By Cheri Sicard
Thinking of having an RV Thanksgiving? Watch the video below from Deirdre and James from Our Upcycled Life. The couple, who love to boondock off-grid, show you how to cook an entire whole turkey over an open campfire, as well as side dishes and dessert.
It might take a little work you are unfamiliar with, but this will undoubtedly go down as your most unique Thanksgiving dinner ever!
It starts with the setup, and that means building a bonfire/campfire. The video shows this in fast motion, so they assume you know how to build a campfire.
Using a tarp hanging from a nearby tree breaks the wind and helps to keep the fire hot during the long cooking process.
They cook a 15-pound turkey in the video, which is ideal for this method.
While the campfire comes to temperature, they fashion a DIY rotisserie spit from foraged branches. Once the spit is ready, you will need to firmly secure the turkey to it for the long roast coming up.
A little bit of seasoning is sprinkled on the outside, and the bird is ready to go on the spit over the hot bed of coals.
After an hour, the turkey will be browning and starting to look and smell delicious.
While the turkey is cooking, it’s time to prepare side dishes. These include maple-roasted butternut squash, roasted turnips, and Brussels sprouts, all wrapped in foil for easy campfire cooking.
They also use the fire to bake some apples with butter, pecans, and maple syrup for Thanksgiving dinner dessert!
And for good measure, they cook a ham, too, as they plan to make ham and eggs for breakfast. I love that philosophy, and anytime I go to the trouble of cooking over a fire I had to build, I try to make the best use of it by “cooking forward.”
Overall, the turkey takes about 6 hours to cook. About an hour to an hour-and-a-half before it’s ready is time to add the veggies and apples to the grill. It’s also a good time to add some butter basting to the bird.
The finished turkey is making me seriously think about doing this. If not this Thanksgiving, then next camping trip in the woods!
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