Inedible smoked turkey skin

SirSquatch

This may be a dumb question that I should know the answer to, but I'm going to ask it anyways. I smoked my first turkey last thanksgiving on my Brother In Laws XL, it came out great, except we had to remove all the skin from the meat as it tasted horrible. We smoked it at 225 over hickory, which I'm wondering was the issue? Too much smoke for too long? Do I need to go 250-275 with something like Apple? Is this something I'm not going to get around if I want to go low and slow with a large turkey? Suggestions?

This is what it looked like coming off the Egg, looked pretty good IMO. 

Legume

I have no idea how much smoke you put on it, but they don't need much.  Cooking temp may also play a part, I don't think the skin will render much at that temp unless you cooked for hours and hours.  How long was your cook?  Was it just the taste or the texture too?

fishlessman

low and slow does not produce good skin, usually rubbery, roasting above 350 will make it better. it also helps to loosen the skin, have slipped frozen duck fat under the skin with a turkey rub mixed in and got decent results

SirSquatch

Legume said:

I have no idea how much smoke you put on it, but they don't need much.  Cooking temp may also play a part, I don't think the skin will render much at that temp unless you cooked for hours and hours.  How long was your cook?  Was it just the taste or the texture too?

I honestly can't remember the exact number of hours, had to be somewhere close to 6 (it was an 20ish pound bird). The texture was very rubbery, not the nice crunch I was expecting. 

JustineCaseyFeldown

if it was smoking the whole time, that's the problem.

with ribs and pork butt, the outer surface isn't eaten all at once.  with turkey, you yank off a hunk of skin and get nothing but the exterior.

totally different

and if you smoked the whole time, well, that's the bigger issue.

i dry the bird overnight, after loosening the skin.  a little smoke, but not much.

ends up with crispy skin, a rustic hint of smoke, and that's it.

JethroVA

Hickory might be a bit strong for poultry.  My wife doesn't like a lot of smoke, so when I do chicken I just use lump charcoal without adding wood. 

lkapigian

I prefer smaller birds no matter how I am cooking it- 6 hours in an extremely long time for a bird and Hickory is strong as well--I like my birds done 2.5 hours ish

Photo Egg

Viewing the photo of your XL above, looks like your drip pan is resting directly on the platesetter. What ever liquids are in the pan are either burning, if it's just a drip pan, or boiling/steaming if it's full of liquids. Neither of the these things will help your turkey skin texture or flavor. But your bird looks fantastic...

RRP

Skin on that bird reminds me of those Q-Tip ladies walking the beach in FL! Mostly just bones and worn saddle leather! 

lkapigian

Photo Egg said:

Viewing the photo of your XL above, looks like your drip pan is resting directly on the platesetter. What ever liquids are in the pan are either burning, if it's just a drip pan, or boiling/steaming if it's full of liquids. Neither of the these things will help your turkey skin texture or flavor. But your bird looks fantastic...

Nice Catch..........took ne a few before I realized that--3 pieces of rolled does the trick

billt01

between hour 2 and 3, put a wet cheese cloth over the bird and spritz ever 45 minutes to an hour...

SGH

@SirSquatch
Without seeing the entire setup and having all the pertinent info, it's hard to give an exacting answer. 
However, just basing it on what you said above and what I see in the pic, your dilemma is akin to the fat lady in a bikini contest. To much of a good thing if you will. 
Your bird certainly sounds and looks "over smoked". Try this next time no matter what the cooking temp. If you cook at 300 or below, use 2 chunks about this size. If you run above 300, use 3 chunks about this size. That all the wood needed for poultry in a kamado style smoker. 

For a reverence and visual aid, here is the said fat girl. Sometimes it's just to much my friend. No matter how good the intentions. 

gdenby

If you want some go-o-o-d turkey, check out the Mad Max recipes. The roasting is done above 300, and there is just a tiny bit of fruit wood for smoke. Myself, I work the herb butter under the skin. Seems to help toast the skin, and the meat get a not too tough browned layer.

billt01

My go to every year....

http://www.stumpssmokersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1645

xfire_ATX

My first Turkey was on a side smoker, my wife convinced me to rub oil on the bird to "crisp up" the skin".  It picked up so much of an inedible bad smoke on the skin that I had to pull it all off.

Since then I have cooked higher- 325-350 range for less time and only used dry rubs.  This time I will use the raised direct method with no more than a 10# bird- If I have to cook two I will.

SirSquatch

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll definitely reduce the smoke and probably move at least a slightly higher temp.

I didn't know I was going to be smoking a turkey when I showed up the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to my in-laws, my BIL just walked me out back, showed me the XL that he had just bought and said "Hey look, now you can really smoke the turkey tomorrow", so a bit of Youtube and I went with the little bit of info I could find (wish I had spent more time and found this place). 

JustineCaseyFeldown

I go lower temp for what it is worth. Temp isn't the issue. Except that the same amount of wood gives off more smoke at higher temps than it does lower. 

Amount of wood seems to be the issue here