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Whole turkey help

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Seanr7
Seanr7 Posts: 207
in EggHead Forum
My XL BGE will be delivered tomorrow. My better half's family will be in next week from all points on the compass. I will be EGGing a turkey with, by Sunday one or two cooks behind me. She will want traditional so HELP! Please! Nothing like a little pressure to get this right right off the bat.
XL BGE
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  • stevesails
    stevesails Posts: 990
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    Mad max Turkey. Do a search. Or spatch ****. Make sure the smoke is clear. Or some of those people that complain will.

    XL   Walled Lake, MI

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  • Scottborasjr
    Scottborasjr Posts: 3,494
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    Do a search on the forum for spatchcock turkey and I believe you will find a few ideas.  Good luck.
    I raise my kids, cook and golf.  When work gets in the way I'm pissed, I'm pissed off 48 weeks a year.
    Inbetween Iowa and Colorado, not close to anything remotely entertaining outside of football season. 
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  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
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    Look up Michael rulman's poultry brine. After brining, let the bird air-dry for 24 hours in the fridge. Go indirect at 325 - 350 until finished.

    I did this for thanksgiving last year and it was insane. I iced the breasts for 30 minutes before cooking as well.
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  • Seanr7
    Seanr7 Posts: 207
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    Spatchcock is something I'm looking forward to doing, but not with her family as gin nee pigs. Looking up Michael rulman's poultry brine now, thanks for the ideas, please keep them coming.
    XL BGE
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  • Scottborasjr
    Scottborasjr Posts: 3,494
    edited October 2013
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    Yeah I forgot about Mad Max, that way's fantastic.  Never tried Rulman's poultry brine but it sounds like a winner as well.  One thing that will become more apparent with each cook @SeanR7 is that there are so many different ways to make the same things taste amazing on the egg.

    Don't take it the wrong way, everytime you cook something new for the next 30 years your family will be the guinea pigs, might as well get started.
    :)
    I raise my kids, cook and golf.  When work gets in the way I'm pissed, I'm pissed off 48 weeks a year.
    Inbetween Iowa and Colorado, not close to anything remotely entertaining outside of football season. 
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  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
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    Are you presenting the turkey at the table or pre-cutting? If the latter you can spatchcock but if you carve tableside, I wouldn't. I think it looks really ugly and it may insult your wife's "traditional" sensibilities. The whole bird looks much nicer for tableside cutting.
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  • Seanr7
    Seanr7 Posts: 207
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    Going for looks as well as taste. Her mom would **** if it didn't look like a turkey should look, so to keep her happy and me relatively sober I'm going traditional.
    XL BGE
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  • stevesails
    stevesails Posts: 990
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    I would suggest doing a whole chicken. This week Before the turkey.
    I will say it again. Make sure you wait for the smoke to clear. Wait at least 15 or 20 minutes. Then put on the bird. That it's the most common problem with new egg owners.
    XL   Walled Lake, MI

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  • Scottborasjr
    Scottborasjr Posts: 3,494
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    Totally agree with @stevesails, I would make sure you load plenty of lump in the Egg and let the fire go until the smoke is clear and smells appealing no matter what method you end up using. Also when preparing a cook that will need to go at a relatively high temp for a longer period, make sure you don't let the fire get away from you when first starting the Egg.  I don't have an XL but once the ceramics and coals get going in my Eggs they can be hard to cool down.
    I raise my kids, cook and golf.  When work gets in the way I'm pissed, I'm pissed off 48 weeks a year.
    Inbetween Iowa and Colorado, not close to anything remotely entertaining outside of football season. 
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  • Seanr7
    Seanr7 Posts: 207
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    That's what the rep showed me the other day, just how fast you can get the temp to rise, I was amazed. I'm sure I'll be overwhelmed but that's the best way to learn, well that and bourbon.
    XL BGE
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  • TexanOfTheNorth
    TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
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    I did a 20lb. turkey just last Monday for Canadian Thanksgiving. Here's a link to my post.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
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  • bettysnephew
    bettysnephew Posts: 1,189
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    You might also consider a very small chunk of pecan wood if a bit of smokiness is not a problem for the group, it imparts a beautiful golden brown skin tone on the finished bird.  Be sure to keep it light however as smoke easily overpowers on poultry.

    A poor widows son.
    See der Rabbits, Iowa
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  • Dredger
    Dredger Posts: 1,468
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    We use the Spanek vertical roaster. You can even carve the turkey while it is still on the roaster. Very efficient.
    Large BGE
    Greenville, SC
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  • dlk7
    dlk7 Posts: 1,053
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    Mad Max turkey is the favorite at our house for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The gravy is great too.

    Two XL BGEs - So Happy!!!!

    Waunakee, WI

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  • Candu
    Candu Posts: 2
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    I have done turkey on the BGE for the last 3 thanksgivings in Canada.

    I brine the turkey and after brining and rinsing I put butter under the skin so it doesn't melt and fall in the dripping pan. I use applewood chips for smoking and it comes out great.

    I made a mistake the first time where the turkey was so big it touched the egg thermometer giving me a false reading. The turkey eas ready way to early because the temperature was hotter than I thought. Since I had brined and buttered it though it still came out moist.

    I have also seen a roaster for doing beer can turkey where the turkey sits on a half full can of beer. Standing the turkey up though would make a tight fit though.

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  • QDude
    QDude Posts: 1,052
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    A heavy coat of kosher salt over the bird will accomplish the same thing as brining. Keep the temp around 325 for a turkey. It will take just a couple of hours or so to cook for a 15 pound bird. After an hour I usually put foil over the legs to keep them from getting too dark.

    Northern Colorado Egghead since 2012.

    XL BGE and a KBQ.

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  • The Cen-Tex Smoker
    The Cen-Tex Smoker Posts: 22,970
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    QDude said:
    A heavy coat of kosher salt over the bird will accomplish the same thing as brining. Keep the temp around 325 for a turkey. It will take just a couple of hours or so to cook for a 15 pound bird. After an hour I usually put foil over the legs to keep them from getting too dark.
    A heavy coat of kosher salt over the bird will accomplish the same thing as brining

    well...............not really. 
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
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  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,731
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    Eggcelsior said:
    Look up Michael rulman's poultry brine. After brining, let the bird air-dry for 24 hours in the fridge. Go indirect at 325 - 350 until finished. I did this for thanksgiving last year and it was insane. I iced the breasts for 30 minutes before cooking as well.
    +1. This is basically how I did our turkey last year for Thanksgiving ( not on the egg though). Family voted it the best turkey I've ever made.

    I agree with Cen-Tex. Dry brining is a somewhat different beast, and is not simply a matter of coating the bird with kosher salt. It takes a couple of days from what I have read. I saw this article some time ago and have been meaning to try it, but we will be travelling for Thanksgiving this year. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/18/food/fo-calcook18

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
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  • allsid
    allsid Posts: 492
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    Hopefully this link will help-  It is my first experience doing a bird and althoughI got a little lucky, it turned out fantastic.  Take a peek at my setup, and also the link to amazing ribs.  You may get some ideas-

    Good luck & let us know how it turned out-  P
    Proud resident of Missoula, MT
    https://www.facebook.com/GrillingMontana
    http://grillingmontana.com
    https://instagram.com/grillingmontana

    Check out my book on Kamado cooking called Exclusively Kamado:
    http://bit.ly/kamadobook

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  • TangoT2
    TangoT2 Posts: 12
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    I cook mine upside down on a V rack with good ol Texas mesquite.  Wife was pissed the first time because it was not pretty with the stripes <BUT> my guests always rave about the taste. She has gotten used to it and now it's her idea.  The XL can take more but like above, the large can take about a 20 lb bird.  If the bird it too large it will touch the thermometer.  I had that happen. 

    TangoT2

    ><(((°> ><(((°> <x)))>< ><(((°>

    Only dead fish go with the flow.

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  • Solson005
    Solson005 Posts: 1,911
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    Here is the mad max link (which if you haven't stumbled apon the naked whiz site, it is a great place along with this forum to gather info about cooking on the egg) http://www.nakedwhiz.com/madmaxturkey.htm

    We did a 21 lb turkey for thanksgiving last year and kept it simple to not scare anyone who wanted a traditional turkey, no brine, no wood chunks just salt and pepper @350 just like it was in the oven. Everyone LOVED it and said we could add smoke seasoning or anything we wanted as long as it was cooked on the egg! https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1145866/stir-fry-turkey-day-and-bedlam-game-long-time-no-post#latest
    Large & Small BGE, CGW Two-Tier Swing Rack for BOTH EGGS, Spider for the Wok, eggCARTen & and Cedar Pergola my Eggs call home in Edmond, OK. 
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