This year we couldn't travel home for thanksgiving. We could have driven to Ann Arbor, but instead we decided to have thanksgiving meal here in Detroit with our neighbors.
The last time I wrote in this space we didn't even live in this house. Now we do...there are seven of us in the house with one more on the way. We have gotten to know our neighbors fairly well. So the half the house staying in Detroit decided to celebrate thanksgiving with them. We had a great time with our friends, it has been a blessing to get to know them over the last few months.
My contribution was a turkey and some mashed potatoes. We went out Monday night and bought all the materials for this
Yep you guessed it. A smoker made out of two flower pots and a hot plate and some wood chips and a grate. We considered trying to convert a weber grill or building it out of a metal trash can. In the end we went with the terracotta in an attempt to replicate a ceramic smoker. Here is the result:
I know it doesn't look like much, but it was delicious. The brine and the rub conspired to hold the moisture in, and the hickory smoke penetrated well. It was quite tasty. Of course smoked turkey doesn't really give that traditional turkey taste. So we roasted a turkey in the oven too. The only difficult thing about the meal was that one our housemates is a bit of an iconoclast, so he did his best to make sure that no tradition was left intact. But it all worked out. The turkey we did in the oven tasted just like it does every thanksgiving(the smoked turkey was good, but just didn't cut it for thanksgiving flavor), and the mashed potatoes and stuffing were good.
Also the little guy got dressed up for the party. All in all it was a good day.
