Hawaiian Luau Kalua styled Turkey

Mike McQ

Ingredients

• 13-15 lb Turkey	• 2 Fresh lemons quartered, juice squeezed, rind tossed in
• 1 The Brine Follows:	• 2 Fresh limes quartered, juice squeezed, rind tossed in
• 3 gal Water, enough to just cover birdie	• 1 Sweet red pepper cut up
• 1 Cup Soy sauce	• 1 Wweet yellow pepper cut
• 1 Cup Sea salt	• 6 Cloves garlic crushed
• 2.5 Cup Dark brown sugar	• 1 Large chunk of ginger root, peeled and crushed
• 2 Tbs Ground allspice	• 1 Core from fresh pineapple (fruit for salad) or small can
• 2 Tbs Black pepper	• 12 Peels from dozen or so madarin oranges (fruit for salad)
• 1 Tbs Thyme	• 12 Ti leaves (optional)
• 1 1 large sweet onion chopped

Instructions

Give your bird a brine bath in the frig for a minimum 12hrs, 24hrs or longer better:)

Remove Turkey and strain the brine keeping the solid goodies. Now stuff the bird with same.

If you really want all out authentic next completely wrap your bird in Ti leaves. (pronounced tea) I couldn't find them locally at any oriental market, ordered them from a Florist!

The wood, Mesquite. My research revealed it's the closest to the Kava used traditionally in Hawaii, except it's gotten hard for them to even get so they often use mesquite themselves!

Since I use a Big Green Traeger instead of a Big Green Egg specific technique will vary. I slow smoke (~150°f) for 6 hrs then raised to 225°f for about another 8hrs or so. I only took internal temp to 165° my first two. The breast meat was so moist it just squirted. It was not fall apart like pulled pork. I'm thinking my next one to take it to 200° and see how it is.

The second one I did was for Thanksgiving and I didn't want the pale skin you'll get wrapping with Ti leaves so I omitted them. Taste was almost the same but the Ti leaves do impart a bit of their own unique flavor. Hmmm, just had a thought. Maybe remove them after about half done cooking as a compromise...

Notes

Coconut macadamia nut candied yams, fresh mixed fruit salad, Hawaiian sweet rolls etc make it a fun Hawaiian style feast. Poi optional:)

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