Cooking a Thanksgiving feast can turn a home cook into an air traffic controller of sorts.
Precise timing is everything. The menu is planned based on limited oven or stovetop space. The gravy is made while the turkey is resting. The green bean or sweet potato casseroles are baked while the oven is free. Everything is coordinated so all the dishes land on the dinner table at the same time.
On such a day, the grill can be your savior.
"You can use your grill strategically," said cookbook author Judith Fertig, who has written several grilling cookbooks, including "BBQ Bistro" and "The BBQ Queens' Big Book of Barbecue," with Karen Adler.
Moving the turkey or a couple of sides to be cooked in a smoker or on a charcoal or gas grill can make cooking this feast less like directing airport traffic on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and more like a holiday. Even better, enlist your spouse, a relative or friend to oversee the outdoor cooking.
Fertig and food writer Fred Thompson, author of "Grillin' With Gas" and "Barbecue Nation," shared their advice for cooking some or all of your Thanksgiving feast outdoors:
The turkey
• Do not cook anything larger than a 14-pound bird or you will end up with dry meat. If you need more turkey to feed your guests, cook two smaller turkeys rather than a 20-pound turkey.
• Smoking and grilling can dry out the turkey, so consider brining the bird beforehand.
• Consider your grilling experience. "This is not the time to do too much," Thompson said. "If you haven't smoked a turkey before, it's not necessarily the best time to do it." The same goes for frying a turkey, he adds. Enlist an experienced griller if you can, or do a practice run if possible.
• For beginners, the best option is the gas grill. Be sure to roast the turkey in a roasting pan or disposable foil pan to catch the drippings for gravy. If there is room, Thompson places a pan of water or apple cider next to the turkey to do "internal grill basting," which helps keep the bird moist.
• If using a charcoal grill or smoker, Thompson recommends natural hardwood lump charcoal, instead of briquettes, which contain additives.
• Plan on having the turkey finished cooking an hour before you want to carve it.
The sides
With the turkey done and out of the way, you can use the grill to cook side dishes.
• Anything in a baking dish — make-ahead mashed potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese — can be cooked or reheated in a gas grill. Consider it your outdoor oven.
• Use a cast-iron skillet on a grill to roast Brussels sprouts.
• Use a smoker or charcoal grill to cook sweet potatoes.
Regardless of how you use your grill, it will help ease the traffic in your kitchen. Plus, it's not bad ambience. "Just being outside," Thompson said, "the smell of fall, a little bourbon in the coffee or some hard cider for sipping."
That sounds like a lovely Thanksgiving.
