Chris Morocco: She's cooking outdoors this year. Kendra Vaculin: She's like, "D- did you see my brand new oven? You're never gonna see it again, baby. We're going to the grill." [laughs] Chris Morocco: You're listening to Dinner SOS, a new show from Bon Appetit where we help our listeners solve their dinner emergencies. I'm Chris Morocco, Food Director at Bon Appetit and Epicurious. Here's how the show works. Each week, one listener brings us a dinner problem, and I'll work with one of our editors or someone from our amazing test kitchen to try and solve it. No problem is too big or too small. And this week, we're back with another stuffed to the brim Thanksgiving episode. See, our listener Rose called in because her kitchen renovation has been delayed, and it might not be done until after her planned Thanksgiving dinner. So Associate Food Editor, Kendra Vaculin, and I will each give Rose a Thanksgiving menu. No kitchen, no problem. Kendra Vaculin: Oh, man, we can make it happen. Chris Morocco: Two thanksgiving menus, but our caller only needs one. That's this week on Dinner SOS. First up, we hear from Rose, who called in from Seattle. Hey, Rose, this is Chris. How are you? Rose: Hi. Doing good. Thanks. Chris Morocco: Um, so, Rose, why don't you tell me in your own words what are you looking at here? Rose: Yeah. So basically, we were supposed to have our kitchen reno start, it would take three weeks, so we were all gonna be good to go for Thanksgiving. It got pushed back to starting next week, and, uh, I know, you know, renovations, they always are exactly on time and nothing ever goes long, so- Chris Morocco: Oh, my gosh. Rose: ... now we're starting to be very concerned that we will not have a kitchen for Thanksgiving. And we are paying to fly my mother-in-law out to see our house for the first time since COVID. Chris Morocco: Oh. So guests are definitely coming. Rose: Yep. Chris Morocco: Kitchen looking very dicey. Rose: Very dicey. Chris Morocco: [laughs] Dicey at best, let's say. But ultimately, you're gonna need to make something happen, feed people somehow, right? Rose: Yep, that is correct. I was hoping that my friends when I told them, like, "Oh, oh no, we're not gonna have a kitchen." I was hoping someone would be like, "Oh, we can just host at our place." And they were like, "No, you- you will do totally fine. Your- your table's all set up in your living room. It'll be great." [laughs] Chris Morocco: You've got this. No kitchen, you know, guests inbound. I love the confidence. I mean, clearly- Rose: Yep. [laughs] Chris Morocco: ... they must've seen you, um, rise to the occasion in the past or something, huh? Rose: Yeah. I was told one year that my turkey was the best turkey anyone ever had, which I feel like also puts a bunch of pressure on the situation because now I'm like, "Okay, I have a track record of having good Thanksgivings. I gotta pull it outta of my hat this time." Chris Morocco: The impossible weight of great expectations, you know. Ugh. So, um, tell me more about the turkey you made that was, quote, the best turkey that your friends had ever had. Rose: Yeah. Um, it was the first time I ever cooked a turkey, which was- Chris Morocco: Whoa. Rose: ... uh, a little intimidating. But researched for days, what's the best way to cook a turkey? What does everyone recommend? Um, and I went with brining it. Chris Morocco: Wet brine. Rose: And I just bought... Wet brine. Yep. Chris Morocco: Wet brine. Who were you, who- who- who were you looking at who was like, "No you need to wet brine your bird in the year 2020." Or whenever it was. Rose: Uh, yeah, it was 2020. No, I just researched online and people said that that made it the juiciest. So I was like, okay, I'll do it. I don't know what I'm doing. I bought a William Sonoma wet brine spice blend. And a- a plastic bag kit that they sold. So had it in the fridge for a couple days. Chris Morocco: Oh wow. Rose: And, uh, everyone raved about it. So I did that again last year as well. I was like, okay, this is the method now. Chris Morocco: The kit, the bag, the whole- Rose: Yup. Chris Morocco: ... shebang. Rose: Yeah. Chris Morocco: Wow. Okay. So to get back to the issue at hand, you may not have a kitchen. Rose: Yup. Chris Morocco: But you're hosting- Rose: Yup. Chris Morocco: ... whatever happens. And, um, you will not have access to an oven, correct? Rose: Correct. Our cooking tools are, we have a propane grill out on the deck. Uh, I have a large instant pot, uh, and I have an air fryer. Chris Morocco: Oh. And are you pretty comfortable with the grill? Rose: I'm pretty comfortable. I wouldn't, you know, I'm not like a Hank Hill grill master, knows it all. But I- I can grill. [laughs] Chris Morocco: Okay. You know, it's funny, uh, there were a few Thanksgivings that my uncle felt compelled to make a second turkey just in the spirit of having extra leftovers. And I always got put on the grilled turkey duty. And it was actually kind of magical, you know, just being outdoors. And I don't know what it's like in Seattle in November, but I imagine it's not like brutally cold, or anything? Rose: No it's not brutally cold. Chris Morocco: Yeah. I- I think the cool thing is like the- the grill is actually a pretty solid way of cooking a turkey. Um, and let me just ask you think, like, you know, are you kind of committed to having, you know, something of like a Norman Rockwell whole turkey presentation moment? Or like you're the kind of person who's like, well, I made you turkey curry, there's turkey in there, get over it, you're not getting like a postcard turkey here. Rose: I don't think it has to be a postcard turkey. I would say that for the main dish, thinking of my mother-in-law's tastes, something that leaned more traditional- Chris Morocco: Okay. Rose: ... in some way would probably go over best with her. Chris Morocco: Okay. Rose: Um, but it doesn't have to be like the full, you know, trussed up bird with the stuffing inside by any means. Chris Morocco: Enough said, all right. We hear- hear you loud and clear. In terms of what you hope to find around the turkey, is there anything that's just sort of like non-negotiable, have to have it, ride or die? Or is everything else just kind of like loose and open to interpretation? Rose: I think the sides are very open to interpretation. Chris Morocco: So, um, last question. If I asked you really nicely to kind of do a dry run of doing something on the grill, would that be something that you're open to pre Thanksgiving? Rose: Yeah. I mean we don't have a kitchen anyway so- Chris Morocco: Yeah. Rose: ... why not? I have to cook food for us to eat somehow, we can't live on pizza every night. Chris Morocco: Yeah. I don't know, for you I sort of see this entire image emerging of like three to five dishes. And not that you have to do them all. But just things that I think that can be do- doable on the grill. I'm feeling so fired up about it. I think we're- Rose: Yeah. Chris Morocco: ... um, we're gonna be in great shape here. Rose: Awesome. Yeah. I'm- I'm feeling a lot more confident about it too. I was like, as long as I have a plan then not having a kitchen, it's fine. Chris Morocco: Yeah. Rose: I can deal with it. I have a solution. Chris Morocco: Whatever happens, you're in good hands. I'm so glad you called. Rose: Yeah thank you. I'm very excited for it. Chris Morocco: After I spoke with Rose, I called up Kendra Vaculin. Kendra Vaculin: Hello? Chris Morocco: Kendra, it's Chris. Kendra Vaculin: Hello. Hi. How are you? Chris Morocco: Kendra's an associate food editor at Bon Appetit. And I thought she'd be the right person to help Rose with her outdoor Thanksgiving because she's an innovative recipe developer. Plus, when it comes to competition, Kendra does not shy away. But most importantly, if my memory serves me right, Kendra is also a grill master. I feel like I have memories of you with your little smokey Joe Weber, like- Kendra Vaculin: Mm-hmm. Chris Morocco: ... on your rooftop. Kendra Vaculin: Yes. Chris Morocco: Once I confirmed my suspicions, I filled Kendra in on Rose's situation. I called her from the test kitchen, which is always a little noisy and hectic. I wanted to talk to you about Rose. Now- Kendra Vaculin: Okay. Chris Morocco: ... Rose is not sure that she's gonna have a kitchen this Thanksgiving. Kendra Vaculin: Oh. Chris Morocco: There's some renovations afoot. And Rose, it sounds like, you know, is happy to take things outside to the grill. Kendra Vaculin: Okay. Chris Morocco: And like maybe you, as somebody who's like cooked things outdoors in less than ideal conditions- Kendra Vaculin: Yes. Chris Morocco: ... you know, uniquely well situated to be able to help her, you know, find a few recipes that she'll be able to pull off. And still be able to host Thanksgiving, you know? Kendra Vaculin: Yeah. Okay. November in Seattle is rough times to be grilling. Chris Morocco: Yeah. Kendra Vaculin: But we'll make it happen. Chris Morocco: Yeah. So like you'll come up with like a kind of a core dish plus a couple sides. I'll come up with, you know, a central dish plus a couple sides. We'll propose, you know, our different scenarios to her and then see what- what she goes for. How does that sound? Kendra Vaculin: I love it. I will come prepared tomorrow with my suggestions. Chris Morocco: Kendra and I put our menus together and then got Rose back on the line. First, we had to know what was up with the kitchen renovations? Rose: The kitchen right now has been fully ripped out, uh, so we got to see the very groovy original 1969 tile- Kendra Vaculin: Sweet. Rose: ... that was hidden under the new flooring. Uh, found some great little quirks of the kitchen. Like what does the, uh, vent hood just vent straight into the attic through a random hole? Kendra Vaculin: Hmm. Rose: Why isn't it an actual vent? Kendra Vaculin: [laughs] Chris Morocco: You always knew it smelled like burgers up there- Rose: Yeah. Chris Morocco: ... and now you know why. Rose: Yup. But I- I think it's going good. But we'll see what else we discover as- as the process goes on. Chris Morocco: Well I guess the big question, Rose, is like, is there any chance they're actually gonna have finished before Thanksgiving? Rose: That's a good question. They're supposed to finish the week before Thanksgiving. So, again, if it like goes according to plan then yes. And right now it seems to be going according to plan. Chris Morocco: Well I guess the challenge for you and me, Kendra, is to get Rose so fired up to take this show outside this Thanksgiving- Kendra Vaculin: That it literally doesn't matter. Chris Morocco: It literally doesn't matter. Kendra Vaculin: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chris Morocco: She's cooking outdoors this year, that's what I'm seeing. Kendra Vaculin: She's like- Chris Morocco: That's what I'm feeling. Kendra Vaculin: ... did you see my brand new oven? You're never gonna see it again, baby, we're going to the grill. Chris Morocco: [laughs] Oh. Well we can dream anyway, right? Kendra Vaculin: Yeah. Absolutely. Chris Morocco: Well, Rose, you know, I brought Kendra into this conversation specifically because it's confirmed, Kendra, you are a grill master. Kendra Vaculin: Oh yeah. I'm big on, you know, I'm, I wouldn't call myself outdoorsy, but to the extent that I can be on my unfinished jankey little Brooklyn roof, I will be there. Um, come hell or high water and honestly sometimes it's both things. Chris Morocco: Mm-hmm. Kendra Vaculin: Uh, I have been out there in the literal winter, like it's 32 degrees out, but I have decide that dinner is a grilled side of salmon and I'm up there with my tiny little smokey Joe, um, making it work. So I- I am a big fan of using, uh, the outdoor space when available. And I think like, you know, Thanksgiving is- is a prime time to experiment or keep those sort of like nostalgic associations the same but then twist up your technique. I think it's kind of like the perfect venue for that. Chris Morocco: Yes. So, um, Kendra, do you wanna present some of your ideas first? Or would you like me to? Kendra Vaculin: I'm happy to kick it off- Chris Morocco: Yeah? Kendra Vaculin: ... if we wanna go there. So, um, topically, Rose, I have chosen for us, for our main, a grilled item that will involve a little tweaking on your end, but I think will be so, so delicious and a fan favorite. And it is actually developed by one, Chris Morocco, himself, um, in the long, long ago era of July 2019. Um, and this recipe is called healthy-ish barbecued chicken. Do you remember this recipe, Chris? Chris Morocco: Oh yes. I do. Kendra Vaculin: Healthy-ish absolutely in quotes. Obviously not any aim for a holiday meal. But the conceit here is that you're kind of making your own, um, barbecue sauce like with maple syrup, and Worcestershire, and soy sauce, rice vinegar, sriracha, a bunch of things that could make a really nice roast turkey rub already. Chris Morocco: Mm-hmm. Kendra Vaculin: Um, and instead of using a broken down whole chicken, you will use a broken down whole turkey. Which you can do by, when you buy your turkey, um, at the butcher, just ask them to break it down for you. They'll absolutely do that. And then you're gonna grill it, um, outside. And it'll take not that long, because you have broken down your pieces which speeds everything up from, um, if you had to roast it whole or grill it whole. Um, and then this sort of beautiful, gloopy, awesome like lacquered barbecue sauce that you make, then is brushed all over your turkey pieces. Um, so it will be super flavorful, and sticky, and fun while still maintaining sort of like the turkey integrity of the moment. Chris Morocco: Love that. Kendra Vaculin: Yeah. Chris Morocco: Riffing. Kendra Vaculin: I think that could be really nice. Um, as for sides, I have two fun ones for you. One is a Silel Wiley smashed green beans with lemony sumac dressing. Um, you do have to blanche the green beans first, but if you are not in a place where you can do any blanching yourself, you can get yourself some blanched green beans at the store. Um, that like are good to go, ready to go, and then you can knock it off straight from there. What's fun about this, um, salad too is it's basically the battered green beans, some pepitas, uh, a sliced asian pear, and a bunch of parsley. And then you have like a really simple olive oil, lemon and sumac dressing. And then my other side, which not to toot my own horn, but I did develop last year for our Thanksgiving issue, is a kale salad with a pecan vinaigrette. And this one's fun because if you have a plug and you can plug in a food processor, you can make this really fun vinaigrette that is, uh, based on pecan. So h- blitzing your pecans with a little bit of apple cider vinegar, honey, and capers with olive oil and some garlic, um, makes this like really rich, and buttery, and nutty delicious sort of chunky-ish dressing that goes really well with a heartier green like kale. And it's a super easy salad that taps into like the pecan's flavor. But if you're not going to be baking or roasting anything off, this is a nice place to integrate those nuts, um, without having to work too hard. Chris Morocco: Love that. Rose: Awesome. Chris Morocco: Wow. That- that covers like a lot of ground. Kendra Vaculin: Chris, I wanna hear yours. Chris Morocco: Okay. Kendra Vaculin: I'm so desperate to hear yours. Chris Morocco: Well so this would not be the first time we've taken, you know, the turkey of it all like outdoors. And there was a few recipes I was thinking about for you, Rose. What I wanted to recommend is a recipe from Clair Saffitz, that is called barbecue spice brine turkey. Kendra Vaculin: Mm-hmm. Chris Morocco: This is not wet brine turkey. Okay. I just wanna take a moment here to talk about brining. The goal of any brine, whether it's a dry brine, or wet brine, is to introduce salt and flavor to your meat. It can also impact how well it retains moisture throughout the cooking process. In a wet brine, like the one Rose has been using, you make a solution of water, salt, and often spices. And you literally soak the meat in it at least overnight and up to a day or two. For what it's worth, my issue with a wet brine is that A, it's a pain to have to refrigerate a soaking bird in some kind of vessel or bag in the fridge. And B, the meat is mostly absorbing water, not necessarily flavor. For a dry brine, you cover the turkey in salt, often some sugar, and other spices before letting it sit in the fridge. It allows the turkey skin to start to dry out, priming it to render and take on deeper color when it roasts. Anyway, let's get back to the dry brine turkey recipe I was giving to Rose. This is a grilled turkey recipe. Rose: Mm-hmm. Chris Morocco: Um, where you're grilling a halved turkey. And that simple change, when you take the backbone out of the turkey and you cut it in half, it is so much easier to manipulate in the grilling environment. And, you know, ultimately, hopefully like just set to low and slow and just let them, you know, just kind of do their thing. It's like a dry rub that goes on and then the turkey gets grilled. And it goes very quickly and pretty easily. Rose: Yeah definitely. I feel like the breaking down, that does take so much of the panic out of it. Because it's like, okay, I have grilled meats before. I just haven't grilled an entire turkey. Kendra Vaculin: Totally. Rose: So having that- that option it's like, okay, I- I kind of feel more like I know what I'm doing. I at least have a little experience. Chris Morocco: Yup. So in terms of sides, you know, I was thinking grill specific. So the first one, this is the potato and chorizo element that is from a recipe called seared cod with potato and chorizo foil packs. This is from like a camping recipe story that I did a bajillion years ago. So this is not for the cod portion of this recipe. This is just, you know, foil packs of potato and, um, Spanish chorizo that just kind of, you can just kind of leave them on the grill grate and just let them go until the potatoes are tender. The chorizo kind of gets all kind of like oily and crispy in there. And the flavors just, it just works so well together regardless of what main you go with. Um- Kendra Vaculin: That sounds so good. Oh man. Chris Morocco: So the second recipe, this is an Andy Baraghani classic. This is grilled carrots with avocado and mint. It's just a very simple, easy grilled carrot recipe. It's beautiful, it's very much in that healthy-ish, you know, kind of space. But I think, you know, just bringing a Thanksgiving stalwart like carrots into play, and dressing them up in a way where they'll feel bright, where it feels like they've really gained something from having been cooked on the grill. That is a great one to consider. And then finally, this is a wild card, but I just wanted to talk about it because I just love it so much and I thought it could be really cool on the grill. So years and years ago, Joshua Walker, who's the chef from Xiao Bao Biscuit in Charleston, in South Carolina, he came in and developed a recipe, um, for, it's a kale and cucumber salad with roasted ginger dressing. Kendra Vaculin: Hmm. Chris Morocco: So he had this technique, okay, that was for broiling ginger, whole skin on ginger, broiled, Kendra. Broiled. Kendra Vaculin: Okay. Chris Morocco: For like- Kendra Vaculin: Wait- Chris Morocco: ...40- Kendra Vaculin: ... 50 minutes. I just looked this up. Chris Morocco: Yes, yes. Kendra Vaculin: I couldn't help it. Chris Morocco: Thank you. Yes, yes. Kendra Vaculin: What the heck? Chris Morocco: Okay, until the ginger it, I mean ginger is ginger, so it never gets like tender, per se. But it- it breaks down and it cooks. And you roast it in the skin. And I thought, oh my goodness. Kendra Vaculin: Oh you can totally grill this. Chris Morocco: You could grill this. Are you kidding? Kendra Vaculin: Oh man. Chris Morocco: You could grill that for days. Kendra Vaculin: Also, I just, I really gotta read this first review written on this recipe on bonappetit.com, is as follows from Marissa B in Portland, Oregon. It, she says, "This salad is so fire. I will be flexing at barbecues with this until the end of the summer. Add some shredded rotisserie chicken for extra girth, five stars." [laughs] So honestly, Marisa B from Portland, Oregon is telling you with poultry added, this salad is so fire. So I think it's- it's just a sign. You gotta do it for Thanksgiving. Chris Morocco: It's a sign. It's a sign. Oh my gosh. Kendra Vaculin: I love it. Chris Morocco: But it's, yeah, it's just such a joy to experience, you know, an ingredient that like you might know from one context. But in this, it's like the- the ginger gets roasted and then it just gets pureed to create this really richly bodied dressing and it just gets slathered over raw kale. And it's just- Kendra Vaculin: Yeah. Chris Morocco: ... it's other worldly. So, anyway, I was just thinking of fun stuff to do in the grill. Rose, I'm hoping you might indulge us by trying, you know, one or two of these things. You know, maybe invite a few friends over, um, try a couple of these things. We'd love to know how it goes. Rose: Yeah, definitely. I mean listening to the menu options you provided, I think the hardest part is gonna be narrowing down, 'cause all of them sound so good. I'm like, okay, which of these do I wanna try first? Which of them do I do? I think my friends will definitely wanna to come over for an early Thanksgiving dry run. Chris Morocco: If our biggest problem is that you're gonna have a hard time choosing what to cook, I think we've done our job. But I guess you will be the judge of that next time we talk, hopefully. So we can't wait to hear what you choose. Make it work, make it yours. That is the true spirit of Thanksgiving. Okay? Rose: All right, awesome. Thank you so much. I'm really looking forward to making it happen. Chris Morocco: So we shared these recipes with Rose and she got to grilling. After the break, we'll get Rose back on the line to find out what she made and how it went. Welcome back to Dinner SOS. Before the break, Kendra and I gave Rose some grill ready recipes to make her Thanksgiving shine even without a kitchen. So we got back in the studio and called Rose to see which turkey and whose side options she decided to make. Rose: So I decided to go with Chris' recipe for the, uh, dry brined turkey. Chris Morocco: Kendra, uh, Rose went with my turkey suggestion. Um, interesting. Kendra Vaculin: Okay, relax. That was one dish. I'm sure there were others. Rose, what else did you make? Rose: Yeah, so I did four dishes total along with the turkey. I went with the potato and chorizo packs on the grill. Um, and then I did two side dishes that Kendra suggested. So I did the lemon sumac green beans, and the, uh, pecan vinaigrette kale salad. Kendra Vaculin: Yes. Chris Morocco: Mm-hmm. Kendra Vaculin: This sounds like a banger of a meal, to be honest. Rose: Yeah. Chris Morocco: Sorry I'm just jotting this down 'cause I'm just like keeping score here. Kendra Vaculin: Oh my God. Chris Morocco: [laughs] I feel like with nobody else has it actually been that big a competition, Kendra. And like- Kendra Vaculin: I just came in- Chris Morocco: ... suddenly like you're in the room. And I'm like, hold on so then carry the one, and then... Kendra Vaculin: [laughs] Chris Morocco: Okay. So maybe mathematically it was a tie. But Rose picked the barbecue spice brined grilled turkey that I suggested so I'm counting it. Let me walk you through the basic of how the turkey is made. First things first, you have to halve the turkey by removing the backbone and splitting the breast bone. Your butcher can probably do this for you, or you can attempt it on your own. Next, make the dry brine with hot smoked paprika, savory, cumin, mustard powder, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, and salt. Cover the turkey with this mixture, then chill uncovered for eight to 12 hours. Then, after rinsing the brine off and resting, grill the turkey on indirect heat. Rest before carving and enjoy. Kendra, can you walk us through the green beans and kale salad? Kendra Vaculin: Sure. So for the kale salad, you have this pecan vinaigrette. And the first step is toasting your nuts. Then you pulse them with garlic, oil, capers, and honey in a food processor. And then transfer that to a bowl and stir in apple cider vinegar to finish your dressing. You toss that with your kale, and some radishes, and you've got this hardy, basically no cook salad with a delicious butty dressing. For the smashed green beans with lemony sumac, you sizzle your pumpkin seeds in a pan and blanche your green beans, that's your prep. And then you make a dressing by whisking lemon juice and sumac together, gradually straining in your olive oil to emulsify the dressing. Then comes the fun part, you get to smash your green beans with a rolling pin or a wine bottle, whatever you have. And let them sit in that delicious dressing at room temperature or up to 12 hours in the fridge. And all the craggy edges will soak all the flavor up. When you're ready to served, you cut up an asian pear, toss that with your parsley leaves, green beans, pumpkin seeds. It's so delicious. Chris Morocco: Yum. And the potato and chorizo foil packs literally couldn't be simpler. You lay out a piece of foil, put fingerling potatoes and chopped chorizo on top. And drizzle them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Fold up the foil, and grill until tender. Rose, wow. You did a lot. Rose: Yes. I- I went a little above and beyond. I lucked out in that guests were willing to bring desserts. Kendra Vaculin: I'm glad you outsourced your dessert. I think you needed that break after doing so many dishes. But I'm super proud of you for having your, um, turkey though. Can you talk a little bit about that harrowing process? Rose: Yeah. So I will say I am very glad that I have a very good, sharp knife. Kendra Vaculin: Mm-hmm. Rose: That helped a lot. Um, halving it was definitely hard. I- I definitely had to do some research, look it up online, like what's the best way? Found a lot of forums about people who get very competitive about smoking turkeys. Kendra Vaculin: Oh sure. Chris Morocco: Yeah. Rose: And they had a lot of suggestions for the best ways to halve a turkey. Um, it just felt, I think, more intimidating than it actually was- Kendra Vaculin: Mm-hmm. Rose: ... in the end because I had never done it. And also because I was doing it on a little foldable table we set up in our basement. Kendra Vaculin: Oh, yeah. Chris Morocco: Oh. Rose: Which I think also lent to the atmosphere. That, I think, was- was honestly the hardest part was I didn't think about the fact that not having a kitchen along with not having then the oven and everything means that I had no countertops. Kendra Vaculin: Yeah. Chris Morocco: Oh. Kendra Vaculin: Basement butchery is- Chris Morocco: Oh. Kendra Vaculin: ... a vision. Um, but it, honestly, didn't it work so well when you only had the half turkey to worry about? Rose: Yeah, yeah. Having it cut in half made it so much easier to grill. I think it also really helped with the, um, intimidation about trying a dry brine for the first time. Kendra Vaculin: Mm-hmm. Chris Morocco: Mm-hmm. Rose: 'Cause with the wet brine it's like, okay, the turkey's fully submerged. I know that everything's brining well. With the dry brine I was a little bit more concerned about getting everything really covered. But having the- the halves of the turkey laid out it was like, oh okay, I can actually get everything nice and brined. Chris Morocco: Yeah it's kind of amazing how a- a whole turkey feels like monumental. But then you cut it in half and suddenly it's like, oh, it's now like kind of two dimensional. You know? It accesses parts of the turkey that- that relatively inaccessible that you then kind of expose when you halve the turkey. I'm- I'm sorry that it was quiet so challenging to cut it, you know, in half. And sometimes, you know, I think a sharp knife is the way to go. Other times maybe even a serrated knife. Kendra Vaculin: Mm-hmm. Chris Morocco: You know? Rose: Yeah serrated it what we ended up using. Chris Morocco: Okay. Rose: I had a nice like big serrated one, so that- Chris Morocco: Yeah. Rose: ... definitely the way to go. Chris Morocco: It- it's this, I mean at that point your practically sawing it. And honestly, like a saw wouldn't be the craziest idea. I mean, you know, results not guaranteed, off label usage at best. Kendra Vaculin: Absolutely not for me. Um, so spooky. Chris Morocco: [laughs] Um, so and talk us through the- the rest of the- the menu and how all of that went. Rose: Yeah. The rest of the menu, I think it all went really well. Um, I think the next most challenging dish to make was the green beans, if only because, again, no kitchen. Chris Morocco: Mm-hmm. Kendra Vaculin: Mm-hmm. Rose: Uh, so for those I used the instant pot. Uh, it has that saute setting so- Kendra Vaculin: Oh. Rose: ... I was able to, uh, saute up the, um, pumpkin seeds. Chris Morocco: Oh. Rose: And then just- Kendra Vaculin: Nice. Rose: ... used my electric kettle to get a head start on boiling the water. And again, just blanched them really quick in that. Kendra Vaculin: That is so smart. You're like McGuyver. Chris Morocco: That's very creative. It's funny the things that you take for granted, right, when you have like a fully functioning kitchen at your disposal. And then you don't. And, okay, so, um, the foil packs. Were there any pain points? You know, as you were kind of going through it? Rose: That one was easy. Um, I did double the amount of chorizo that was in them. So I did- Kendra Vaculin: Hell yeah. Rose: ... add a little bit extra there. That was my one off recipe move. But I think that went over well. But that, yeah, that was super easy. Kendra Vaculin: Nice. Chris Morocco: And then the kale salad, you needed to blend the pecans into your dressing, right? Rose: Yeah. Blend the pecans and also toast the pecans. So I used the air fryer for that. Chris Morocco: Oh. Kendra Vaculin: Oh my gosh. Rose: Super simple. Chris Morocco: On stone left unturned in your- Kendra Vaculin: Wow. Chris Morocco: ... basement sort of ad hoc kitchen. Kendra Vaculin: I would've forgiven you for not toasting. I would've let you buy toasted pecans. And yet, you really did it big. Incredible stuff. Chris Morocco: Um, I'm- I'm literally stunned. I mean like I thought, just, you were gonna have to just everything kind of work more or less over the grill and that would be your only heat source, you know? Um, and you were, I don't know, you really pushed the bounds of what was possible. And I think that's so cool. Rose: Yeah. And I will say, you just have to picture all of this, my basement is very 1970s wood paneled. Kendra Vaculin: [laughs] Rose: When- when you're mentally imagining me doing all this, it's in a very, straight from That '70s Show wood basement. Kendra Vaculin: Perfect. I'm super proud of you. I think you nailed it. It sounds like you had an incredible party. You learned some new things that you're appliance could do that you never thought. Chris Morocco: Mm-hmm. Kendra Vaculin: And I hope you feel a little powerful 'cause honestly, it's like given the honest, like, maybe the worst possible thing for a holiday that's surrounded in food, that you are gonna be out a kitchen, you managed to create like a really great time. Rose: Yeah. I think that's the biggest takeaway for me, is like if the worst does happen, I can totally make a nice meal. So I think that takes so much of the pressure off. Like, okay, there's something I can do. There's a solution. Kendra Vaculin: Totally. Rose: Got the backup plan ready to go. Chris Morocco: Well, Rose, we can't wait to hear of like what actually happens. And, you know, whether the kitchen comes together and, you know, how it all goes, whichever way it goes. Kendra Vaculin: I hope for your sake it's one week only added on and your kitchen is beautiful. Chris Morocco: [laughs] Rose: I hope so too. Chris Morocco: Thank you so much, again, Rose. And happy Thanksgiving. Rose: Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving. Kendra Vaculin: Happy Thanksgiving. Chris Morocco: So Rose successfully grilled a turkey and made an entire meal without a kitchen. Hopefully your own Thanksgiving goes smoothly and feels like it's full of all the good things about the holidays with minimal stress. Before we sign off for our own Thanksgiving, I wanted to close things up with a bit of advice from Rose, which she recorded after her well fed guests had gone home. Rose: Maybe don't put yourself in a position where you don't have a kitchen on Thanksgiving. But if you end up in one by happenstance, pipe bursts, reno goes long, you're in good hands. You can still totally make it work. Chris Morocco: If you have a dinner emergency on your hands, write to us at podcasts@bonappetit.com. Or leave us a voice message at 212-286-SOS1. That's 212-286-7071. You can find the recipes featured on today's episode for turkeys and our side dish options, plus the rest of the Bon Appetit recipe archive on the new Epicurious app brought to you by Conde Nast. Just search Epicurious in the app store and download today. And if you enjoyed this episode, please give us a rating and review on your podcast app of choice and hit that follow button so you never miss an episode. Dinner SOS is a Conde Nast entertainment original podcast. I'm your host, Chris Morocco. My co-host this week is Kendra Vaculin. Our producer is Michelle O'Brien. Peyton Hayes is our associate producer. Jennifer Nelson is our engineer. Special thanks to Scott Lee for engineering support. Next week, what to cook for your dinner party when you're up against a mountain of dietary restrictions. Speaker 4: I just, I can't figure out what to serve besides water soup at this point. Chris Morocco: [laughs] Kendra Vaculin: So not to like, I don't know, saw you more in my direction, but I did come with dessert. Chris Morocco: All right cheaty McCheaterson. Kendra Vaculin: [laughs] Chris Morocco: Maybe I'm gonna be thinking about dessert. And maybe I'm gonna send her all kinds if stuff. Maybe I'll even give Rose my cell number and she can just like- Kendra Vaculin: Wow. Chris Morocco: ... FaceTime me while she's cooking. Kendra Vaculin: Okay. Chris Morocco: Okay? Rose: There we go.