Every time it’s my turn to host Thanksgiving dinner for our big family, I try a slightly different twist with the turkey. There’s a terrific recipe for a classic roast turkey in the Allen Brothers Cooking Guide, and below are three of my other favorite techniques. What do they all have in common? Allen Brothers all-natural, free-range turkey, a 12-to-14-pound beauty that serves a dozen or more people (even if your uncle Joe can eat enough for three!). Order yours now, then decide on the new turkey twist you’ll try this year—and guarantee a Thanksgiving dinner your family will remember fondly, forever.

Please note: For recipes 2 and 3, you’ll have to start the brining the night before, so plan ahead (not that you were about to leave Thanksgiving dinner until the last minute… You weren’t, right?…)

A word about the stuffing: I prefer to cook the stuffing separately, instead of packing it into the turkey cavity and cooking it along with the bird. But choose your own favorite method. The recipe in the Allen Brothers Cooking Guide is for cooking the stuffing inside the turkey, and the recipes below offer some other stuffing options.

Ready? My three favorite turkey tricks:

1) Butter! Come on, it’s a holiday. You can get away with eating a wee more butter than you normally do. Here’s an extra-buttery, easy-to-make turkey recipe I love, courtesy of Mark Bittman and reprinted in O, The Oprah Magazine. Bonus: With this recipe, it only takes about 2 and ½ hours to roast the entire 12-pound turkey.

2) Beer! Yes, beer. I’ve tried a few recipes for brining turkey in beer, but one of my favorites is this one, from Bruce Aidells, printed in this month’s Bon Appetit.

3) Salt! Lighter than using a stick of butter (as in recipe #1 above), and simpler than beer-brining, salt-brining is a foolproof technique. Some cooks swear by salt-brining the bird the night before, and others don’t bother. I personally think brining in salted water overnight is one of the best ways to ensure a moist, flavorful turkey. Here’s a brining method that works beautifully, courtesy of the late Edna Lewis, a wonderful Southern chef, and chef Scott Peacock, printed in Food & Wine.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Yours,

Allie B.

Todd Hatoff, President (center) with his parents Trudy and Bobby Hatoff, Chairman

Allen Brothers USDA Prime steaks have attracted lots of celebrity clients since the company launched in 1893. One of the most illustrious? None other than Julia Child.

Allen Brothers president Todd Hatoff fondly remembers the days when he used to ship boxes of steaks to the late, great Child:

“She was a wonderful lady. She mail-ordered steaks from us, mostly Prime strips and ribeyes. She liked a lot of fat, the most fat you could get.”

Child liked to correspond by mail. “She wrote us letters,” Hatoff recalls. “Her handwriting was pretty. She was older, and your writing can sometimes get messy at that point, but hers didn’t. She said it was impossible to find good Prime meat, and when she found us she was thrilled.”

True to form, Child was ahead of her time: “She had me dry-age product for her,” says Hatoff, “and we weren’t even dry-aging yet at the time.”

Now, of course, Allen Brothers is famous for outstanding dry-aged steaks. And what exactly is dry-aging all about? Read all about it here.

Need a hands-on intro to dry-aged beef? Try some of these greatest-hits steaks from Allen Brothers, and raise a glass to Mrs. Child while you’re at it.

Yours,

Allie B.

First off, you’ll want to stock up on our Great Steakhouse Steak Dogs—the hot dog to beat all hot dogs.  Bursting with juiciness, and made with an all-natural casing, these Chicago-style dogs come in three sizes (jumbo, regular, and mini) and are precooked, so all you have to do is brown them on the grill and stuff them into a bun with all your favorite condiments.

And what cookout is complete without… burgers! Our Great Steakhouse Burgers are made with—what else?—USDA Prime beef. They’re extra-plump, oozing with juice, and truly unforgettable. For maximum variety, excitement, and make-everyone-happy hospitality, try our other signature burger variations too: Our Turkey Burgers are super-moist and spiced up with pepper, onion, and soy, and they pack a nutritious punch. The Chipotle Sliders are made with USDA Prime beef and spiked with smoky chipotle peppers—a perfect snack with a cold beer. Our Italian-inspired Gilia Burgers blend ground sirloin, veal, and pork with a zingy hit of garlic and herbs.

As for my favorite? I’m partial to our Lamb Burgers, created by the ingenious chef Suvir Saran, author of the fabulous Indian-meets-American cookbook American Masala. Suvir mixes premium ground lamb with mint and parmesan to create these exceptional juice-bombs. Click here for Suvir’s tips on how to grill a perfect lamb-burger, plus bonus recipes for his cilantro-yogurt sauce and cucumber-tomato salad—the genius toppings for his lamb burgers, plus all kinds of meats you’ve got cooking on the grill.

Yours,

Allie B.

“Because lamb is the most full flavored of the everyday meats, it makes a more delicious plain burger than beef. Cooked with nothing but salt, it’s fantastic. Cooked with a variety of spices, it’s a game-changer.”

Chef Suvir Saran’s Lamb Burger, available right here from Allen Brothers, is most definitely a game-changer. If you’re planning to grill some up this summer, take note of Suvir’s tips on how to make sure the burgers come out extra-juicy and delicious:

“Don’t press the burgers with a spatula—you’ll lose the juiciness,” Suvir tells me. “If they’re getting a burnt crust from a too-hot flame, move them to the cooler part of the grill. Dip a wad of paper towels in a bowl of oil to grease the grates before placing the burger on them. Make an indentation in the center of the burger so it puffs up flat and not like a football while cooking. These are great made into small flat meatballs and skewered for the grill, too.”

And one more thing: “Many chefs will brush the burgers with melted butter, and that’s what makes them seem even that much more decadent and awesome,” adds Suvir. “But the Allen Brothers lamb burgers don’t need that—unless you must be over-the-top. These are very juicy and very moist burgers to begin with.”

Suvir likes to serve the lamb burgers on brioche or sesame-seed buns, and to top them with his cilantro-yogurt sauce and a quick cucumber-tomato salad. See below for his recipes for those, and happy grilling!

Yours,

Allie B.

Cilantro-yogurt sauce

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 jalapeños, seeded, veined and minced

2 cups fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

2-inch piece of gingerroot, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 small red onion, minced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup plain yogurt

In a food processor, combine all ingredients except the yogurt and process until fine. Fold the yogurt in, then spread some of this sauce on the bottom half of each burger bun, and more on the lamb burger itself.

Cucumber-tomato salad

1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

1 small cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded and thinly sliced

½ small red onion, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon cracked peppercorns.

Mix all the ingredients together and use as a topping for the lamb burger. Enjoy!