low and slow smoked turkey

Suggest you try this (i.e., the brine and smoke route) before cooking for a major thanksgiving meal.

I made two runs at the brining and smoking thing last year, second was worst than first, and I was ultimately banned from cooking turkey for family until I have more practice :ermm: . Challenge is getting too much smoke into meat. I also was not a big fan of the flavor left by brining (I used a kosher salt, brown sugar mix I found on forum and packed turkey in ice in a water cooler overnight).

Anyway, others can better tell you how, my only purpose for this post is to suggest you not experiment on family gathering. And if you hit a home run, be sure and post for us newbys!!!!!

Good luck!!!

I did a 12lbs turkey without brining. It came out moist and flavorful. I used only 1 or 2 chunks (if that) of hickory. I followed same directions for cooking it on BGE as you would in a reg. oven. Also you can try Mad Max's version. I will do that for this Thanksgiving. Just practice before the big day.

Stef in Brunswick, Ohio

you don't need to go low and slow on a turkey. you stand a better chance of crispy skin at higher temps. you can certainly slow roast it (like you said, at 250), but i'm not sure you gain anything by it. i mean, it's not like you are doing a pork butt and taking the meat to 200 where it'll fall apart.

higher temps means less time in the oven, and the less time in the oven, there's less worry about drying it out

as others mentioned, turkey seems to show the smoke a bit more than other foods. it's a fairly mild meat, so the smoke stands out. it doesn't 'absorb' smoke, for what it's worth, let alone any more than other meat. the smoke sits on the surface (smoke flavor, i mean). but it does stand out more on mild foods. smoked cheese, for example, can really be smokey.

best thing to do for your first time on the egg is to do it the way you always did it in the oven. same temps, too.

or, you can follow max's well-made tutorial. it's an excellent cook, with incredibly complete directions.

but remember, the egg is an oven (in this case), however it worked in your regular oven will be fine. you might find it'll cook faster though, even maybe 10 minutes a pound versus 15 to 20.

part of that is just the nature of the egg (very little energy being lost to the environment). but part of it too is that we tend to not cook things to as high a finished temp. i do the turkey to 160 in the breast MAX (actually, i shoot for 155-157ish). the legs are usually 185 or more.

don't wait for that stupid pop-up thing to go off (if the bird has one). they pop at "well overdone" temps, like 180 or more.

your bird will be more moist than you are used to. you don't need to brine for moisture's sake. do it for flavor if you want though, many do.

atlBBQ,

If you are looking at a true smoked turkey I think it needs to be cured. This would be used for sliced meat, turkey legs etc. It is cured then hot smoked at around 200*. I would go with a hotter cook for a roast turkey as stike so eloquently described in his usual semi verbose manner

Steve

i put them in sometimes at around 210 to 220, takes all day into the night :laugh: if your looking for a traditional turkey with smome flavor roast it at 325 with just a little smoking wood, dont add too much. the low and slow is different than a traditional turkey, i cook them when i want to go fishing for 8 9 hours and just want something to eat when i get back from fishing, sometimes its still not done and i have to raise the temps. anyone that says it will dry out has never done one, they are so moist sometimes that they are literally dripping, the texture is off a bit, slight stick when chewing, doesnt have that roasted texture, and you toss the skin as it turns to rubber. low and slow turkey makes an incredible sandwhich next day though. if this is for tday you want to roast it, its whats expected from a turkey, if you want to just cook one saterday, go for it although i have read poultry does have some safety issues with low and slows