set on the fire's edge to keep warmed.

 

About 2 hours into the roasting process, periodically briefly lift the lid to check the turkey's doneness. This is where those little doneness pop-out pins come in real handy. As it did 4 years ago, the pin popped about 45 minutes earlier than had it been done in an oven.

[Gunplumber]

That looks great - and probably the only way for a larger bird. I had a hard time finding small enough birds to do something similar on the bbq. Other than having to remember to paint it with spices in olive oil every half hour or so, and to keep adding water to the drip pans, it was a a piece of cake. These are 10 pound birds. Even trussing them up with butcher's twine, I had to take the grate off. Some mesquite chips and having the stuffing a little more wet - they cooked to 180 in 3 hours with no pre-heat. If I had to take the grate off, I wanted to do it before it was hot. Of course, every time I opened it to peek, the temp dropped, so it varied from 300 to 400 with 350 my target. With the 4 burners on their lowest setting, it didn't get much above 300, so there was a little fiddling.

 

[Leanna1017]

Both these turkeys look great.

 

DonsCountryGal - do you have the SOS Sport Solar oven? Your black pans look like the set that comes with the Sport.

[DonsCountryGal]

Both these turkeys look great.

 

DonsCountryGal - do you have the SOS Sport Solar oven? Your black pans look like the set that comes with the Sport.

 

No...these are part of an old blue/white speckled I purchased in the early 70's for about $20 in San Diego. I've also found a couple of the same blue/white speckled roaster pans at the local Saver's store...always looking!

[Amishway Homesteaders]

WOW!

You guys are making me want TURKEY!

and we just did a big one yesterday and are STILL eatting from it. LOL

 

Great Pic's (both) as it lets you see what you did.

and

LOVE the recycle parts you used - good job.