How to Make Trash-Can Turkey

Does This Thanksgiving Option Really Work?

Nov 8, 2008 Elizabeth Randall

Cooking a turkey in a trashcan for Thanksgiving is an innovative occupation for would-be cooks.

Beware of husbands who unexpectedly volunteer to cook the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. The results may be surprising.

"I'm going to make a trash-can turkey," he says.

Family members may think they didn’t hear him correctly.

The Turkey in the Trashcan

Trash-can turkey doesn’t jive with most people’s visions of Thanksgiving: the formal china, the fine crystal, the silver flatware and the delicious aroma of roasting turkey wafting from a conventional oven. Trashcan turkey requires the following: a hole in the ground, aluminum foil, a stake, hypodermic needles full of basting fluid, a trashcan (new, not used) and charcoal.

The Method for Trashcan Turkey

Dig a hole in the ground and line it with aluminum foil. Then, drive a stake into the center of the bird,, skewer the turkey on the stake, cover it with the trash can, and heap live coals on the flat surface of the bucket. The cook and his friends usually stand around the trash can, drinking beer, so the huge gusts of black smoke emitting from the trash-can pit don't dehydrate them.

The Cook of the House Can Take it Easy on Thanksgiving

Don’t discourage the TrashCan Cooks(TCCs) from their foray into the world of culinary arts, and go along with the trash-can turkey. It saves loads of time on Thanksgiving.

As the TCCs toil in the yard over the trash-can turkey, keeping the coals hot and swapping stories of Thanksgiving recipes (fried turkey), the cook in the kitchen has practically nothing to do except make cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pies, rolls, string-bean casserole, a gelatin mold and fruit salad. She may also wish to furtively slip a 26-pound turkey into the oven, more for aesthetics than from any desire to rob the TCCs of their garbage-can glory.

Disposing of the Trash-Can Turkey

At the appointed dinner time, the turkey may still be dead, but look as though the coals have rejuvenated the carcass a little. Time may pass as the trashcan turkey continues to admirably perform the role of a cold, raw slab of meat, which is not quite the culinary direction most Thanksgiving dinners prefer to take.

By the time the TCCs run out of beer, the turkey pit may be abandoned in despair, as everyone finally sits down to a conventional Thanksgiving dinner for which, even the TCCs are deeply thankful. But there is one last question: What happens to the uneaten, and still raw, trash-can turkey?

Most cooks opt for a decent burial.

The copyright of the article How to Make Trash-Can Turkey in Seasonal Cooking is owned by Elizabeth Randall. Permission to republish How to Make Trash-Can Turkey in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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Comments

Nov 17, 2008 8:39 AM
Guest :
Cute commentary, but actually the trash can method works quite well, is usually much faster than oven roasting, and produces really moist turkey.
Nov 18, 2008 10:18 AM
Guest :
We've had a trashcan turkey for each of the past three Thanksgivings. Of all the methods we've sampled (oven bag, deep fryer, meat smoker, etc) this has produced the moistest bird by far. Plus an 18 pounder is done in about 2 hours so you don't have to get up early. It's also convenient to have the oven free for the preparation of side dishes. Make one a week early to practice if you're afraid, but there is definitely no backup turkey needed!
Nov 26, 2008 7:13 AM
Guest :
Did she leave out the part about having to put that 26 pound turkey in the oven at 5 am?

Trash can turkey is fantastic, and if the author doesn't think so, she probably had someone incompetent making hers.
Nov 27, 2008 8:45 AM
Guest :
This is the second year we are doing our turkey this way. It frees up the oven and it gives the neighbors something to talk about!!! Plus, the taste can't be beat!!!
4 Comments