Smoked Turkey HELP NAKED WIZ PLEASE

Unknown

I have a smoke turkey I am doing for easter.I have been cooking a 11 pound turkey for 11.5 hrs. My problem is around 3:am I notice the temperture drop to 150 on my egg and there was no more smoke. I added some wood apple, and open the vent all the way. I firgure this would get to temperture while I slept. Instead woke up at 8:25 am and noticed that the egg temperture is still at 150 degrees. I have added charcol and tring to finsih it. I am worried about ecoil at this point! Any suggetions??

Michael B

Smoke-Cooking Method:

Start with completely thawed turkey for even, safe cooking.
Remove giblets and neck; drain juices.
DO NOT STUFF.
DO NOT USE STRING LIFTER.
Insert oven-safe meat thermometer into deepest part of the thigh, not touching bone.
Brush skin lightly with vegetable oil.
Plug in electric smoker or ignite charcoal about 30 minutes before cooking.
Position foil-lined water pan in smoker according to manufacturer’s directions; fill pan with water.
Check temperature of grill at grate. Be sure temperature is between 200 to 250 °F.
Place turkey on grill. Cover and adjust vents according to manufacturer’s directions.
Maintain 200 to 250 °F temperature throughout cooking.
Replenish water and hardwood chips as needed.
Cook turkey to internal temperature of 165 °F in breast and innermost part of thigh.
Turkey may take up to 12 hours.

Safety Notes for Smoking Turkey:
• Always follow equipment manufacturer’s guidelines.
• Cooking times will vary depending on wind, weather, altitude and type of equipment.
• For safety, turkey must reach 140 °F in four hours or less. (This includes any time the turkey was not in a cold (less than 40 degree) environment and is cumulative.) Check after 3½ hours, if temperature is low, finish in oven.
• Always use thermometers to monitor turkey smoker and temperatures.
• Total cooking time will be increased 10 minutes or more each time lid is lifted.
• Smoking has no preservative effect. Smoked turkey must be refrigerated.

Unknown

Dump it. If I don't miss my guess, it will be like shoe leather and dry.

What was the internal meat temperature at the end of the first 4 hours?

Still think you should dump it rather than risk getting your family sick.

stike

good notes....

true, that smoking doesn't have a preservative effect, but smoke does inhibit the bacteria growing, as does the no-oxygen environment during smoking. and though the internal temp may take a while to get to 140, the external temp (where the bacteria are) will quickly be above that minimum temp. if you stuffed the carcass (which you rightly say not to), you could be in trouble, because the surface bacteria would be protected from heat/smoke by the stuffing, and could be a problem.

Rick's Tropical Delight

you don't happen to live in utah, do you? :blink:

Michael B

I really should have posted a reference to my last, as it was a cut & paste from the only website I could find that advocating smoking a whole turkey.

Everybody else (3 turkey suppliers, BH&G and USDA) said to cook at 325* at least.

The comment about smoking not having a preservative effect, I took to mean, you can't leave it out on the counter for hours or days after it has been smoked.

Michael B

Now that's just mean.
You know that if he lived in Utah he'd have his Egg cranked up to about 3000 degrees, and the turkey would have cooked in about 34 seconds. :huh:

Oh yes.... I'm a troll. :P

"Sparky"

I must appologize.I did not take into consideration how long it took to get to 147.I hope that you have time to come up with an alternative.Michael and Stike are correct,as usual.Again,very sorry about that.

Rick's Tropical Delight

just a guess

this person got help down below, but apparently decided to ignore it and still tried to smoke a whole turkey at 190.

"Sparky"

Oh yea,this was the same guy huh?Now I don't feel as bad.Still hope that it doesn't ruin his Easter.

Rick's Tropical Delight

i could be wrong, but it sure seems to be the same person that posted this:

http://www.greeneggers.net/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=422822&catid=1

i hope they have a great day anyway... even if they are in utah :woohoo:

stike

yeah. re: preservative effect. i agree. folks might assume that smoking a turkey achieves what smoking a ham does. but a ham is brined. the smoke does have a slight preservative effect on a ham, but the brine is what does it... and a smoked ham often goes at least a few days cold smoked.