Five last-minute tips to perfect your BBQ Thanksgiving (plus top news, events, & more)
Thanksgiving is one of the best American holidays. It’s a day focused on food, family and friend reconnections, and (hopefully) a time to reflect on what we have to be thankful for. While we can’t help you get along with your in-laws, we can help you on the food front.
With Thanksgiving here, this is the perfect chance to get a refresher of last-minute tips and ideas, including turkey prep, inventive side dishes, creative kitchen hacks, and what to do with leftovers.
Check out these five videos and articles that can help you pull off a perfect feast for your family and friends below.
Matt Church BBQ’s Matt Pittman outlines great general tips for brining and smoking turkey.
Brining and Smoking Turkey with Matt Pittman
Matt Pittman of Meat Church BBQ has gained a lot of attention online for his great how-to videos. In this less-than-10-minute video, he outlines basic techniques for brining, seasoning, and smoking a 12-pound turkey. He uses a Big Green Egg smoker for three hours and bastes with butter throughout the smoke. Watch here.
Chef Matty Matheson outlines his Thanksgiving feast in a Munchies video.
Preparing a Thanksgiving Feast with Matty Matheson
For a more general look at making Thanksgiving dinner, say hello to a different Matt — chef and TV personality Matty Matheson. In this popular Munchies video, Matheson outlines (in a comedic and irreverent way) how to make Thanksgiving staples like turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, stuffing, bacon Brussels sprouts, and more. Watch here. See the recipes here.
Your sides are in need of spicing up, and Southern Living and Vice can help, including this baked mac n cheese.
Ideas for Thanksgiving Sides
If you need to up your side game (and there’s nothing wrong with that), take a look at this slideshow of 125 sides from Southern Living and 10 sides that are impossible to screw up from Vice. Two of my personal favorites from the list are the Baked Mac and Cheese with Bacon and Savory Corn Pudding.
Want to get extra creative with your Thanksgiving prep? Cook in the dishwasher!
Thanksgiving Kitchen Hacks
The YouTube channel WhatsUpMoms provides some interesting Thanksgiving-themed “hacks,” including an easier way to peel potatoes, keeping mashed potatoes warm in a slow cooker, lining coolers with aluminum foil to create a warmer, and more. (Note: The video is partially an ad, but the tips are helpful.) Watch here.
One related hack also worth mentioning is heating up your turkey in the dishwasher, which sounds crazy but it does work in a pinch. Chef David Burke outlines his method to the Huffington Post. Read here.
Leftover turkey can help you make tasty noodle soup.
Turn Leftover Turkey Into Noodle Soup
If you’re looking for something creative to do with your leftover Thanksgiving turkey, Food & Wine suggests that you try making noodle soup in an Instant Pot. Chef Andrea Nguyen explains how to make Chinese-Vietnamese-American noodle soup with turkey, noodle, aromatics, mushrooms, and more. This recipe can last in the fridge for days after you make it too. Watch here.
We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving that is full of delicious food and fun gatherings!
Sean Ludwig (NYC BBQ)
Co-Founder, The Smoke Sheet
Here are the top recent barbecue news stories from around the country:
Storied joint Southside Market & Barbeque has just opened a new location in Austin.
Southside Market & Barbeque, the oldest barbecue joint in Texas, has opened a new location in Austin, CultureMap Austin reports. Located in The Shops at Arbor Walk in northern Austin, this will be Southside's third outpost since opening in Elgin in 1882.
Acclaimed pitmaster Tom Micklethwait opened Micklethwait Market & Grocery in Smithville in February, but business has been slow despite offering “stunning” ribs, Daniel Vaughn reports in Texas Monthly. Despite this, Micklethwait plans to open a new smoked meats taco truck called Taco Bronco, which will be located at Austin’s Batch Brewhouse & Bugroom in December.
If you’re looking for good barbecue in Phoenix, Arizona, the Naked BBQ in Deer Valley was recently spotlighted by multiple local publications. At the restaurant, pitmaster Oren Hartman serves meats without sauce ("naked") and customers can then add in whatever quantity of house-made rub and sauce they want to add to their meats.
The North Carolina barbecue scene continues to change seemingly every week. This week, we’ve got word that pitmaster Wyatt Dickson, the co-owner of acclaimed joint Picnic in Durham, will open a new restaurant in Raleigh next year. The new project, naturally, will be named Wyatt’s.
The Chicago Tribune recently spotlighted up-and-coming joint Oscar Lee’s Barbecue, which is located in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville and focuses on a relatively small menu of traditional Texas-inspired specialties. “The best barbecue places are like that, with small menus,” owner Lee Kuebler told the Tribune. “We try to keep the menu limited and focused. It offers some diversity.”
If you’ve ever wanted to find out why marbling on grass-fed beef is difficult to achieve, On Pasture has released new research that dives into this topic.
An exciting new barbecue joint called The Garage has recently opened in Danville, Virginia offering “Memphis-style brisket, pulled pork, chicken, sausage, and turkey sandwiches.” WSET reports.
The Houston Chronicle’s J.C. Reid writes about underappreciated duck in his latest column. Specifically, duck hunting season is on in Texas and naturally, the meat starts showing up on restaurant menus in November. Unfortunately, it’s not often seen on barbecue-joint menus for a variety of reasons.
In Kansas City, beef burnt ends are king. Fox 4 KC dives into the history of the burnt ends in a new article, which also discusses the foundations of Kansas City barbecue that we know today.
Speaking of burnt ends, the Fort Worth, Texas invention “pork belly burnt ends” have exploded in popularity in recent years and even have ended up on grocery store shelves, Texas Monthly’s Daniel Vaughn writes.
San Antonio BBQ food truck The Hot Box will move its popular truck inside The Shops of Rivercenter downtown in the first week of December, CultureMap San Antonio reports.
This past week several longtime BBQ joints announced they were closing. They include:
Skeet’s Barbecue, a longtime fixture in north Omaha that has been open for 67 years, has closed, the Omaha World-Herald reports. (Read about the history of Skeet’s here.)
Renowned Huntsville, Texas barbecue restaurant Church’s BBQ has closed its doors after 53 years of service, The Item reports.
Longtime Montgomery, Alabama staple Country’s Barbecue has closed its Montgomery and Prattville locations permanently after being in business for 38 years, according to The Montgomery Advertiser.
Finally, on a very positive note, top barbecue photographer Robert Jacob Lerma helped raise more than $10,000 this past weekend to assist The Smoke Sheet co-founder Ryan Cooper with his health care costs following his colon cancer diagnosis. If you’d like to follow the latest on what’s happening with Ryan or donate a few bucks to help him during this difficult time, he’d appreciate it.
Here are BBQ shows, podcasts, or books you should check out this week:
Eater host Esther Choi tests out the Butterball Turkey Fryer and compares fried turkey to oven roasted turkey.
Watch: Is the Butterball Turkey Fryer a Must Have? — The Kitchen Gadget Test Show
On The Kitchen Gadget Test Show, host Esther Choi tests out a huge Butterball XL Electric Fryer that is made for frying turkeys. She compares fried turkey side-by-side with oven roasted turkey to help figure out just how good this fryer is. Should you buy one for your next Thanksgiving? Watch here.
Listen: Interview with Texas Monthly’s Daniel Vaughn — The BBQ Central Show
One of the most memorable recent guests of The BBQ Central Show was with Texas Monthly BBQ editor Daniel Vaughn. Host Greg Rempe grills Vaughn on topics including the Subway brisket story, “Pitmaster Ramone,” fast food barbecue, highlights from the 2019 Texas Monthly BBQ Fest, and more. Listen to the episode here.
Read: Smokelore: A Short History of Barbecue in America — Jim Auchmutey
Just in time for the holidays, Smokelore: A Short History of Barbecue in America is a perfect gift for your history-and-BBQ-loving friends. In it, author Jim Auchmutey explores the importance of barbecue throughout American history, culture, politics, and much more. Buy it here.
On top of great BBQ to eat, the North Texas Fair will also have fun rodeo action to watch.
December 6-8: North Texas Fair & Rodeo BBQ Cookoff - Denton, Texas
The 3rd Annual North Texas Fair & Rodeo BBQ Cookoff, benefiting the North Texas Fair Association Scholarship and the Robert Bell Memorial Scholarship, will include an SCA Steak Cookoff, High School "HSBBQ" Cookoff, IBCA Barbecue Cookoff, CASI Chili Cookoff, games, and much more. More info here.
December 27-28: Arizona National BBQ Stampede - Phoenix, Arizona
The Arizona National BBQ Stampede is a special event brought to you by the Arizona National Livestock Show in collaboration with the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS). Teams will be able to enter the competition to earn points at the first event of the KCBS competition season. More info here.
January 1: Fired Up Florida Kosher BBQ Battle - Boca Raton, Florida
The Jay Feder Jewelers Fired Up Kosher BBQ Battle and Festival will be held on January 1st, 2019 at the South County Regional Park in Boca Raton, Florida from 1:00-5:00 pm. The event will include a barbecue competition, food for sale, and family activities. Proceeds will help support Hadar High School for Girls. More info here.
January 17-18: Slab-O-Rama Barbeque Challenge - Bullhead City, Arizona
The 6th annual Slab-O-Rama is a large KCBS-sanctioned competition that will invite teams to compete in eight categories over two days. Outside of the competition, there will be something for everyone including a winter beer garden, vendors, live music, line dancing, a Bloody Mary bar, and more. More info here.
January 18: Beer, Bourbon, & BBQ Festival - Brooklyn, New York
The 10th Annual Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival is leaving Manhattan after a decade and heading to Brooklyn. A ticket buys you access to tasting great local barbecue from NYC, hot sauce samples, and tons of spirits and craft beers. The event’s signature “Beast Cage” will be back too with exotic smoked meats, including alligator, lamb, bison, longhorn rounds, and much more. The Smoke Sheet’s Sean Ludwig will be at the event, so if you go, be sure to say hello. More info here.
February 27-29, 2020: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Bar-B-Que Contest - Houston, Texas
More than 250 teams, led by barbecue aficionados, compete in the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. While most team tents are invitation-only, visitors can enjoy several public venues, including The Garden, Rockin' Bar-B-Que Saloon, and the Chuck Wagon. Activities include live music, rides, games, and more and visitors will receive a complimentary sliced brisket plate with chips and beans. More info here.
See the full Smoke Sheet events calendar online here.
This smoked bourbon bread pudding recipe is great no matter what time of year you’re serving it.
Smoked Bourbon Bread Pudding by Green Mountain Grills
Watch Johan and Mac of Big Swede BBQ as they create a delicious smoked dessert that’s ideal for any holiday. They bring together bourbon, brown sugar, and a lot of spices to make the perfect union of smoke and sweet. View the recipe here.
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