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1st time smoking a turkey

First time trial smoking a turkey and this forum helped me out a lot.  I was able to smoke the turkey to where everyone enjoyed it and ate it up.  The dark meat was perfect and the breast meat was a little over done but not dry.  It was a 12# turkey which I brined in a salt and spice solution for about 20 hours. I dried it for a couple of hours and applied a dry rub on it which is mostly paparika and brown sugar. Stuffed an onion and a some celery in it and smoked it for 4 hours at 275 degrees. I did face the bird legs to the back which I learned to do reading this forum.  I was advised who ate the turkey to smoke another one Thanksgiving. 


Comments

  • NorthPilot06
    NorthPilot06 Posts: 1,179
    Looks like you nailed it!  It’s always a sign of success when you’re asked to repeat your cooks. 

    And welcome to the forum!  
    DFW - 1 LGBE & Happy to Adopt More...
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 34,009
    Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Above all, have fun.
    Way to jump right in with that turkey cook.  Most eggcellent.  
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • 1voyager
    1voyager Posts: 1,157
    Looking amazing. What wood chunks did you use?
    Large Egg, PGS A40 gasser.
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,285
    Isn't that a great feeling when asked to do the turkey. It took a few years to convince my mom that I had the turkey covered. It only took that one time and now I'm on turkey duty. I made two turkeys for Thanksgiving last year as I wanted to inject one of them. I didn't want to make any turkey purists mad with injecting so I also smoked a plain one. The injected turkey was a carcass by the time everything was done. I'm thinking plain oven turkey is a thing of the past. 

    Your bird looks fantastic and sound like you may be stuck cooking turkeys for years to come! Not like it's a bad thing.  ;)
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • WeberWho
    WeberWho Posts: 11,285
    Welcome by the way!!!
    "The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan

    Minnesota
  • Dave58
    Dave58 Posts: 2
    Thanks everyone. I used hickory chunks cause that’s what I had. 
  • Mad Max suggests taking a bag of ice and placing it on the breast of the turkey for about 20 minutes before putting on the egg.  This will give the dark meat a head start and keep the breast from drying out.  Alot of people here swear by the Mad Max method, I have not had the opportunity to try it yet.  IMO, if you have fans of the current method there is no reason to change for the sake of changing.
    XL BGE 
    Saints fan stuck in Dallas
  • mEGG_My_Day
    mEGG_My_Day Posts: 1,658
    Well done and welcome to the forum. 
    Memphis, TN 

    LBGE, 2 SBGE, Hasty-Bake Gourmet
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,696
    I am retired and don't have 4 hours to do a turkey. I like direct / raised at 400/425 and your bird will be done in app 90 mins.  Oh, hold way back on the wood please.
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now).