For years, we鈥檝e been preaching the gospel of having Thanksgiving in the setting we鈥檙e most grateful for: the outdoors. We told you how to cook a turkey over a fire听and picked out the best dehydrated options for cobbling together a Thanksgiving in the backcountry. Apparently we were training for this year, when, amid a surge in COVID-19听cases nationwide, the best option is to take your feast outside.
To be clear, even dining alfresco carries risk, says Leo Nissola, a physician听who is part of the team behind the COVID-19 tracking site . In fact, Nissola and his partner will be doing Thanksgiving at home on their own. For him, getting together with family or friends is just too risky鈥攅specially as are turning out to be the source of many new infections. But he understands people crave connection with loved ones on the holidays.
So, if you鈥檙e in a place where COVID-19 isn鈥檛 spiking, and you decide to host a small Thanksgiving, you can easily make听your meal while social distancing if you have a grill or a backyard fire ring. Here鈥檚 your guide to moving the whole day outside.
Wear听Your Mask and Spread People Out
Even outside, you should be sporting a face covering if you鈥檙e around folks you don鈥檛 live with, says Bill Haseltine,听former professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and author of the forthcoming book . We know that time, proximity, and ventilation are all factors that contribute to how likely you are to spread COVID-19 in a group setting. If you鈥檒l be cooking and eating with your family all day, a mask鈥攑lus staying at least six feet apart鈥攊s a must.
You鈥檒l also want to think about seating arrangements and cooking stations. Surface transmission of the virus doesn鈥檛 seem to be as problematic as respiratory droplets, but that doesn鈥檛 mean you don鈥檛 need to think about communal touch items, like tongs and serving spoons. One option is to have everyone bring their own.听Also, place hand sanitizer by any outdoor workstations or high-touch surfaces听and at the end of the buffet line. Haseltine recommends seating only the guests who live together next to each other. Because your guests will听take off their听masks听to eat,听everyone else should听be at least six feet away from听anyone not in their听immediate household. Multiple small tables, therefore, are听probably the safest way to go.
Do Some Precooking
Some dishes鈥攍ike yeasted dinner rolls and pies with delicate crusts鈥攁re just not going to cook as well on a grill or fire. Make these the day before. The good news is听they鈥檒l reheat beautifully if you wrap them听in foil and place them听next to your bonfire a few hours before dinnertime, says Dan Souza, editor in chief听at .
Grill or Smoke Your Turkey
Grilling a turkey is actually not that hard. Souza and his team have long听.听鈥淚n the Before Times, you wanted to free up your oven as much as possible,鈥 he says. They鈥檝e听tried a few turkey grilling techniques, including spatchcocking (removing the backbone and laying the turkey out flat on the grill), as well as parting the bird into breast, thighs, and drumsticks. Ultimately, they settled on keeping it whole. To make it work, you鈥檒l essentially treat your grill like an oven, keeping the lid on and the heat low. There is one caveat to this method: It won鈥檛 work all that well with a big bird, because some parts will begin drying out before the interior is fully done. For best results, use a 12-to-14-pounder.
Another option is to smoke your turkey. That鈥檚 what Chris Morgan would do. Morgan is the former co-executive chef of , a Michelin-starred restaurant in Washington, D.C.,听that focuses on open-fire cooking. 鈥淚鈥檇 brine my turkey for a couple of days and then throw it in a smoker,鈥 he says. American white oak is his go-to smoking wood for turkey, because it won鈥檛 completely overwhelm the delicate white-meat flavor. And keep that temp low. 鈥淎s soon as you increase the heat, the fat leaches out,鈥 Morgan says, and the bird doesn鈥檛 have much fat to begin with. 鈥淜eep it in the 200-degree range, and you鈥檙e going to have a beautiful, succulent turkey.鈥
Don鈥檛 have a smoker? You can sometimes rent them locally.
Cook Your Veggies on the Fire
If you are going to have a bonfire to keep guests warm, use it to cook some of the sides,听too. Root veggies are especially delicious when听roasted听on hot coals, Morgan says. The secret, he says, is to par-cook them first just to about al dente before putting them on. Morgan finds that veggies cooked from raw over听a fire take on too much smoky flavor, but finishing them in embers will give them just a听hint of campfire goodness.
Recipe: Fire-Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Start with one medium-sized sweet potato for everyone (more if you want leftovers).
Scrub them well, then chop them into chunks or leave them whole. Wrap the sweet potato听in foil with a drizzle of olive oil, a sprig of rosemary, a few sage leaves, and听a head of garlic听halved width-wise, leaving the skins on.
Roast your packet of taters in an oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes or听until they鈥檙e starting to get听soft.
Start heating your cast-iron grate听over some hot embers. 鈥淥pen fire鈥 cooking is a misnomer, Morgan says. You don鈥檛 want the flames licking your food鈥攊t鈥檒l taste like听ash. Instead, wait until your fire has burned down a bit before putting your potatoes on.
Unwrap the potatoes, disposing of the herbs but keeping the听roasted garlic to squeeze out onto bread. If your potatoes are whole, dispose of the foil and place them (and your garlic, if you want) on the cast-iron grate for 15 or so minutes to finish. If they鈥檙e chopped, just dispose of the herbs and rewrap the potatoes听before placing them on the grate. If you don鈥檛 have a grate, that鈥檚 fine. Leave the potatoes in the foil and tuck them into hot coals. They鈥檙e done when they yield slightly to a gentle squeeze.
You can do this same process with carrots, beets, or regular potatoes. Change up the herbs as desired.
Skip the Pie and Make a Cobbler Instead
A fussy pie is best made in the well-regulated heat of an oven. But a cobbler or a crisp? That鈥檚 totally doable over hot coals, Morgan says. And听because fruit cooks fast, it will take on just the faintest hint of smokiness without being overwhelmed.
To start, dig out your favorite crisp or crumble recipe. You can use any fruit you want, but apples are hard to beat.
Then choose your method.听There鈥檚 the tamer method that requires two cast-iron pans. Then there鈥檚 the wild method, which requires a bit of playing with fire.
Prep the fruit filling and topping in two separate bowls so they鈥檙e ready before you start cooking.
Heat one cast-iron pan over hot embers. Add the fruit, butter, spices, and sugar. Let the mixture get bubbly, stirring every now and then to keep the bottom from scorching.
Place a second skillet over another cache of embers. Let it heat up, then add your crumbled topping. You鈥檙e essentially just going to toast the topping, Morgan says. Shake the pan every few minutes to make sure the topping is听toasting evenly. When it looks golden brown and smells like warm sugar, shake the topping onto your cooked fruit.
Or try the听pyromaniac method of browning your topping:听crumble it directly onto the cooked fruit, then use a pair of tongs to pick up听a medium-sized ember听and hold it an inch or two above your cobbler to brown the topping.听鈥淕et it really close. It鈥檚听pretty fun,鈥 Morgan says. You鈥檒l see the sugary bits caramelizing before your eyes. How long you鈥檒l need to hold it there will depend on how hot your embers are, but you should see the sugars start to brown within a minute or two.
Keep Everyone Comfortable
This may be the hardest part of the whole day, especially if it鈥檚听cold. Chef Timothy Wastell, who manages outdoor pop-up events for , a winery in Dundee, Oregon,听gave us his tips for keeping guests warm while eating outside. First, make sure it鈥檚 clear to everyone that this is an outdoor event. 鈥淚t鈥檚 OK听to ask your guests to dress in 鈥榝ancy arctic,鈥欌 he says鈥攖hink your favorite cocktail dress with thick tights and a puffy on top.听鈥淎nd听ask them听to bring their own blanket.鈥 (You can also send them the guide we recently put together on layering for outdoor dining.)
But while you can ask your family to come prepared, you are still the host. Pull out whatever blankets you have and offer them up for laps. Have an old sleeping bag or two you don鈥檛 really use? Pull that out and leave it on a chair, just in case someone wants to wriggle in for a full-body snuggle.
Hands and feet tend to get cold first. For the first, offer up warm mugs of cider, tea, or hot toddies鈥攕ince holding a fork with mittens on is an exercise in frustration. For the second, purchase a bulk pack of boot warmers.
Finally, if you think you鈥檒l do a lot of wintertime outdoor entertaining, consider investing in a patio heater. Chef Wastell says that after years of trying different types, he鈥檚 decided the infrared heaters do the best job at keeping everyone toasty. 鈥淭hey heat the objects鈥濃攂eing you and your guests鈥斺渘ot the air,鈥 he says. However, which one you get may come down to what the store has in stock鈥攑atio heaters have become one of this fall鈥檚 hottest (literally) buys.
If the weather is just too awful to have your meal outside, you may end up sending folks home with to-go containers and eating Thanksgiving by yourself. But at least you had someone to invite over and hot food to serve them, even if it didn鈥檛 quite work out as planned. Those things alone are something to be thankful for.