Kiln-cooked turkeys a Thanksgiving tradition at UAF
November 23, 2016
Jeff Richardson
907-474-6284
![UAF photo by Todd Paris. University of Alaska Fairbanks ceramics professor Jim Brashear prepares a turkey for cooking at the UAF ceramics studio.](https://news.uaf.edu//news.uaf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/TP-12-3659-1-400x600.jpg)
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Jim Brashear has vivid memories of his first Thanksgiving at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He was living alone in a faculty housing unit and looking for a place to cook a turkey.
The ceramics professor figured he’d try something different, inspired by an old Chinese cooking technique. Brashear encased a turkey in clay, tossed it in one of the kilns in the ceramics studio, and hoped for the best.
“Lo and behold, it worked,” Brashear said with a smile. “It was pretty good right off the bat, so that started a tradition.”
Since that experiment in 1992, Brashear and his students have celebrated each Thanksgiving by preparing kiln-cooked turkeys. The birds are the centerpiece of a meal for students and others who can’t make it home for Thanksgiving, with 100 or more people packing the studio for a potluck-style feast.
For many at UAF, it’s become a novel way to kick off the holiday, with everyone from chancellors to new students dropping by through the years.
Brashear led a half-dozen students on Wednesday morning who worked to prepare four birds, filling them with a mixture of oranges, apples, onions and cubed butter before wrapping them in foil, clay and wet newspaper. The technique creates a sealed environment around the turkey, keeping it moist and tender as it cooks in the kiln.
The idea of cooking in a ceramics studio, surrounded by half-finished bowls and sculptures, initially felt a little odd to UAF student Wendy Connelley. But after sampling some of Brashear’s tasty turkey four years ago, she became a believer. She has made the meal an annual tradition for her family ever since.
![UAF photo by JR Ancheta. Turkeys encased in clay are prepared for cooking inside a kiln at the University of Alaska Fairbanks ceramics studio.](https://news.uaf.edu//news.uaf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/JR-15-4736-7-600x400.jpg)
“The first time, the thought of cooking it here was off,” Connelley said as she chopped garlic. “Now that I’ve been working with ceramics a while, I think of it like a big toaster oven.”
Brashear said he’s learned a few lessons to improve the process. A layer of wet newspapers over the clay keeps the coating from cracking. Digital thermometers have also helped — before they were installed on the kilns he’d toss pieces of paper inside, knowing the temperature had hit 420 degrees when the paper burned.
Brashear has also come up with a good stuffing, after a few glitches. Traditional bread stuffing made the cook time go too slowly, so he dropped it. While bargain-hunting a few years ago, he decided to substitute grapefruit for oranges, which isn’t a trade he’ll be making again.
![UAF photo by Todd Paris. A turkey is prepared for cooking by coating it with newspaper and clay at the University of Alaska Fairbanks ceramics studio.](https://news.uaf.edu//news.uaf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/TP-12-3659-73-600x400.jpg)
But through the decades, participants said, the companionship as much as the food keeps bringing them back.
“This is fun,” said ceramics student Steve Keller as he rolled out a large clay oval. “Everybody knows everybody, and when new people come we welcome them into it.”