Another Trial Thread - Turkey - First time on Egg

stevez

Would like some advice please.  Brined a 14 lbs turkey and put it on the Egg yesterday afternoon.  Set up was Platesetter with legs down, target temp 350 degrees; drip pans under grate.  I had the turkey in a roasting pan as I was following a recipe in the BGE cookbook that called for it covered for the first hour to hour and a half.  Then, cooked uncovered for an hour and it wasn't browning the way I wanted.  Took it out of the roasting pan and placed directly on the grill for about 30 minutes.  Very uneven browning but it was done, so took it off.  Had one chunk of cherry and had a compound butter under the skin for the whole time with herbs, etc. 

The turkey was awesome really.  Not over-smoked at all and my wife is very sensitive to that.  Very juicy and tasty.  The only thing I didn't care for was the uneven browning and it just didn't have the eye appeal. All in all, I'll take it, but wanted everyone's thoughts on using the roasting pan. I don't see many here doing that.  Wasn't great at taking pics, but here are a few.  I want my Thanksgiving dinner to be great so any advice appreciated.  Thanks. Steve

(P.S.  threw on a small brisket point for making chili later)

Foghorn

1) That turkey is a winner. If you bust it out on Thanksgiving you will get a lot of praise and high 5s. But we are all our own worst critics. 

2) With that said, I wonder if your browning problem is related to your butter under the skin combined with cooking it covered for a portion of the cook. Hopefully someone with more turkey expertise than me will come along but getting good skin requires some drying. At that temp it ought to be possible - but you may need to go uncovered. 

vettman

I never butter it has a tendency to burn, I use olive oil.  I also brined for the first time last year and it turned out even juicer.  Also I don't use roasting pan. I just place mine in my rib rack flipped over.  Have fun and good luck.

bettyball

Great post thankyou for sharing with us