Thursday night‘s dinner: roasted Cotuit oysters, and a martini! I think I hit all the food groups!
ROASTING A TURKEY ON A WEBER GRILL
Posted: November 13, 2026 in barbecue, Carnivore!, CHARCOAL, Food, grilling, Thanksgiving, turkeyTags: charcoal, dinner, food, grilling, recipe, recipes, Thanksgiving, turkey
With Thanksgiving on everyone’s mind, I’d like to share my recipe for what I consider to be the perfect turkey.
I often get asked if I deep-fry my turkey for Thanksgiving. I think it’s way too messy and time-consuming for nothing better than an “OK-tasting” bird. I lived in the South for a few years, and my friends fried a turkey on several occasions. I wasn’t that impressed.
When frying, you need to find a safe spot in the yard to blast the propane-fueled fryer so you don’t burn your house down. Then you need to stand outside and freeze your butt off while it fries, while your friends and family are all indoors having cocktails. Then you need to get rid of gallons of used oil, and clean up a huge mess at the end of it all. And through all this, you need to make sure the oil is at the right temperature so you don’t get a scorched turkey on the outside and a raw turkey on the inside.
No, thanks.
I get great results by cooking my turkey in my Weber grill. I’ve cooked it this way every Thanksgiving for about 30 years. The standard Weber allows me to cook up to a 15 lb. bird–big enough for my purposes–and it comes out crispy, smoky and delicious. If you’re afraid to try this for the first time at Thanksgiving when it really matters, I understand. That’s how I did it years ago, and I never looked back.
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The charcoal chimney with hot coals awaits.
Although I’ve stopped using charcoal briquettes for basic grilling a long time ago, and now strictly use natural hardwood charcoal, this recipe works best with Kingsford briquettes. They burn slowly and evenly. I never use lighter fluid…I always start my fire with a few pieces of crumbled newspaper under a charcoal chimney.
The tools you need:
A Weber grill, with the dome top
Kingsford charcoal briquettes (don’t t use Match Lite or other pre-soaked briquettes)
A charcoal chimney, easily found at Home Depot or Lowe’s
A heavy-duty disposable aluminum pan
Ingredients:
Whole turkey, up to 15 lbs., thawed and brined (see my previous blog about brining a turkey)
Olive oil (to rub on the turkey)
2 yellow onions, chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
½ lb. (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon granulated onion
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon pepper
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Spreading the coals away from the center of the grill.
If you want stuffing, it’s always wise to make it separately and cook it separately.
Light 8 to 10 lbs. of charcoal in the grill…depending on the size of the turkey and how cold it is outside.
If you brined the turkey first, you’ve already removed the giblets. If you’re not brining, go ahead remove the giblets from the thawed bird now. Place the turkey in the aluminum pan.
In a small bowl, mix the granulated garlic, granulated onion, salt, and pepper. (Add any other seasonings you might like.)
Coarsely chop the onions and celery. Place them in a another bowl. Mix them with the melted butter and 1/3 of the garlic/onion/salt/pepper mixture.
Place a small handful of this onion and celery “stuffing” mixture in the neck cavity of the turkey. Place the rest in the body cavity (where the stuffing would usually go.) You can fasten the bird with turkey skewers if you like. This “stuffing” is strictly to flavor the turkey…you don’t eat it!
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The rubbed, stuffed and seasoned bird.
Rub the outside of the entire turkey with the olive oil and sprinkle the rest of the garlic/onion/salt/pepper mixture on the outside of the bird. Make sure you get the bird on the bottom as well.
When the coals in the grill have ashed over, spread them to the outside edges of the Weber grill equally. Put the cooking grill rack in place. Place the aluminum pan with the turkey in the center of the grill, keeping it away from the direct heat of the coals. If you’re using a meat thermometer, insert the probe into the thickest part of the breast, being careful not to hit the bone. Place the lid on the grill. (You may need to bend your aluminum pan a bit.) Open the vents on the bottom of the Weber as well as the vents on the lid. It’s important to get air circulating!
My old-school meat thermometer calls me from as far as 100 feet away! (Newer thermometers are wireless and talk to your smart phone.) Time to join family and friends for a cocktail!
No basting is necessary.
Now here’s the tough part: DO NOT OPEN THE GRILL TO CHECK ON THE TURKEY! (If you must look, shine a flashlight into the vent holes on the lid to take a peek at the pop-up timer, if there is one.) The whole point is to keep the heat inside the kettle. You’ll know your turkey is done when no more smoke or heat rises from the grill, and the turkey inside stops making sizzling noises. The internal meat temperature should be around 165 degrees.
And believe it or not, a 15-lb. turkey will be cooked in about 2 hours!
If you’re using a meat thermometer (recommended), remove the turkey when it hits about 155 degrees, wrap it in foil, leaving the thermometer still in the bird, and let it rest at least 20 minutes. The temperature will go up a bit to 165 or even a little higher, before it starts going down.
Beautifully grilled, perfectly cooked!
I’ve lived in Bristol for a couple of years now. Though its claim to fame is having the longest continuously running Fourth of July celebration in America, since 1785, that’s not why I moved here. In fact, I leave town during the craziness of parade season!
I like Bristol in the off-season. It’s kind of a miniature version of what Newport, RI, used to be: historic, quaint, charming.
Sadly, Newport sold out to money and tourism years ago, overrun with overpriced resort hotels that have ruined much of the waterfront. Most Rhode Island locals will tell you that they only want to go to Newport in the off-season for that reason.
Bristol hasn’t been ruined by big money yet. It has a couple of small hotels, B&Bs, and inns, but that’s about it. It has its share of very decent restaurants, ranging from pubs to vegetarian to fine dining. (Doesn’t hurt that Roger Williams University is down the street.)
My favorite place to go for a walk is Colt State Park, a beautifully maintained waterfront park with picnic tables, a town beach, and lots of walking paths for people and their pups, as well as a connection to the 14.5 mile East Bay Bike Path.
Anyone who comes to Rhode Island and visits Providence and Newport, but skips Bristol, is missing out. Stop by for some fresh air at Colt State Park, a stroll through the shops in the center of town, and explore Blithewold Mansion and its beautiful gardens.
BRINING A TURKEY
Posted: November 11, 2026 in brining, Carnivore!, Food, marinade, Recipes, salt, Thanksgiving, turkeyTags: brining, cooking, dinner, food, recipe, recipes, salt, Thanksgiving, turkey
I get requests to publish my holiday recipes every year, so, with Turkey Day on everyone’s mind, let’s get it started…
I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of turkey. All things being equal, a roasted chicken is, in my opinion, a lot tastier. So turkey needs help. And one great way to give it lots of flavor is to brine it. No matter what method you prefer to cook your bird, brining it beforehand will make it so much tastier and juicier. It’s easy to do.
It’s basic high school science: the brine has a greater concentration of salt and water than the molecules of the protein (in this case, a turkey) that is soaking in it. By simple diffusion, the protein molecules suck up the salty water and keep it. When you cook the meat, some of the water evaporates, but the meat still has far more moisture in it than it would have without the brine soaking, and you get a moister, more flavorful bird.
Some people use giant syringes to inject their turkeys with crazy solutions, but I think that the old way is still the best when it comes to brining. Get a big pot, fill it with the brine, and soak the bird in it. Done.
Here’s my tried-and-true turkey brining recipe. Once the brining is done, you can cook the turkey whatever way you like best. I use a method where I grill it inside a Weber grill with charcoal. It comes out smoky and absolutely amazing. I’ll have that info in Friday’s blog.
You must thaw the bird before brining, so use your favorite method to thaw your turkey so that it’s ready on Thanksgiving morning. Brining can take 4 to 6 hours, so start early!
For this recipe, you’ll need a large pot to boil the brine ingredients, and then a larger pot to hold the turkey submerged in the brine. I use a turkey no bigger than 15 lbs. for two main reasons: there are only 3 people in our family, and the Weber grill I will later use can’t handle anything bigger.
1 gallon of water
2 onions
3 carrots
3 stalks celery
1 cup Kosher salt (I use Diamond Crystal…see below)
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons whole allspice
4 bay leaves
1 gallon of ice water
14–15 lb. turkey, thawed
Pour the first gallon of water in a large pot. Quarter the onions, carrots and celery (no need to peel them) and add them to the water. Add the salt, black peppercorns, brown sugar, allspice, and bay leaves. (I specify Diamond Crystal Kosher salt because all Kosher salt does not weigh the same! For example, Morton Kosher salt is much heavier for the same 1-cup measurement, so the brine will be saltier.)
Let the pot come to a boil for a few minutes. Remove it from the heat and let the brine cool down to room temperature.
Remove the giblets from the thawed turkey and place the bird in a container just big enough to hold it and 2 gallons of liquid.
Pour the now-cooled brine over the turkey, then pour in the gallon of ice water.
Make sure the turkey doesn’t float up by placing a plate on top. Put the turkey container in the fridge (or a cold garage or basement) for 4 to 6 hours, flipping the turkey over in the container halfway through.
After 4 to 6 hours, drain the turkey, rinsing off any spices that stuck to it, then pat it dry with paper towels. Now it’s ready to cook, using your favorite recipe.
If I’m brining a turkey for Thanksgiving, I do the brining in the morning and the turkey is ready to cook by early afternoon. And grilling it on a Weber grill only takes a couple of hours. It’s fast, requires no basting, and is absolutely delicious! Details Friday!
I love New Zealand. I’d move there if it wasn’t so darn far away. Here are some interesting signs I found on my last trip…
STUFFIES: A NEW ENGLAND CLASSIC
Posted: November 8, 2026 in Food, Recipes, Rhode Island, seafood, Southern New EnglandTags: CLAMS, cooking, dinner, food, NEW ENGLAND, recipe, recipes, seafood, STUFFED CLAMS
This is one of my sure-fire all-time favorite appetizers. My recipe is a twist on ones I enjoyed at a local restaurant, The Back Eddy, in Westport, Massachusetts. But, as always, I’ve made a couple of changes to make it my own.
Stuffies, or stuffed clams, are a very personal matter here in Southern New England. There are as many stuffies recipes as there are chowder recipes, and everyone thinks they’ve got the best one. Most stuffies that I’ve had in restaurants have too much bread and not enough of the good stuff.
I use medium-sized clams for this recipe and not the traditional quahog, a large clam often used in chowders that I find to be too chewy. Dropping the clams in hot water in the beginning helps make opening the clams a lot easier.
This recipe requires quite a bit of fresh sage, which can be expensive at the supermarket. So I grow sage in my summer garden, using it throughout the season, then snipping as much as I can at the end of the growing season to store it in freezer bags for winter use. I’ll even measure out 1 1/4 cups of fresh sage leaves (what I need for each batch of stuffies), then place that amount in the freezer bag, so I don’t need to measure later.
I use Portuguese chourico (since I live near Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts, the Portuguese capitals of America), and I think their flavor is best.
This recipe makes a lot of stuffies, but they freeze well so you can have them when you want.
This recipe is gluten-free…and you’ll never be able to tell the difference! But if that doesn’t matter to you, use toasted Portuguese bread instead of gluten-free bread. For gluten-free breadcrumbs, I buy loaves of Udi’s gluten-free frozen bread. I toast the slices, then put them in a food processor to make breadcrumbs.
I don’t like peppers in my stuffies (or my crab cakes), so I leave them out. But if you do, feel free to add them to your recipe.
4 dozen medium sized clams
1.5 pounds chopped chourico, skin removed (I use local Portuguese chourico)
3 onions, finely chopped
3 tablespoons garlic, finely chopped
3 cups frozen or fresh corn kernels
3 cups toasted and coarsely ground bread (I use Udi’s Soft & Hearty Whole Grain bread to keep it gluten-free)
3/4 cup chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tablespoon dried)
1 1/4 cups chopped fresh sage (don’t use dried)
Salt and pepper
Butter
Sambal chili paste, or chili crisp, or Chinese chili garlic sauce
Mayonnaise
In a large pot of boiling water, drop the clams in, about a dozen at a time. Remove them after about 30 seconds, before they open. Place them in a bowl to cool. Do this with all the clams.
Open the clams with a clam knife over a bowl with a strainer, making sure you save all the liquid from the clams. Put the clam shells to the side. Throw away any broken shells, and wash the empty shell halves thoroughly, making sure there are no broken pieces.
Take the clam meat pieces out of the strainer, leaving the clam juice behind in the bowl. Move the clam meat to a cutting board or food processor and chop them to medium-fine. Set them aside.
I pour the clam juices carefully from the bowl into tall drinking glasses, being careful not to let the sediment get in. Then, after some time, I pour off the clam juice from the glasses, leaving even more of the sediments behind. I find that the tall glasses make it easier to see the sediments, and maximize the amount of clam juice I get.
In a large frying pan, add the olive oil, onions, and chourico and cook them on medium heat for a few minutes. Add the oregano and sage and cook a few more minutes. Add the corn and cook a few more minutes, a little more if the corn was frozen. Add the chopped clams and stir, cooking for a few more minutes. Add the breadcrumbs a little at a time until you have a nice balance of bread and other ingredients. Add the clam juice a little at a time as well, so that you can add all the breadcrumbs, but the mix isn’t runny. There’s lots of flavor in the clam juice, so use as much as you can! Season it all with salt and pepper.
Remove the pan from the heat and fill the empty clam shells with the stuffing.
At this point, you can freeze the clams. I put them on small sheet pans in the freezer until they harden, then I wrap them 6 at a time, and put them in freezer bags. Keep them frozen!
To make the aioli, mix the mayonnaise and Sambal (or your favorite hot chili accompaniment) in a bowl, to taste. Sambal is hot, so a little goes a long way. Keep it covered and refrigerated.
When you’re ready to bake, remove the clams from the freezer and place them on a sheet pan in a pre-heated 350° oven. Top each clam with a small ¼” square piece of butter. Bake them about 15 minutes, until the clams are sizzling and light brown. Top each with a small dab of aioli.
I still have garden tomatoes that are ripening on the kitchen counter. And to me, the best way to honor them is with a BLT! But I’m a bit restricted with my diet. So I do lettuce wraps.
I leave the bread out, limit my mayo (which is way more difficult than it sounds), and weigh the cooked bacon, which, according to the package, is 90 cal per 17 g.
So the bacon was 180 cal, and the mayo was 100. The lettuce and the tomato can really count as nothing. A total of 280 cal, which would have been at least triple had I used bread.
Is it the same as a big fat sandwich dripping with mayonnaise? Of course not. But it satisfied the cravings, and that’s all you can ask for in a diet!
I’ve been substituting maple syrup for honey in a variety of recipes lately, and I found that I prefer it. Doesn’t matter if it’s in a barbecue sauce, a marinade, or, in this case, cornbread. Pure maple syrup just makes the recipe better!
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour (gluten-free flour works great, too)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup real maple syrup
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a bowl, combine the corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix them together well.
In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, butter, vanilla and maple syrup.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir them together until they’re just blended. Don’t overmix.
Grease an 8 x 8 pan with oil (I use olive oil or avocado oil), and pour the batter into it.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.
I use a cast-iron pan for even cooking, but use whatever baking pan you have.
To make this corn bread gluten-free, substitute a GF flour for the all-purpose flour. I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour with great results.
Important: I was surprised to find that not all cornmeal is gluten-free! Be sure that it says it on the bag.
I have no problem with dairy, so I never look for a substitute. To be honest, there is a richness to the cornbread when you use whole milk. Soy milk, almond milk, oat milk, etc. all have so many chemical additives in them, I would never use them.
DIETING TAKES SOME MATH
Posted: November 5, 2026 in UncategorizedTags: diet, fitness, health, nutrition, weight-loss
There’s no doubt I love my food. And just because I’ve decided to lose some weight, it doesn’t mean I’m going to give up on tasty meals. My diet simply consists of fewer calories in than out…a slow but steady process that takes patience and willpower. But it’s safe, and it works. When you realize you didn’t gain weight by more than 2 pounds per week, you understand you can’t lose it any faster, either.
I’m limiting my calorie intake to about 1500 calories a day, based on my height, weight, and age. That requires that I weigh and measure everything I eat, and read every food label. A small kitchen scale is an absolute necessity.
Here’s an example of a delicious dinner I had and how it all broke down…
Raw tuna: 168 calories.
Avocado : 200 calories.
Jasmine rice: 105 calories.
Peanuts: 25 calories.
Sesame seeds: 20 calories.
Asian marinade, which consisted of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and Chinese chili garlic sauce: 110 calories.
Total: 628 calories.
I weighed and measured every bit of that meal to get those numbers. (By the way, I gave zero calories for the green onion I scattered on top.)
So, if I know I want to have that meal for dinner, I have to make sure that I don’t have too much food for breakfast or lunch…especially if I also want to have a cocktail in the evening!
The reason why so many people fail at diets is because they require discipline, and that is tougher than it sounds. If you don’t weigh and write down everything you eat every day, I guarantee you are underestimating how many calories you’ve consumed.
I used to write everything down on paper. Now I use an app called The Fitness Chef, that lets me plug in the numbers of everything I eat and have it right on my phone for reference. It’s great when I’m on the road or at a restaurant, because it also features a scanner that does a pretty darn good job of determining how many calories your plate has, simply by taking a photograph of it.
