Creative Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner Ideas for Turkey and More

Turkey is the traditional Thanksgiving holiday dinner centerpiece, and is primarily roasted in the oven, served with stuffing and mashed potatoes. But should you be feeling the desire for something a little different and perchance more creative, then there are other options available, and you can utilize these ideas on Thanksgiving and throughout the year.

Smoked turkey can be a time-consuming process, but the results are well worth it. Smoking a turkey requires some special equipment, and a brine solution beforehand for maximum flavor and juiciness. At AllRecipes.com

(http://allrecipes.com/howto/smoking-foods/detail.aspx) you can find instructions and recipes for smoked turkey, and details on smoking equipment. Smoking coupled with a flavorful brining can impart an amazingly unique flavor to your turkey, and you may never want to roast a turkey again.

There is a trend towards deep frying turkeys that has been gathering momentum the last few years. A deep fried turkey can yield a fantastically different Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday dinner, but the process involves special equipment and must be performed outdoors in order to ensure safety.

You can find the pot and other equipment you would need at some kitchen supply stores or on the internet, but be sure to also receive proper instruction on how to go about using your turkey frying equipment safely. For more comprehensive instruction, you can visit Eat Turkey.com, at http://www.eatturkey.com/consumer/cookinfo/fryturk.html The website also contains a number of various recipes for deep fried turkey, including Cajun Deep Fried Turkey, Ginger & Rosemary Deep Fried Turkey, and Asian Style Deep Fried Turkey.

Additional instructions on how to both smoke or deep fry a turkey can be found on the Fabulous Foods website here: http://www.fabulousfoods.com/school/cstech/smoketurkey.html

Supposing turkey just isn't your thing anymore, and you want a completely new bird. Why not try roasting a duck or even cornish game hens, allowing everyone their own bird to enjoy. Duck is flavorful, often sweeter than turkey, but with a slightly gamey flavor as well. But with herbs and spices, or a suitable marinade, duck can be a wonderfully enjoyable meal for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It may be difficult to cook a large number of cornish game hens if you're having a large gathering of friends and family over for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, but your efforts will be rewarded. A large number of recipes for cornish game hens can be found in abundance on the internet, and you likely have one or two tucked away in a recipe book. You can also opt to use the same herbs or marinade you traditionally use on your Thanksgiving turkey.

Lastly, if you want to forego poultry completely, you can also bake a nice ham or a large roast, and for the extremely adventurous, try a roast suckling pig with all the trimmings!