Recipes & tips for making your holiday meal on the grill--even the turkey!

Holiday Grilling Tips

Discovering Brines Because turkey meat is so lean and bland, brining is important. Soaking the turkey in a flavorful salty liquid that the meat can absorb will give it more moisture and flavor from the start.
Maintaining an Even Heat An even grilling temperature in the range of 350° to 400°F is key. That’s easy enough to achieve on a gas grill, assuming there is plenty of gas in the tank. It’s a bit more challenging with a charcoal grill. Before cooking your first turkey with charcoal, make sure you have had some good experiences maintaining a live fire over the course of several hours.
Shielding the Breast Meat Because the breast meat cooks faster than the leg meat, you should protect the breast and slow down its rate of cooking. You can do that by facing the breast down inside a broth-and-vegetable-filled pan for the first hour of cooking.
Catch the Perfect Doneness In a very short period of time, a turkey can turn from moist and fabulous to dry and stringy, so it’s imperative that you use an instant-read thermometer and remove the turkey from the grill when the internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh (not touching the bone) reaches 170°F.
Getting Enough Rest Don’t skip the resting step after your turkey comes off the grill. During that period, the turkey will finish cooking and the juices will redistribute nicely.

Take Off the Chill Allow the roast to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour before grilling. A roast straight from the fridge will lower the temperature of the cooking grate and prevent proper searing.
When Is It Done? If there ever was a reason for buying an instant-read thermometer, this is it. After spending a big chunk of change on beef tenderloin, the cost of a thermometer is negligible, and that little tool almost guarantees that the meat will be grilled precisely to the doneness you like.
Let It Rest After removing the roast from the grill, let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute. During resting, the temperature of the roast will rise 5 to 10 degrees.

Buy the Right Ham Ham is one of the easiest things in the world to cook, especially if you are cooking one that is already cooked! Really you just need to warm it up. Success depends more on what you buy than how you cook it. A bone-in ham has better flavor than a boneless one. We recommend the ones labeled "Ham in Natural Juices." They can have up to (but no more than) 10% of their weight in water (brine). The ones labeled "Ham, water added" have more water (brine) injected into them, making them kind of mushy and bland (or sometimes awfully salty). Also avoid the spiral-cut hams. They dry out too quickly on the grill.
How Long Before I Can Grill? Allow the ham to stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before grilling. This will take the chill off the meat and shorten the cooking time. The ham will come out juicier, too.
Cover It Up If the ham begins to look too dark, cover it with foil and stop glazing.
Zzzzzzzz After grilling, let the ham rest for about 15 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute. The temperature of the ham will also rise 5 to 10 degrees during this time.