Smoke Signals

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Having trouble viewing this email? Click here!   November 20   We Have A New Faster Website!   We have just completed a massive migration of our entire website from one Content Management System to another (we are now on Drupal) and to a bigger faster server. We now have a new improved design with more intuitive navigation. And with the new system comes a lot of new content with much more on the way! Scroll down to see some of the new stuff.   Everything You Need For Thanksgiving   Deliciousness Awaits   Ok, pilgrims. This is it. The big show. The big bird. The biggest food holiday of the year. As we said above, we have a shiny new website and everything you need for Thanksgiving is on our new homepage!   Most people cook a whole turkey only once a year, and this is your year to totally nail it. Again. Our Ultimate Turkey Recipe is just what it says it is. Need to get organized with aprep schedule? You got it. Want to know the nitty gritty on the Science of Turkey? You got it. Check out our favorite ways to prepare the bird, including how to spatchcock a turkey(my favorite method) and how to make smoked turkey on a charcoal grill or a smoker. You can even use our method to do the bird indoors. Have a look at this 1 minute video to see how simple it really is to spatchcock a turkey:   Or click through the site to find out more about the ins and outs of:   Handling raw turkey Cooking time Cooking a frozen bird in an emergency Water pans, drip pans, and roasting pans And so much more   Sous-Vide-Que Turkey? Oui! Sous-Vide-Que Makes An Amazing Juicy Turkey   Roasting a bird often dries it out because to make it safe you have to cook to well-done. But cooking turkey sous-vide-que keeps it nice and moist. This low and slow cooking method keeps turkey exceptionally juicy.   The key tool is an immersion circulator, and we explain the concepts and science and we gave the Joule by ChefSteps a Gold Medal. Use Joule to cook turkey at a steady 140°F for 12 hours, while you go do something else. Then smoke and brown it on the grill. We call this hybrid cooking method "Sous-Vide-Que" and you can read all about how to SVQ a turkey here. There are two videos there, one short, one longer.   Carving A Turkey Is Easy!   How to carve a turkey. Step 1: Say to yourself, I am smarter than a dead bird. Step 2. Look at our step by step photos and watch our 1 minute video. Click here for the tutorial.   Take A Picture Of That Beautiful Bird And Win     The Annual Turkey Shoot Photo Contest Sponsored by Thermoworks   Every year in November we invite readers to post pictures of their turkeys and compete for prizes, and every year we are thrilled to see all the beautiful photos, most of them depicting creative variations of our Ultimate Turkey Recipe. As in previous years, the contest is sponsored by our friends at Thermoworks. Click here for more information about the contest and the prizes.   Don't Forget The Sides   We've got lots of recipes to add flavor, color, and style to your Thanksgiving table. Below are some of our favorites.   Once you dial in your game plan and take care of the bird, the only thing left to do is eat it, right? Not before you take some photos. Submit your turkey pictures to our annual Turkey Shoot (link above) and you could win some great prizes.     NEW: Sous-Vide-Que Charred Carrots   Our Clint Cantwell has continued his exploration of the magic that happens when you merge fire and water, the grill with sous vide. If you have a sous vide machine, you just must serve these for Thanksgiving. Get the recipe.     Crunchy French-Style Green Beans   You've heard of French fries, well here is a recipe for French beans, and they're just as good. Nothing fancy about this great recipe other than the taste. Simple. To the point. Delicious. Read about it.   NEW: Sweet & Savory Sweet Potato Steak Fries   A different approach to traditional holiday yams, these steak fries take sweet potatoes in an entirely new direction. One taste and you'll be hooked. Try them.     Buttery Garlic Mashed Potatoes (No Gravy or Cream Needed)   These garlic mashed potatoes are so creamy and delicious, you'll enjoy them with or without gravy. Get the recipe here.   Classic Bread & Butter Stuffing With Cranberries   Our absolute favorite recipe for stuffing. Or add eggs, butter a muffin tin and turn it into muffings. Read more here.     Drunken Cranberry Sauce   Both sweet and savory, this warm variation on traditional cranberry sauce features port wine. Don't worry, most of the alcohol evaporates during cooking, leaving behind only the sweet taste of cranberries with a hint of orange. Get the recipe.   The BEST Gravy. Period.   Whatever you do, don't skip the gravy. Our approach may sound a little goofy, but have faith: this gravy is a show stopper. Follow the recipe closely to get the concept, then customize the flavors as you see fit. Try something new.   More New Recipes   Some more new recipes from our Clint Cantwell that you will want to consider for Thursday:   Fire Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Fennel and Prosciutto   Grilled Hasselback Sweet Potatoes with Maple Pecan Butter   Smoked Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Maple and Sriracha   Electric Knife Reviews To Make Carving Easier Our Doctor of Barbecue, Rick Browne PhB, put four electric knives to the test. They all make carving turkey easier, but one stood out.   To test the knives, he started by slicing bread. He sliced a soft loaf of French bread, a rock hard stale loaf of heavy grain artisan bread, and a loaf of very dense cheese bread.   He also tried slicing a large butternut squash and a quarter wheel of dense Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese into 1" slices.   To test meats, he disjointed fresh chickens, and then sliced 1/8" and 1/4" slices of breast meat off roast chickens and turkeys, aiming to keep some crispy skin on each slice.   He also use the knives to cut through the breastbone and cut out the backbone and ribs of the cooked birds. To test whole hams, he sliced a large country ham both 1/8 inch and 1/4" thick. He also sliced smoked brisket.   Just for fun, and to see how the blades would wear with really heavy use, we attempted to cut into a 1 x 2" pinch piece of pine wood. Not recommended! The results were not pretty. Click here to see which ones made the cut.   New Kamado Review   Monolith BBQ Guru Awarded the Silver Medal by Max Good   Plenty of cooks swear by their kamado for cooking the holiday turkey. The new Monolith BBQ Guru Edition Classic has an 18” grill grate similar in size to the popular Big Green Egg Large model. The big advantage? It has an integrated temperature controller. Less fiddling with the top and bottom vents! Plus, Monolith Kamados come standard with accessories that are typically options with other brands. Click here to read our detailed review.   For more reviews of kamados, grills, pizza ovens, and hog roasters, check out AmazingRibs.com's barbecue equipment reviews and ratings.   YouTube URL Change     You like videos? We already have quite a few on our YouTube channel with more in the works, especially short 1 minute videos. If you bnookmarked our YouTube Channel, the url has changed. It is now https://YouTube.com/AmazingRibs   Here's a Meathead demonstrating the Afterburner.   Vote For Operation BBQ Relief's Stan Hays For CNN Hero Of The Year's     Since May 2011, Operation BBQ Relief (OBR) has been mobilizing the barbecue community to provide nearly 2 million hot BBQ meals to victims of major disasters across 24 states.   Click here to read a first hand report of their incredible work from our own Rick Browne who we embedded with OBR in Houston for a week soon after Hurricane Harvey.   In recognition of OBR's amazing work, we are pleased to announce that Co-Founder and CEO Stan Hays has been named as a finalist in CNN's Hero of the Year!    To show your support for OBR, please cast a vote for Stan up to 10x daily between now and December 12. OBR is proof that barbecue lovers care.   Our Pitmaster Club Is A Real Community     Forum rich with information, recipes, reviews, & moderated discussions Exclusive content for members only Video interviews with top Pitmasters Valuable monthly Gold Medal giveaways FREE food temperature magnet ($9.95 Value) Special offers from manufacturers NO MORE ADS on the entire website Support for this great website Much more! Join Now   Get The Book For holiday gift giving, why not pick up a copy of the New York Times Best Seller: Meathead, The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling?   It also made Southern Livings's list of "Best 100 Cookbooks of All Time"! And it made the list of "22 Essential Cookbooks for Every Kitchen" on SeriousEats.com. And it made "25 Favorite Cookbooks of All Time" By Christopher Kimball's Milk Street. What amazing honors! Read more and order here.   Tell A Friend About Smoke Signals Smoke Signals is the free newsletter from Barbecue Whisperer and Hedonism Evangelist, Meathead and his All-Star Team of experts at AmazingRibs.com. If you like it, please forward a copy to a friend.    You're receiving this email because you requested it on AmazingRibs.com. Add ribmeister@amazingribs.com to your address book so we'll be sure to land in your inbox, not your spam folder. Thanks.   STAY CONNECTED Visit our website