Originally we had planned to really try to get into Thanksgiving by partaking in the Taj hotel’s advertised “Thanksgiving leftovers’. But as the chef seemed to have a hard time finding his Thanksgiving dinner groove on Thanksgiving night we figured that trying to gut the leftovers of that meal would be like rubbing salt in our wounds (and paying someone lots of money to grind the salt in deep for us). So we decided to go with plan B, suck it up and pay the rather inflated price for a bird (some how branded an ‘American Turkey’ although I’m not quite sure how they imported it. Maybe just a turkey wearing American genes.). This of course meant some process planning. I haven’t seen a toaster over yet that can handle a Turkey, especially an ‘American’ turkey so the BIG question was “how in the heck are we going to cook the thing if we get it?”

Option 1: Last year we deep fried a Turkey. The oil itself was more expensive then the bird. Not to mention that, although tasty, deep frying really isn’t that healthy. Its also dangerous. Its also hard to find a pot big enough to fit a bird and oil into. And after last year I had been counting my blessings that I didn’t end up with a burn somehow.

Option 2: Grill. But no one has a grill big enough for cooking a Turkey here. Grilling is really just catching on as a method of cooking and Webers, though available, are costly.

Option 3: Tandoor oven. Yes, if you didn’t know a few of us went out and bought ourselves Tandoors. We’ve experimented with many things in those tandoori’s but this would be the ultimate challenge. So we took it up. After some research and Turkey prep and kitchen slaving to make the side dishes and pies, we had ourselves a REAL AMERICAN TURKEY!! (but cooked in a tandoori oven)

I’ll save you the read and just give a brief picture story.

The Turkey - Skewered, rubbed, and sliced to cook fast and throughout:

The side dish and pie cook:

The injector (purchased from the local vet) and marinade:

The Beer - yes, it is STRONG:

The bird ready to get in the oven:

The Tandoor, Chiminey, and Coal - Yes it does look like a 50 gallon garbage can and yes we are using REAL charcoal:

The finished product which actually tasted as good as it looked:

The Thanksgiving dinner table with the Thorne’s (our ‘other family’):

The effects of Turkey in India are no different than in teh states… maybe it really WAS an American turkey:

For additional pics and info please visit the Thornes bolg