After reading board, I'm confused on smoking temps for Turkey. . .

Washog

Reading these posts suggesting 300+ temps for cooking Turkey, I've always been told that cooking with temps above 250 is counterproductive to smoking? I was prepared to smoke my Turkey at 250 degrees when I read TLHRPT’S post below WARNING that cooking Turkey in ranges that I was told is favorable to smoking, (225-250) will result in a tough and rubbery bird! Now I’m confused! I was planning on using Madmax’s setup and any suggestions would be appreciated? [p]Thanks

egghead2004

Washog,
Not sure how much smoke you are looking for, but all the poultry I cook comes out better 325 - 400. The larger the bird, the lower I go. I soak my wood chunks of choice for an hour before I drop the bird in. You will get a very nice smokey taste that way.
I have cooked a turkey many years ago on my old Brinkman, 19 pounds @ 250 for 14 hours. Too much smoke and a fairly dry bird.
just my 2C

The Naked Whiz

Washog,
I think that folks with ECB's and WSM's and other metal smokers would smoke their turkeys at those temperatures because that is primarily what they do best. However, my attitude with the Egg has been that I now have a ceramic oven in which to roast my turkey, so I roast it like I would in the oven, at 325 degrees. This doesn't prevent adding smoke flavor to the bird as poultry will suck up a lot of smoke (Pardon the highly technical language, lol!) I think that roasting at the higher temp will give you better skin and doing the bird faster results in a better result. However, all those guys with their metal smokers must have been doing something right, so you might want to try it both ways and see how you like it. Good luck!
TNW

mad max beyond eggdome

Washog,
to echo what the others said, that big bird will soak up as much smoke flavor as you want at 325 degrees. . .bury a couple of big chunks of wood in your load of lump. ..you get a great smokey flavor, in a very moist turkey. ..best of both world. . .

Unknown

Mr. Washog,[p]For every one turkey that is cooked on an outside smoker at say 350 degrees, there will be at least a few hundred cooked at 250 degrees. Nice thing about a ceramic cooker is that they can run a higher temp and most folks will do them at the higher temp. It takes a little less time, and does have some affect on the skin. It is also much safer especially with the larger birds. However, at the lower temp, the texture will be the same and not be tough or rubbery. As for smoke, it only takes about an hour at either temp to get enough smoke into a turkey. [p]Now for the skin--if you are one of the 20-30% that likes to eat the skin, either method will work well but not perfect. The lower cooking temp will have enough time to cook more fat out of the skin resulting in a much thinner skin but slightly tough. The higher temp will usually give you a more tender skin but it is usually a little more rubbery. [p]As for suggestions for your bird, if is is over 14 pounds and you want to cook it at 250 degrees which is just fine, be sure to use some TenderQuick in the brine to protect it at the lower temp. It's not a very good year for poultry as it is estimated that a full 15% of the poultry on the shelves is comtaminated with old sally which is up from 13% from last year and a person should be very careful with this meat. Regardless of which method you use, please keep it out of the danger zone for no more than about four hours and you will do fine. [p]Hope this helps,[p]Dave

fishlessman

Washog,
i have cooked many turkeys both ways and they do come out moist. teh texture will be slightly different, but you wont know it unless you cook 2 birds and sample from both.i still cook them both ways and it is a matter of convenience.if im leaving in the morning and coming home when it is dark again, low 225grill temp. if i want to get up at 8 in the morning and be eating at 2, 350 roast. both ways pick up a nice smoke flavor. for me, getting up at 2 in the morning for an afternoon bird would be inconveient. the important thing is that you get that bird off the grill when the temps are in the 162-165 range in the breast , and 175 in the dark meat.