Thanksgiving bespeaks tradition, and it’s one day a year that families convene in honor of time-tested practices.  Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, for most of the country, viewed on TV, loved-ones traveling long distances to “come home,” gobbling up (pun intended) every possible morsel of ritualistic Thanksgiving fare before our post-banquet naps!  Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville would like to challenge you all to change it up this year in one very important way by throwing out the traditional turkey prep and cooking methods to try something new.

1.     Everything is better with bacon, period.

Ravenous carnivores, this one’s for you!  This new method of preparing turkey just makes sense.  Eliminate the need to constantly baste, roast, baste…let the bacon do the basting!  All that sweet bacon-y goodness will seep right into the turkey as it cooks.  Can you imagine smelling this incredible union as it cooks?  This recipe will have your family devouring turkey in under two hours of cook time!

2.     Thrill your millennial family members with pumpkin spice turkey!  What?!?

Stay with us here, this actually sounds pretty darned delicious, and hey, if your guests are in a hurry, they will essentially be eating the main course and dessert at once!  It’s all in seasoning, and you need to season while chilling overnight.  We admit that covering the roast beast with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg sounds incredible!  Want to take a stab?  See the whole recipe here!

Nashville deck lighting.

If you’re roasting, frying, smoking, or grilling your turkey outdoors, we hope you have Nashville deck lighting!

3.     100-proof turkey for the Vodka enthusiast – You might find yourself and your guests are roasted after dinner.

This method of turkey cooking is not for the faint of heart, or anyone under the age of 21, for that matter.  This prep includes soaking the honorary bird and all the bird-related trimmings in five flavors of vodka overnight – peach, cherry, orange, lemon and apple – and injecting the meat after cooking.  Don’t forget to call your guests and Uber and send them home with an aspirin to stave off a hangover!  See the recipe here.

4.     Mole-roasted turkey – holy mole!  Is your mouth watering, or is that ours?

This drool-inducing concoction includes smothering your turkey inside and out with mole overnight.  Not familiar with the traditional Mexican sauce?  Chiles and chocolate, folks, and it’s incredible!  Chocolate, much like bacon, makes everything taste better.  This turkey comes out of the oven nearly blackened, fall-off-the-bone moist, and is recommended to be served with Masa stuffing and spicy chili gravy!  You have to see this – go here now!

If you are having after-dinner drinks on your Nashville patio, we hope you have proper patio lighting.  If not, be prepared for next year with Nashville patio lighting!

5.     White Castle-stuffed turkey.  Need we say more?

This inventive way of turkey prep has us chucking the traditional stuffing, and replacing it with White Castle sliders.  Yes, you read that correctly.  If you have ever found yourselves craving a juicy, steamed slider on Thanksgiving Day, this will surely be the remedy!  You’ll need one slider for each pound of turkey.  See the recipe here.

We know this is off the beaten path from our regular blog posts, and we hope that if you haven’t found a new take on traditional turkey prep herein, that you at least got a chuckle at these ever-inventive ways to cook a Thanksgiving turkey.  We hope that you are gathered with loved-ones this year, celebrating the greatest Thanksgiving tradition – the true gift of being with family and friends.  Happy Thanksgiving, Nashville!

As always, if you have any an outdoor lighting requirement, give Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville a call so we can assess your needs. Contact us today at 615-373-0638, or email us at olpnashville@outdoorlights.com.

David G. Todd, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville.