It is what it looks like
Ever heard of beer can chicken? Well, this is beer can turkey. I have been slow grilling a lot recently and am trying to make the most of the ending summer 😦 I had never heard of this and wanted to give it a try. Whereas a standard 12 oz can works well for a chicken, I used a Fosters “oil can” which is 25.4 ounces.
First with the grill. This time I started the charcoal and once it was ashed over, pushed it all to the outer edges to make a ring.
I put a disposable foil baking dish in the center as a drip pan
While the coals were heating up, I prepared the turkey and the can. I covered the turkey with a store bought rotisserie chicken rub. Leave about half of the beer in the can, with the other half you figure it out. Once it was magically half empty, I removed the top with a can opener. This worked really well and there were no sharp edges. I then added bay leaves, garlic, and rosemary to the beer.
Good ol oil can
With the bay leaves and spices
Now the grill, turkey, and can were ready. I placed the can on the grill and lowered the turkey down onto it and pushed it down a bit to make sure that it was stable.
Now for the cooking. I thought that this might be a problem and it was. The turkey was too tall to close the lid all of the way, so I quickly Macgyvered a contraption by using two bricks on the handles for the lid to rest on.
2 bricks, a grill, a novelty beer can, and a turkey, what do you do???
I was concerned about the heat loss from the semi open lid but it was not a factor and the bird cooked much quicker than I thought it would. The whole 12 lb turkey was finished in about 2-2.5 hours.
Sorry we did not get a pic while it was still standing
Towards the end of the turkey, I prepared the mashed potatoes by boiling them and then sauteing the aromatics.
These smelled great!
Once they were tender, add the potatoes and milk and whip with an electric mixer.
It turned out to be great dinner!
Recipe for Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Greg
What exactly am I looking at you ask? This is obviously a turkey breast on an indirect heat charcoal grill with a blanket woven of bacon on top of it. Obviously. I wanted to squeeze in some good grilling as the season was about to close and a cheap turkey breast from Wholey’s (about $14 for this 8 pound double breast) offered a great opportunity. I have made this before by roasting the turkey and have indirect heat grilled a whole turkey, so the bacon was what differentiated this post from the others.
Starving Kitten 