Tailgating Ideas – Don't Just Tailgate, Tailgate Better

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Many Americans will deep fry a turkey this holiday and some will experience disastrous results. By disastrous results we don’t mean it will turn out dry or overcooked and your judgmental aunt will complain about it for the rest of the day. By disastrous we mean some will fail to read the directions and will start a huge grease fire that will burn down their house. Take a look at this video to see the right and wrong way of frying a turkey.

The major keys to take away from this video are:

• Always thaw your turkey completely
• Always make sure your turkey is dry before submerging it into the oil
• Always slowly lower your turkey into the fryer to prevent the oil from spilling over
• Make sure to have the proper level of oil in the pot. (You can do this by placing your turkey in the pot still in the bag and filling it with water. Remove the turkey and make note of where the water level is and duplicate that level when placing your oil in the pot.)
• Always have a fire extinguisher nearby
• If a fire does occur, never put water on a grease fire

Happy Thanksgiving all and enjoy the day.

Any seasoned tailgaters knows that in order to have a successful tailgate party, you need to do some prep work in the kitchen the night before. So in honor of you that burn the midnight oil getting things perfect in the kitchen the night before, here is a shot of the ultimate tailgate prep helper out there. It’s just so hard to find good help these days. Links follow the helper…

• Join us on our Tailgating Ideas Facebook Fan Page
• While we’re being all social media, feel free to follow Tailgating Ideas on Twitter too
• The 13 Greatest Beer Commercials From The Past 15 Years
• Taylor takes a taste takes in a Thursday night in Tuscaloosa
• Tailgate pot charge dropped against Pa. lawmaker
• Tens of thousands of Ohio State die-hards turn out early for a long, chilly day of partying outside the Horseshoe
• Jets fans celebrate Thanksgiving with massive turkey tailgate party outside New Meadowlands Stadium
• 5 Beer Gift Ideas Between $25-$75
• Lambeau Field parking is a neighborhood tradition
• Tailgating and Turkey Go Hand-in-Hand this Thanksgiving
• Throw a Healthy Tailgate Party
• Alabama and Auburn fans celebrate Thanksgiving in Tuscaloosa parking lots
• Thanksgiving and tailgating mix in Dallas yearly tradition
• A gallery of images of Tailgating at the University of Michigan
• West Point Tailgating
• ‘Canes Tailgating: Still Undefeated
• University of Iowa’s New Tailgating Rules Fail to Reduce OWI Arrests
• Moraine Park students vie for Ultimate Tailgate throwdown title
• Tailgating with the Parents
• At BYU Die-hard tailgaters return year after year
• KC Chiefs Fans Savor Tailgating

Tomorrow is Canadian Thanksgiving. In America it is Columbus Day but in Canada they will stuff their faces with turkey and potatoes and give thanks for all of their good fortune over the past year. Celebrated on the second Monday in October, does anyone else find it coincidental that the hockey season tends to open up around the same time? I am sure one of the things Canadians are thankful for is hockey season and a mention of that probably sneaks its way into the pre-dinner prayer. Just be thankful that hot Canadian hockey fans like to sports their favorite team’s colors even if you aren’t Canadian. Links follow the image:

• Follow Tailgating Ideas on Twitter
• In defense of tailgating: Why the Houston Texans’ big block party matters
• When cheerleaders fail; A photo essay
• Charging for tailgating? Even the Detroit Lions aren’t that desperate — yet
• Girls thrown out of Baltimore Ravens game for making out
• In search of the tailgate that never ends
• Top 10 Most Beautiful Female Athletes
• Despite a struggling team, this Syracuse Orange tailgating crew is No. 1
•Huh? Pregnant women can booze it up now?
• Extreme tailgating at Cleveland Browns home game lots of fun
• The Complete Guide to Kegs
• Fire safety should be more important than tailgating
• Booze is Part of the Secret to Happiness
• Bengals Fans start tailgating early on game day
• Tailgating 101
• Tailgating: Feasts fit for a fan
• Tailgating LSU Style
• Texans’ tailgating crackdown hopes to force unruly fans to tone it down
• The Best Wines — Yes, Wines — For Tailgating
• Having a ball: The culture of tailgating
• Penn State losing tailgate atmosphere
• Eulogy of Athens tailgating given as campus mourns
• Changes For Tailgating At Buffalo Bills Games
• A Tailgating Veteran’s Thoughts on Reliant’s New Tailgating Policy
• Iowa Cuts Off Post-Game Tailgating For First Home Night Game
• Tailgaters banned from two Metro schools near Vanderbilt
• Time to take back tailgating in Central Michigan lot 63

Normally I like to get these monthly Gear Review round-ups published as close to the first of the month as possible. I’ll save the excuses and just blame it on the opening of the holiday shopping season. Of course, with the holiday shopping season underway, here are a few suggestions for the tailgater on your list that we discovered last month.

The Shotgun party Opener – In a nutshell it is a key chain that is primarily designed to pop a hole in the side of an aluminum can for ease of shotgunning a beer.You can also use it to pull up the tab on a can and it also has a bottle opener for those glass bottles you might bring tailgating. The Shotgun Party Beer Can Opener can be purchased directly from TailgatingIdeas.com for $3.99 for a single key chain. If you want a three-pack to pass out to all your beer shotgunning friends, you can get three of those for $9.99. All purchases of Shotgun Party Openers are subject to a $3.00 shipping charge but the good news is that if you buy multiple openers, the shipping charges remain the same at $3.00. Get a Shotgun Party Beer Can Opener and you’ll never have to tear up your car keys or use a knife to get a hole in your beer can for shotgunning.

The Bassroom – No one likes to wait in long lines to visit a dirty, smelly port-a-potty. Originally designed for use on a bass boat but can be used in the back of a pick-up truck or on the ground, the Bassroom is a portable restroom/privacy tent that let you avoid those agonizing long waits when nature calls.

The Bassroom system comes with a self erecting cover that is waterproof and flame resistant, a portable toilet and waste bags all stored in two handy transport bags. When it is folded up it fits nicely in any sized tailgating vehicle behind seats or in trunks taking up little space. Also, since it is so compact and lightweight, you could set it up in under two minutes. You don’t have to set it up and leave it up the entire time you are tailgating. Just set it up as you need it because it breaks down and packs away just as easily as it sets up. For more information visit: CoverYourBass.com.

The Tempachair – is a folding director’s chair that includes a side tray that folds out and on the other side, three pockets to hold anything you like. The great part about this particular piece of tailgating gear is the seat is heated utilizing micro fibers connected to a small, lightweight, rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The battery has two settings, high and low, and depending on the setting will determine the length of time the seat will remained powered and heated. By using The TempaChair you can stay warm while tailgating. (Now you don’t have to bring one of those lame “snuggies” that will make you look like a tailgating warlock.) To learn more about it visit: tempachair.com.

The Beer Outlaw – When it comes to tailgating, you never want to be too far away from your beer. It would be great to always have your beer (or soda or bottled water if you roll like that) within reach at all times. In order to do that you need to never wander too far away from your tailgate or table. That is all in the past now that I have discovered The Beer Outlaw, a leather beer holster that straps to your hip.

The Beer Outlaw comes in a number of different colors including Jet Black, Vintage Brown or even Hot Pink for the ladies. For those rodeo fans out there, the ladies can get the Barrel Holster which comes in Hot Pink and includes a gold barrel racing crest along with the outlaw star. The guys can get the Buckin’ Holster in Jet Black or Vintage Brown with a bull riding crest and the outlaw star. There are even customizable ones that show your support of your favorite team or you can put your company’s logo on a stainless steel plate . You can also get it hot iron branded with your name or initials.

Depending on the model of Beer Outlaw you prefer, your purchase price will range from $28.99 for the Classic Beer Outlaw Holster to the Custom Beer Outlaw Holster priced at $39.99. With holiday shopping already in full swing, these would make a great gift or stocking stuffer for the tailgater on your list.

To learn more or to buy your own Beer Outlaw, visit BeerOutlaw.com.

Thanksgiving is done, Black Friday is in the books and we are already hearing Christmas music on the radio. Although I may be a tad bit late for this year’s Thanksgiving, I wanted to share my experience with smoking a turkey. With more and more college and pro football teams choosing to play on Thanksgiving, that means more and more of you tailgaters have a chance to prepare a turkey outdoors. Even though I was not tailgating this past Thanksgiving I chose to do a smoked turkey this year. (In years past we have used one of those Turkey Fryers to cook our turkey.)

Since we got a Bubba Keg Grill this year I decided a smoked turkey might be a nice change of pace and also would make me feel like I was tailgating even though I was only going into my backyard. So without further delay, here are the steps you’ll need to follow to smoke a Thanksgiving turkey. (Click images for larger view)

Bird Selection
You need to have a turkey before you can smoke it, right? Although most informational resources I found suggested a 14 pound bird is about the top end size you’ll want to get I went ahead and got a 20 pound turkey. The main reason why all the “experts” suggest 14 pounds is the maximum weight is because of the time investment in order to get the internal temperature up to 170 degrees. (The USDA recommends whole bird poultry be cooked to 165 degrees internal temperature in order to avoid foodborne illnesses.)

Smoking is a slow and low cooking process. It is slow because it takes a while to smoke meat thoroughly and it is low because you are using a lower heat. In order to smoke a turkey you need to maintain a temperature of 230 to 240 degrees. I also recommend you budget 30 minutes per pound your bird weighs. Since I got a 20 pound bird, simple math states that once my smoker has reached and maintains 230 degrees, I will be taking it off in 10 hours. Now that I had my bird picked out, I needed to prep it for the full day inside the smoker.

Brine Time
Although some people swear by brining a turkey, I had never really known about this technique until I started researching how to smoke a turkey. Everywhere I read swore up and down you needed to brine a turkey before smoking it. They all claimed if you failed to brine you would get a dried out turkey. Not one to buck the trend (especially on my first time doing this) I sought out a good brine for turkey.

Actually brines are quite simple and not complex at all. It is a basic water and salt mixture that helps infuse moisture into meats. You can get quite fancy with your brine but I chose to follow a simple recipe from the most recent cookbook I received, Cheater BBQ. All you need to do is fully submerge the turkey in the brine and let it sit overnight. Think of brining as marinating your bird with a salt water mixture.

Because my bird was 20 pounds I couldn’t just put it in a stock pot and sit overnight. I needed to use a cooler and just so happened to have one of those cylinder type coolers you see football players dumping on the coach after a big win. I took my thawed turkey still in the plastic wrapper and placed it in the cooler. (Make sure your cooler is washed thoroughly.) I then filled it full of water so that the entire turkey was covered about 3 inches above the top portion of the bird. Remember: When you start to brine the turkey it will be unwrapped and the internal cavity will be open. You need to have enough brine mixture to fill that cavity and also still cover the entire bird. I then removed the turkey to see how much water I will need to make the brine.

The general rule of thumb for brines is 2 tablespoons of salt to every cup of water. I used kosher salt as recommended by the authors of Cheater BBQ. Many brines also call for some sort of sweetening agent, most commonly sugar. Some people use apple cider or lemonade or even sweet tea. Just comes down to your personal preference. I went with sugar and used 1 tablespoon of sugar per cup of water. I also used a little liquid smoke to enhance the smoking process.

After mixing the brine using hot water to facilitate the sugar and salt dissolving completely, I let the brine mixture sit to get to room temperature. At about 12 hours before I was planning on putting the turkey on the smoker, I placed the bird in the brine and filled the rest of the cooler with ice. I then set the cooler outside to stay a bit colder and filled the Bubba Keg with a pretty good amount of lump charcoal.

Smoke ‘em If you Got ‘em
The wife informed me that we were planning on serving Thanksgiving dinner at around 4 pm so the turkey needed to be off the smoker by then. You always need to let a turkey rest after cooking no matter if it is roasting in an oven, deep fried or smoked. So based on my 30 minutes per pound at 230 degrees guideline, that meant I need to have the bird on the smoker by 6 am at the latest.

I set the alarm for 5 am and headed downstairs and lit the Bubba Keg. Because the Bubba Keg with lump charcoal heats up quickly I wanted to make sure it did not get too hot. I let the Bubba Keg get to about 300 degrees and then I clamped down the top and bottom dampers to bring the heat under control. By about 5:30 am I was able to maintain a nice 230 to 240 degree range. I went inside and took the cooler with the turkey with me.

I took the bird out of the brine and washed it completely under cold running water. I also had heard that if you do not wash off the brine and just place it on the smoker you will have a very salty turkey. After washing it off I then placed it on a vertical poultry rack that came from the turkey fryer we used last year. It also comes with a hook so you can lift it out of the boiling oil and I figured this apparatus would come in handy to place and remove the turkey from the smoker. I then placed the turkey in one of those foil roasting pans to catch the drippings and to avoid flame flare ups had I placed the turkey on the grill grate. I pat dried the turkey with a few paper towels and then brushed the skin with olive oil. Some may suggest a nice poultry rub but I chose to forgo that. (We have two little ones in the house and we didn’t want the turkey to be too spicy and then the kids refuse to eat it.) I then placed the bird in the Bubba Keg at about 5:45 am.

Placing a cold turkey in the smoker did bring the temperature down so I needed to adjust the dampers a bit to bring the temperature up to 230. I made sure that once the temperature reached about 240 I then clamped down the dampers so as to not let it get too hot. After that I just continued to check on the smoker every 30 minutes to make sure the air flow was properly maintaining between 230 and 240 degrees. I made sure to set up my tailgating TV and hooked it up to my VuQube so I could watch the Thanksgiving football games while monitoring the Bubba Keg. Every now and then I would baste the turkey using the drippings collecting in the foil pan but for the most part all I did was let the smoker do the work.

At about 3 pm I broke out the meat thermometer just to see if we were getting close to the proper internal temperature. If not I needed to open up the dampers and bring up the heat in order to meet my 4 pm serving deadline. An hour away from when we planned on taking it off, the internal temperature read 165 degrees. Right on track for a 4 pm serving time. At 3:45 the internal temperature was 175 and we decided to take it off the smoker and let it rest for 15 minutes.

I started carving it at 4 pm and the turkey was on the table by 4:10 pm before the mashed potatoes and green bean casserole was ready. As I was carving it I did notice a nice thick smoke ring was visible. That visible smoke ring is the badge of honor for any outdoor chef.

The real test came from those eating it. Both my wife and mother-in-law are not big fans of turkey. They eat turkey on Thanksgiving because it is a tradition on the holiday but they are not the biggest fan of turkey. Both of them went back for seconds and commented a number of times on how moist and juicy the turkey was and how good the smokey flavor was to them.

So there you have it tailgaters… that’s how to smoke a turkey. Of course since this process is so time intensive many of you will not be able to smoke a turkey while out tailgating. Normally there just is not that much time to invest to do it properly. But just in case you can pull it off or just want to have smoked turkey at home, here are the Cliff’s Notes.

1. Brine the turkey for 12 hours or more.
2. Plan for 30 minutes cooking time per pound.
3. Maintain smoker temperature between 230 and 240.
4. When the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 165 or higher it is done.
5. Let rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
6. Enjoy!

Let’s hope my experience was helpful and you too can enjoy smoked turkey on Thanksgiving or while out tailgating.