Bozeman Thanksgiving: I’m Thankful For My Pellet Grill This Year

Well, my friends, Thanksgiving has come and gone, although if you look in my fridge, we'll be eating Thanksgiving leftovers for at least a week.

This Thanksgiving I wanted to try something new, so I decided to smoke the turkey on my pellet grill.  I bought the grill back in the spring after years of going back and forth of "is it really worth it and are they worth the money?"

By the way, the answer to that question is, YES.

Keep in mind, I've never smoked a turkey, nor have I prepared a turkey at all.  So, not only was I cooking a turkey for the first time, I was "cooking" that turkey on a grill.  What could go wrong, right?  Just in case, I also bought a ham as a backup plan.

I started off by going over to Kenyon Noble and picking up my brine and brine bag.  Not only does Kenyon Noble have a great selection of grills, but they also have fantastic accessories for those grills.

One of the key things to remember is preparation, so I made sure that the turkey was in the fridge thawing out a few days prior.  On Wednesday after work, I got home and started to get to work on the brine.  It was a super simple process and the instructions that take you step by step through everything you need to do.

Once the brine was ready, I put the turkey in the brine bag breast down and added the mixture, sealed it, and put it back in the fridge to do its thing for about 18 hours.

I woke up around 4:30 am on Thanksgiving and made sure that my grill was full with pellets, turned it on, and set the temperature to 225.

I then took the turkey out of the brine and blotted away the moisture before rubbing the bird with garlic butter.

Once the turkey was all buttered up, I added the rub that came with the brining kit.

Now, it was time to put the bird on the grill and wait.  It took a little over 6 hours to get to the internal temperature of 165, once we hit the desired temp, it was off the grill to rest for 30 minutes before carving.

I have to tell you that it turned out fantastic and the meat received several compliments.

Not only did I smoke the turkey and ham on the grill, but I also cooked the stuffing/dressing and the mac and cheese on the grill as well. Overall, it was a big win and I see a whole lot of meals being prepared this way in the future.

I would highly recommend not only getting a pellet grill but using it for your Holiday feasts.  You can find pellet grills in several locations around Bozeman, I would suggest either Kenyon Noble or Owenhouse Ace Hardware if you want to shop local. With Christmas just around the corner, maybe ask Santa for one, who knows, if you're on the "Nice" list, he just might deliver.