Basic turkey

Powak

Moving my turkey cook out to the egg this year to free up the oven. Need some tips. 

I’ve gotta 14.5 lb turkey. 

How long and what temp?
SWMBO says no smoke or smokey flavor so i’m Getting the coal burning good an hour before popping on the turkey.

Should I put it on the rib/roast rack?
I’ve gotta tin of homemade dressing from my Michigan buddy, gonna switch that out with the drip tray in the plate setter last 45 minutes or so.

steel_egg

I use my egg for the turkey. Turned out great. Usually 350 or so indirect. Takes about 15min/lb. I think last year mine was done in about 3 1/2 hours. 

Read somewhere this year that brined turkeys cook faster. Not sure the science or accuracy behind that. 

Throw some cherry in for good measure. 

I put mine in a rib rack and toss that in a roasting pan. 

Powak

steel_egg said:

I use my egg for the turkey. Turned out great. Usually 350 or so indirect. Takes about 15min/lb. I think last year mine was done in about 3 1/2 hours. 

Read somewhere this year that brined turkeys cook faster. Not sure the science or accuracy behind that. 

Throw some cherry in for good measure. 

I put mine in a rib rack and toss that in a roasting pan. 

Roasting pan after the egg to hold it? Did you need to do any covering/tinfoiling in the egg?

fishlessman

stuffing can get bitter tasting in the egg, you might not want to put that in there if smoke is a concern

fishlessman

start checking internal temps at the 12 minute per pound mark, i cook mostly turkeys from a nearby farm and most of them get done quick

Powak

Do you guys roll 325 or 350°? Does one or the other make a difference for skin crispness and minutes per pound?

steel_egg

I only tent i browning gets too dark. Otherwise I let it roll. Not many skin eaters around me anyway. 

I do 350. I keep a digital probe but 12 min/# may be a good time to check. 

steel_egg

fishlessman said:

start checking internal temps at the 12 minute per pound mark, i cook mostly turkeys from a nearby farm and most of them get done quick

This years bird is farm fresh so I guess I should keep an eye it. 

500

As suggested to me, I’m going to 157* IT at the breast and rest for 30 minutes

wardo

I did my first whole turkey a couple months back.  Below is the link for the cook.

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1221474/first-whole-turkey-on-the-egg#latest

I am doing basically the same thing again but with a very slightly larger bird.  The almost 15lb bird EASILY fit on my LBGE.  I cooked at 325 until an IT of 165 in the breast.  I also did light smoke, basically a handful of wood and that was it.  I did mine spatchcock so the cook time was pretty quick.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Powak

I’m planning on stuffing a couple lemons and onions in my bird. Does anyone know if you should halve em first and if those are going to effect the cook time? Shootin for 12 minutes a pound now on average based from what I’ve read. 

Powak

Turkey came out pretty good. Started keeping a tight eye on things once the breast hit 165°. Got the thigh to 170° and pulled it. When the breasts were at 165 the thighs were 164ish but I read on a few different sites about getting the thighs to 170+. It was a hair dry but swmbo’s killer gravy took care of that. When scoring the carcass for all the meats I could get,  I noticed the bottom didn’t seem all that cooked- At least from a visual perspective,how the skin looked.  Is this common in the egg? If I had it up higher on the bge rib/roast rack would this have taken care of that? I was going to use that but it didn’t seem like it would fit. 

steel_egg

very nice. 

Maybe. I put mine in a run rack/ roaster setup. Never noticed anything undercooked. 

Powak

steel_egg said:

very nice. 

Maybe. I put mine in a run rack/ roaster setup. Never noticed anything undercooked. 

Man that looks awesome! What size bird and egg?
And what temps did you run and pull at ?