Thanksgiving challenge: no kitchen

Rehabbing our little bit of the American dream in Hyde Park, we will not have a functional kitchen before the end of the year.
What we have is: a big Weber gas grill on the back porch, a large microwave, and a large toaster oven. (Also no kitchen sink or dishwasher, just bathroom sinks.)
So the question is, should we just make reservations somewhere and enjoy Thanksgiving, or take up the challenge like our pilgrim forefathers (or like my shtetl forefathers) and try to design and execute a Thanksgiving dinner using the resources available so as to actually celebrate with a meal in our new home?
Opinions, suggestions, ideas, all welcome.
I am still quite on the fence about this. What I don't want to do is simply bring in prepared food. That seems like the least of all worlds to me.

You can certainly cook the turkey and side dishes on your gas powered Weber. After all, being gas powered, it's nothing more than an oven which happens to be out on your deck.

I redid a kitchen some years ago. We were without cabinets and sinks for about 6 weeks. For about 2 of those 6 weeks, we had no refrigerator and stove. It was summertime and we lived out of coolers and ate off of paper plates. It was a very long 6 weeks.

Imho, you'll have plenty of time to cook like the pioneers while your kitchen is around your ankles. It's a holiday! Take the day off and go to Chinatown! Cook a turkey in your beautiful new kitchen for New Year's Day.

Was without a kitchen for about 3 months at the beginning of the year and it's amazing how resourceful one becomes. I think Thanksgiving dinner is definitely doable and might even be fun so long as you simplify it a bit. When our kitchen was torn up I even baked cakes and cornbread on the grill in an iron skillet. Go for it!

Wonder if a neighbor would allow you to borrow their sink to wash dishes? Dealing with dirty dishes was the worst part of the whole rehab process for me and I have a utility sink.

What do you typically cook for the holiday?

Do you have any friends/neighbors that don't usually celebrate Thanksgiving? Maybe you could offer to cook them a grand feast in their kitchen. Or how about nearby friends heading elsewhere for the holiday? Maybe borrow their oven to cook the bird if you are having turkey? Or use a friends oven the day before to cook your bird, then reheat in your house. Certainly not ideal in any case.

Single electric burners are cheap. Not the best, but if you are without a stove until the end of the year, it would pay for itself in convenience. Consider a crock-pot and rice-cooker as useful cooking methods in addition to your large toaster oven and microwave. I know you said bringing in prepared food is sorta taboo, but if you just picked up a finished bird somewhere and made all the sides at home, maybe that'd work?

Personally, I prefer to be at home, or at a friends home for Thanksgiving. It's one of those holidays that I like to slowly savor throughout the day, eating, napping, and enjoying the company.

Heck, you're better equipped than half the world. Make dinner and be thankful!

DougT wrote:Heck, you're better equipped than half the world. Make dinner and be thankful!

Heck you could do what my daughter did for the Jewish Holidays. She bought the meat and had her mother cook and bring it to her. There was 11 for dinner.
Paulette

You could pull of a pretty delicious meal with your limited resources. Also it's a great opportunity to change things up a bit and try out some new preparations of old favorites. let your cooking methods dictate your meal. You can turn out some good stuff on a Weber. And if you're having guests, maybe they could contribute? It could be a lot of fun!

The worst part of the deal will be the clean up without kitchen sinks and/or dishwasher like the posted upthread mentioned. Though not very *green*, you could resort to disposable aluminum baking trays and paper plates? Or some combination of disposable and actual dishes/cookware that works for you?

If you decide against it, I'm sure there will be places doing great take-out.

If you like the challenge, than you could do it and it would be memorable. However, if you just want a nice relaxing holiday, go for the dinner out. It is all about what you want.

What kind of menu are you planning?

With your grill, you could do a butterflied grilled bird, roasted root vegetables, rice casserole and sweet potatoes in the microwave, and your regular dressing in the toaster oven. Maybe a pear and blue cheese w/greens salad. Dessert with those appliances is a bit tough but I think you could cut yourself a break and buy a pie or two. You can always grill fruit and top it with streusel...

I would second the butterfly turkey on the grill and also add acorn squash. In a Cook's Illustrated preparation, they microwaved the acorn squash before finishing off in the oven and there's no reason you couldn't do that on the grill. Roasted vegetables on the grill, steamed in the microwave. You could try a grilled desert but I would rather buy something in this case. Anything that requires baking would be fine on indirect heat in a Weber. Go for it.

stevez wrote:You can certainly cook the turkey and side dishes on your gas powered Weber. After all, being gas powered, it's nothing more than an oven which happens to be out on your deck.

The problem with cooking outdoors is that harsh weather can put a crimp in the best laid plans.

Three years ago we did Thankgiving for 12 people and I tried to make an additional turkey in a Brinkmann smoker and it was cold, sleeting, and extremely windy. I had to put the smoker in a leeward corner out in front of the house. The wind was so bad I ended up running out of a 20 lb bag of lump charcoal before the turkey was done and the temperature of the turkey was going down. I was making it beer-in-the-butt style with it sitting on a big can of Fosters, so I had to get the hot turkey out of the smoker and around to the back of the house to the Weber gas grill where I discovered that the turkey was too tall, even with the grill removed, so I then had to pull the can out so I could lay the turkey down, and of course it did not come out easily and the beer is spilling while I'm trying to do this with those big clumsy rubber mitts. So I get this all squared away after screaming for help from inside. The wind now is blowing out the gas flame, so I have to keep relighting the grill and the grill is ice cold, but I finally get the turkey up to a safe temp. Meanwhile, the other turkey that was in the oven was neglected too long and ended up being dry, although the outdoor bird ended up pretty good, even after all the trouble. I had also made make-ahead mashed potatoes and had them in the crockpot heating up and discovered too late that the crockpot wasn't turned on! Then I cut myself badly rushing to carve the turkeys and being distracted by my "helpers" so I'm unsuccessfully trying to stop the bleeding while finishing the carving of the bird.

The next two Thanksgivings we went to Country Squire in Grayslake.

We're going to try doing Thanksgiving again for the same people, thirteen now. I am now armed with a Rival electric roaster that is supposed to handle up to a 22lb turkey. I got it at Sam's Club on clearance for about $14 dollars in the spring. They are about $40 normally. I did a 13lb turkey a month ago to test it, and it was good, but cooked very fast. I went to turn it over after 2 hours time and the temp was over 180, so the breast meat was a little dry. Now I know to check on it more, and cook at a lower temp. I also now have a Weber Smokey Mountain cooker and a 40lb bag of lump, which should be able to handle it better if we get gale force winds again.

I'm going to use crockpots for the stuffing and potatoes, and make as much as possible the day before (taking the day off,) such as the gravy, noodles & gizzards, potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole. Other people are bringing side dishes, desserts, relishes, appetizers. Our regular oven will be available for reheating things, and even the electric roaster can be used for reheating after removing and tenting the turkey. And if it isn't too windy, I do have the gas grill available.

If you do cook the turkey in the Weber gas grill, here is a link to the Ultimate Smoked Turkey recipe which contains instructions for smoking on a Weber gas grill.

Country Squire Restaurant
19133 W State Route 120, Grayslake, IL
Tel: (847) 223-0121