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smoking a turkey
Comments
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Michael Galloway,
Yes to the drip pan. We usually use apple wood for our smoke . The only thing we do is rinse Mr. T real well pat dry mist with olive oil or slather on some butter and a light sprinkling of paparica (?)
Using your Polder Cook at 25 - 30 min a lb till breast meat reads 186*
When you bring Mr. T in be sure to put a deep pan or dish under him before you start to carve because the juices (keep all of the juice for gravy, it's unbelieviabley good)
In our neighborhood I generally give the downwind neighbors movie tickets that day because They tend to stand on the deck and drool pathetically expecting me to feed them.
HAve fun
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Michael Galloway,[p] Brine! I tried brining my bird (24+ pounds -- barely fit in Mr. Avocado) last Thanksgiving and am now don't like to do poultry without brining. Other than that, I'd recommend pecan (my favorite for turkey) or some kind of fruitwood (apple is good also, as Sundown said) for smoke. I normally start the bird out at around 225 for an hour or so to get the smoke in there good, then turn up the heat into the 300s. Normally, I try to get the bird out of there right before the thigh hits 180F. 186F in the breast seems a bit high to me. I use a drip pan on top of firebricks or a pizza stone. Couldn't use the vertical roaster last Thankgiving 'cause the bird was so huge. Rubbing with butter or olive oil is a good idea. You can also try placing a wet rub of some kind (I like it a bit garlic intensive) under the skin before cooking.[p]MikeO
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Sundown, I like to lightly tent my birds and stuff them with apples too. I do them at 250 until done, lowwwww and slowwwwww. Brining is a must!
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Huck,
Haven't tried brining the bird yet. I'm not sure of the benefits although many of our Forum friends keep talking about them. The birds I've dome are moist and more flavorful than any bird done in a regular oven. I suppose I should at least try the method soon or remain in the dark...doncha think?[p]Carey
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Thanks to all of you for your helpful hints! I'll let you know how it turns out. I appreiciate it! MG
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MikeO, just a question for future use, but what kind of vessle do you use to brine a fully immersed 24# turkey? I think we have lots of cooking utensils, but that verges on a wastebasket size doesn't it? and then getting that into a refrig...whoa momma! RRP
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RRP,
I use a medium sized cooler. My son is the official ice bag changer and keeps a couple of gallon sized ziplocs full of ice rotating for the duration of the brine. This frees up the fridge and solves the big container problem. Get a cooler with no drain plug, brine is supremely messy stuff!
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Sundown, It's the cat's meow. Brining is a VAST improver of moisture retention. It has to do with cellular moisture transfer or something or other that I read about. I can't find the link, perhaps someone else has it. All I know is that it works. Try a chicken if you want. I add about half a bottle of Worchestchire sauce to my brine, yuuuummmmmyyyyy!!!! Pineapple juice is good too! It's great to play around with.
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RRP,[p] Funny story, actually (it is now, anyway). Had the brilliant idea that I could containt the turkey and the brine in a double layer of those oven bags. The plan was to put Mr. Turkey and the brine in the bags, squeeze the air out and place in a disposable styrofoam cooler. Worked fine until I got the whole mess into the bags. Now then, one would think that someone who was in charge of a nuclear reactor would remember how heavy a couple gallons of water would be. One would also think that someone who is constantly irritated by people who pack their styrofoam cooler in the back of the car and don't secure the lid causing it to squeak for an entire trip would figure out how hard it is to slide something really heavy and fragile across all that stryofoam. Not so, my friend. As soon as I tried to get the whole thing into the cooler, I had a small fiasco now referred to only as the "Giant Turkey Water Balloon Incident." I'll let your imaingation do the rest. Suffice it to say that my trip in to work was delayed slightly while I showered, changed clothes, and mopped the kitchen (not necessarily in that order). Thankfully, I had almost enough brine still in the bags to put the turkey in the cooler and pour the stuff over the top. I supplemented with some extra water and used a weight to hold the thing down in there. I finally put it into the fridge which I had rearranged to accomodate the beast. [p]I have a big plastic "tub" that I use to mix water for my fish tank. This year I'll use that instead.
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