Our friends over at the Hearth, Patio, and Barbecue Association have come up with some new statistics just in time for Thanksgiving. This numbers are pretty amazing and clearly show that more and more people are doing their cooking on the porch. Take a look:

"Americans are rethinking tradition this Thanksgiving with more than 70 percent of consumers saying they would opt out of using the oven to instead grill (18 percent), smoke (25 percent) or fry (28 percent) their turkey, according to HPBA's Thanksgiving poll. Turkeys can be fried in less than an hour, smoked over low heat for several hours or even cooked on a grill - each option offers a mouthwatering meal packed with juicy flavor and crispy taste.

According to the National Turkey Federation (NTF), an estimated 46 million turkeys will be cooked this holiday. Based on HPBA consumer poll responses, that means up to 32.2 million turkeys could be getting the boot from the oven! Americans agree that grilling, smoking and frying are preferable to the oven for a number of reasons:

• Allows you to try something new (54 percent of respondents)
• Gives you a more tender or juicy turkey (54 percent of respondents)
• Frees up space in your oven for other cooking (53 percent of respondents)
• Easier clean up (52 percent of respondents)

To heat up Thanksgiving meals, HPBA and NTF have the tips and recipes for a winning holiday feast:

Tips for Outdoor Cooking and the Ultimate Turkey Experience

• Check to make sure the grill, smoker or fryer is in working order.
• Be sure to read the owner's manual for safety precautions.
• Stock up on enough charcoal, propane, oil or wood chips needed to cook the meal.
• Be sure to use the grill, smoker or fryer outside only - never indoors and make sure that it's set-up on a flat, stable surface, preferably on a protective grill pad, and away from any combustible materials.
• Purchase a whole turkey according to the weight recommendations in your grill's, smoker's or fryer's owner's manual.
• Thaw the turkey completely and pat it dry. Cook the bird un-stuffed.
• Brine the turkey for increased flavor and moisture.
• Outdoor cooking times depend on many factors: the size and shape of the turkey, the distance from the heat and the outside air temperature. Allow more time on cold or windy days and at high altitudes. Allow less time in very hot weather.
• Have a food thermometer handy to measure the internal temperature of the bird; the temperature should be 165° F to 170° F in the breast and 175° F to 180° F in the thigh.

Don't Forget The Trimmings!

Beyond the bird, seven in ten Americans admit that they would like to see grilled side dishes on their Thanksgiving platters, including grilled vegetables (51 percent) or grilled bread, fruits or desserts (18 percent). While the turkey is the centerpiece of the meal, Thanksgiving's savory side dishes and trimmings can all be cooked outdoors. Try America's Outdoor Cooking Experts Bill and Cheryl Jamison's recipes for crispy smashed potatoes, grilled apples slices or grilled vegetable orzo."

Brining a turkey is a simple process, but you need to start a day before you plan to cook. A whole turkey can take up to 24 hours to properly brine depending on the size so plan ahead. Brining makes the most of a turkey. It adds moisture to the meat and makes it more tender. Throw in some herbs and spices and you get a lot more flavor as well. All you really need to brine a turkey is the bird and some salt and water. Step one is determining how much water you need.

Photo © 2008 Regarding BBQ Inc., licensed to About.com, Inc.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada have announced a voluntary recall of Perfect Flame SLG Series Gas Grills sold through Lowes Home Improvement Stores between September 2005 and May 2009. This recall affects about 665,000 Gas Grills manufactured by L G Sourcing, Inc of China and imported by Lucas Innovation, Inc of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Burners in these grills can deteriorate causing irregular flames and in some models the metal lids can catch fire, causing a serious metal fire. If you own this grill you are asked to immediately discontinue use until you can receive replacement parts for your grill. Call (888) 840-9590 or visit www.lowes.com for information on how you can get the parts needed to repair your grill.

Check your grill for the specific model number. Model numbers are printed on a label on the inside or backside of the grill. Models SLG2006B, SLG2006BN, SLG2006C, SLG2006CN, SLG2007D, and SLG2007DN will need complete replacement of the burner assemblies. Models SLG2007A, SLG2007B, SLG2007BN, and SLG2008A will need the burner assembly and lid replaced.

Please take this and all recalls seriously. Several people have been injured in relation to these grills. You can find more information on this recall at the Consumer Product Safety Commission website.

The big Holiday Meals are a great time to show off our cooking abilities while still clinging to the traditional favorites. From the Deep Fried Turkey to slow roasted Ham to a rotisserie Goose these classics of the Holidays are food we seldom prepare but expect to get right every time. And this isn't limited to the Christmas Feast, because I know that everyone has their favorite, that one big holiday of the year that is their specialty, their best meal. Now I know that Thanksgiving is upon us in the U.S. and that typically means Turkey, but it isn't limited to that one bird. Every family has its traditional main course for the big holiday in your neighborhood. Anymore so much attention is paid to these single big events and I know that the truth is much more complicated than Food Network would like you to believe, so this weeks question is:

POLL: What's on the Menu this Holiday Season?
1) Turkey
2) Ham
3) Lamb
4) Fowl (goose, duck, etc.)
5) Prime Rib (or other large beef roasts)
6) Fish or Seafood
7) Barbecue (pork, brisket, ribs, etc.)
8) Other (Please Specify in the Comments)

Smoking turkey is an easy and fantastic way to make your holiday meal all that better. By cooking your turkey low and slow with a big dose of smoke, you get a tender, flavorful bird that people will talk about until next year. Follow the steps, take your time and you will truly have one of the best turkeys you have every eaten.

Photo © 2008 Regarding BBQ Inc., licensed to About.com, Inc.

You knew it was only a matter of time before someone turned beer in the butt chicken into beer can turkey. This turkey is basted with steam from the inside; making it tender and juicy so no matter how you cook it you'll get a better bird.

One of the best ways to make a better Turkey is with a good Brine. Brining Turkey is a process of adding moisture and flavor to meat by use of a salt-water mixture. There are many ways to make a great brine and these turkey brine recipes are amongst the best I know. So, whether you are roasting, grilling, smoking, or frying your next turkey, start out with a good brine and make it so much better.

In 2006 Kingsford redesigned its charcoal to incorporate a pair of grooves on the backside. The grooves increased the surface area of the briquette so that it would light easier and faster. While these grooves decreased the weight of each briquette by about 10% it made them burn hotter (with more surface area the briquettes contact more oxygen, making them burn hotter and faster). For grilling this meant less time waiting for the charcoal to be ready to cook over and a higher heat output for better performance. For low and slow smoking the briquettes, in an oxygen deprived environment burned just as long.

Now Kingsford is preparing to roll out an even more "improved" briquettes. These newly designed charcoal chunks have deeper, diagonal grooves further increasing the surface area. Now of course I know what you cynics are going to say. These new briquettes are 7 1/2% lighter than the current ones, which are about 10% lighter than the only traditional charcoal, hence the old 15 pound bag will not weight about 11 pounds (you get the same number of briquettes per bag that you would have gotten 5 years ago). Well I've been hanging out with the fine folks at Kingsford R&D for the past couple of days, I've looked over the data, and I've seen the new briquettes in action. What I believe is that most people are not going to notice a difference.

Now I know that those of you who use Kingsford for traditional low and slow barbecue are going to be skeptical. We all were 4 years ago when they changed them last time. Well I was helping Chris Lilly load up a very large Jedmaster smoker last night for a Pork Butt demonstration. In went 4 big blue bags of kingsford charcoal, the same amount of briquettes as always though a few pounds lighter by weight. With the vents shut down to hold a 225 degree smoking temperature everything appeared completely normal. Had I not known that we were using the new charcoal I wouldn't have suspected anything was different. As of this morning, after about 10 hours of smoking time, the smoker was performing just as you would expect. The temperature held through the night and the long charcoal trough was burning end to end with plenty of charcoal left to keep it going for a few more hours.

Probably the more important change here isn't the mass of the briquette as much as the composition. What has been removed here is more coal than char. Now char is the the wood portion and coal is, well, actually coal. This means a cleaner charcoal that produces less ash. This is particularly important for the barbecue purists putting charcoal in their smokers. You will get less ash build up to block air flow so in fact this charcoal does seem to perform better.

I suggest before anyone panics that you give the new charcoal a try. I know I will. These new briquettes will be shipping to stores in January, but you may no see them for a few months. All flavors of types of Kingsford charcoal will be affected by the new design from the traditional blue bag to the matchlight, competition, hickory, and mesquite.

Photo: 2009 Regarding BBQ

The biggest turkey day of the year is nearly upon us and millions of Americans and scrambling to figure out the best recipe, cooking method, and secret tricks to making the best turkey yet. Personally I believe in a good brine regardless of how you are cooking your bird. However they kind of cooker the turkey goes in is going to be the biggest influence on the taste. I know that most everyone uses the oven to cook their Thanksgiving turkey and that's fine. But there are those of us out there willing to try out the smoker, grill or fryer to cook up our big meal. So this weeks question is:

POLL: How are you cooking your Turkey this Year?
1) Oven Roasting
2) Smoking
3) Grilling
4) Frying
5) Not Having Turkey
6) Other (Please Specify in the Comments)

These days the holiday turkey is quickly becoming the least expensive part of the holiday meal. These days it is more than just food that gets bought up in the days before the big cook, it's cooking equipment too. From roasting pans to turkey fryers this is one of the biggest times of year for outdoor cooking makers too. I believe that the popularity of deep fried turkey is largely to blame for this phenomena. People spending $40USD to $50USD on small turkey fryers have led to companies producing $150USD units specifically for cooking a turkey. Of course these cookers are good for far more than a one time cookout, but the promise of a great turkey for the holidays is the drive behind them. While there are many ways to cook a turkey these represent some of the latest innovations:

North American Outdoors 35-Quart Aluminum Saf-T-Fryer: This turkey fryer unit includes several safety features that take a lot of the risk out of the ever popular deep fried turkey. This unit will run you about $100USD and can be used for everything from frying roasts, poultry or fish to clambakes and anything else cooked in the gallons instead of cups. This unit cooks turkey at about 3 minutes per pound.

Char-Broil's The Big Easy Oil-less Infrared Turkey Fryer: Char-Broil has taken the oil out of the fryer and replaced it with an ingenious infrared cooking system. At around $150USD this unit doesn't waste oil (at up to $40 to fill a typical fryer) and will cook up pretty much any large cut of meat. Cook your turkey at about 10 minutes per pound in this "fryer".

The Orion Cooker: This charcoal powered cooker can produce good barbecue (up to 8 racks of ribs at a time) or a perfect turkey at about 10 minutes per pound. This unit burns a good deal of charcoal but is still cheaper to operate than a typical deep fryer. This is actually a very versatile cooker.

Masterbuilt Butterball Professional Series Indoor Electric Turkey Fryer
: Basically this is a large fryer designed to hold up to a 14 pound turkey in a specially designed (turkey shaped) frying chamber. Like other modern fryers this unit is thermostatically controlled and has a built in timer so you can tell it how long you want to cook. The interior frying chamber is molded to fit a turkey so you don't need to use a lot of extra oil to fry the bird.