Turkey in a Bucket
This is a fun experiment to try in a
"residential" camp setting! Thanks very much to Kathy Stephan, who
e-mailed me this recipe! I have cooked a turkey using a similar method and let
me tell you, it's delicious!
This is a meal which will feed your whole unit!
For the Bucket Oven, you will need:
- 5 gallon tin bucket
- long tongs
- charcoal briquettes
- matches
- heavy duty aluminium foil
- shovel
- wooden stake or 1" diameter dowel 6"
longer than than the bird
- hammer
- hot pads
- platter
Ingredients:
- 1 whole turkey
- seasoning salt or salt and pepper
Directions: Get fire started in fire ring, allow charcoal
to get red hot, about 30 min. Clean and season bird. When coals are hot, take
shovel and move coals to one side. Spread aluminium foil on the hot ground.
Pound stake into ground about 6". Take about 18" of foil and crush
into a ball around top of stake in shape of ball. Put turkey on stake, legs down
( ball of foil in body cavity will support bird). Put bucket over turkey , be
sure no part of bird touches bucket. Shovel coals around the bucket piling
around sides as high as they will go. Place another 12" piece of foil on
top of the bucket. Shovel about a dozen coals on top of the bucket. Add about a
dozen pieces of charcoal every 30 minutes. Cook for about 1½ to 2 hours
depending on size of bird. (An 11 lb. turkey takes about 1½ hrs., a 16 lb.
turkey takes 1 hour and 50 minutes to 2 hrs. Remove coals and take bucket off.
Turkey will be golden brown. Using hot pads, pull turkey off stake and place on
platter.
* If you prefer to do a chicken: prepare the same way
but a chicken only takes 1 hr. to 1 hours 10 min. ** Pie can be baked this way
too: Put pie on 3 stakes set in ground in triangle , cover with bucket and bake
45 min.
NOTE: When I have cooked a turkey using this method,
I have placed a clean metal garbage can over the whole turkey-and-bucket setup.
This acts as a second heat reflector.
ANOTHER NOTE: Paula Koehler recently wrote to me to
describe another variation on this recipe:
"We used a wire tomato cage to hold our 16 lb. turkey. Invert the cage
so that the large circle is on the ground and
the points, which would normally be placed in the ground, are now placed into
the turkey cavity. You may have to trim the cage to fit into your can."
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