Use Your Outdoor Kitchen To Help Prepare Those Big Holiday Meals

Assuming we don’t enter a deep freeze before Thanksgiving, you can use your outdoor kitchen to help prepare the big holiday meal. And as long as it doesn’t involve the plumbing, you can do some Christmas and New Year’s cooking in your outdoor kitchen as well. It all depends on the elements you have to work with – in your kitchen, and weather-wise.

If you have an outdoor fireplace or fire pit, you may want to get the fire started to keep you comfortable in your outdoor kitchen. You’ll probably get some family members to join you outside, especially if you have a TV in your outdoor living space.

Utilize Your Gas Grill

As long as you can get to it, (shovel a path through the snow, anyone?) you can use your gas grill to help with cooking the meat for holiday meals. You can also help with preparing side dishes, if you have the side burners for it.

Did you know you can cook a Thanksgiving turkey on the grill? Just Google it, and pick out your favorite grilled whole turkey recipe. Or if you’re like us, you’ll find several recipes and combine them into the way you want it. You may never go back to oven roasted. The same thing goes for grilling a Christmas ham. Check out the tutorials, videos and recipes to find the perfect one. Grilling the meat for these big meals opens up the indoor kitchen oven and kitchen space in general.

Using Your Outdoor Kitchen Makes Life Easier

Let’s face it. A tremendous amount of holiday cooking duties (and stress) fall on one person. If you offer to use your grilling skills to take care of the Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas ham, it’s a win-win. You help the cook, and you get to use the grill. Just remember, grilling in cold weather can take longer than the recipe says. In addition, you will want to have a grill thermometer for the turkey to ensure it’s done properly.

Never cooked a whole turkey before? Just remember to take it out of the freezer several days before Thanksgiving to allow it to fully thaw. And whatever you do, don’t forget to remove the neck and the bag of giblets from inside the bird.

And Happy Grilling!