Smoked Whole Turkey

Ross in Ventura

I would like to smoke a whole Turkey. Need help with Brine, Temp, and smoking wood.
Ross

EggZona

I have been cooking rotisere turkeys on my Weber Kettle for 10 years now. I have never use a brine and they have been delicious. I just recently cooked a turkey on my BGE and did not brine it and the taste and mositure content was extremely better than the Weber did.

I am of the school of buying a name brand basted turkey. Such as a Butterball. They are packaged in a sort of brine. One year we got fresh turkeys. Right off the farm. I even brined them and there were not as good as the BB. If you are a fan of fresh then you have some work to do.

Have you read the Mad Max recipe? You should start and end there.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/madmaxturkey.htm

Ross in Ventura

Sam,
Thanks for the information, I have done Max's Turkey, I want to Smoke one this year.
Ross

Hoss

I have smoked several over the years.I've never tried brining but probably will in the near future.Here is my method for what it's worth.Buy a grocery store turkey,I've tried them all and can't tell the difference.So I buy the cheapest one on sale.Thaw turkey,remove giblet pack and other items from cavity,rinse in cold water,pat dry.Next I inject with a mixture of apple juice-1 cup,melted butter,1 stick,Cavenders-1 T,favorite BBQ rub 1T.Rud down with EVOO,place quartered apple and onion in cavity,truss bird.Sprinkle with a light dusting of cavenders.Stabilize EGG @ 250 dome.Add 2 BIG handfuls of soaked apple wood chips.Platesetter legs up,drip pan 1/2 full of apple juice on top of platesetter.Smoke until desired doneness.Works for me and I have requests for seven for Thanksgiving.

TomM24

Here's one I did last year. It was very good.


Thats thee only Eggshot I have with an intact gasket.

Here's the recipe

http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/maple-brined-wood-smoked-grilled-turkey.aspx

The Four reviewers all gave it high marks.

Cooked at 300 to 165 in the breast. Smoked with apple wood. It was a 14 pound bird

Grandpas Grub

Ross,

I too would like to read some steps for smoking a turkey and wonder how it turns out.

Thanks for the post.

Kent

BillT

I think that smoked turkey is one of the best items from the egg. My technique may be too simple for you, but let me tell you how I do it.

I clean a bird and put on a vertical roaster. I have found that the chicken size roaster works well for both chicken and turkey. I then put on my favorite rubs, but probably go a little light on the rubs as I try to focus on smoked flavor. Depending on the grill I am using and the size of bird (height is the issue), I either use a plate setter or just a pizza stone under the bird to get an indirect cook. I have a 9 inch round cake pan that I put between the stone and the bird to catch drippings, as these make the absolute best gravy. Sometimes I have to put a little water (very little) in the pan to keep the first drippings from cooking on the pan.

Now I light my egg. I have found that oak is too acidic for my taste, but hickory or mesquite are fine. I like a strong smoked taste, so you might want a milder smoke like maple, apple or cherry. I like to quickly put the smoking chips on the lighted lump, mostly near but not on top of where I light. The intent is to have smoke flavor over a longer period of time by spreading out the smoking chunks. As soon as the egg is lit and the smoking wood is on, I complete the set up and close down the top. Do not bring the egg up to temp.

My philosophy is to smoke at a very low temp (under 200) for about 1 ½ hours and then open up and bring the egg up to temp (350). This gives a strong smoked flavor and still provides a moist bird. I use an instant read thermometer to get the bird cooked.

Once the bird is carved and consumed, I take all the remaining carcass and put in a stock pot and make smoked turkey stock. I do not put vegetables or seasoning in the stock as I flavor it later to the desired taste. This can be froze in Ziploc quarts and used later in stews and soups. I have friends that think this is the best part of the smoked turkey!

A 10 – 12 pound bird is smoked 1 ½ hours slow and about 2 hours at 350 to reach perfection. One impact of this maximum smoking method is that the bird’s skin gets dark, not black or crispy, but dark. For most people I remove the skin at carving and put this skin in the stock pot (another reason for a lighter approach to rubs).

I hope that this helps and isn’t too easy. I am sensitive to sodium and thus have avoided brines, so can’t help you much there.

BillT

Ross in Ventura

Hoss,
Thank You for your recipe.
Ross

Celtic Wolf

You can still use Max's technique just turn down the heat.. Though I am not real sure it will be any better. Different maybe.

As I have stated many, many times. I have never ever brined a turkey. I smoked a 12 pounder once and it took almost 6 hours, but that wasn't on an egg and I am not sure if the temp was accurate.

Ross in Ventura

Tom,
Thank You for the recipe.
Ross

TomM24

Ross:

Your welcome. I went easy on the maple smoke

Ross in Ventura

Bill,
Thank you so much for the recipe.
Ross

Ross in Ventura

CW,
Thanks for the info.
Ross

Celtic Wolf

Ohh it was in Stockton that I smoked the turkey. Someone called the fire dept for another matter. They saw the smoke and came over to investigate. I ended up feeding the whole station that day. Lucky me it was a small station. So be careful. :woohoo:

Grandpas Grub

The post has me wondering.

I would think Max's recipe is more akin to cooking and would sort of think some time at 250° then up to 350° again would be closer to cooking.

I have seen posts over time saying they want to smoke a turkey but those posts for the most part are referring more to cooking.

When you say 'smoking' what are you wanting to do and is any of the above methods what you are looking for.

Kent

Ross in Ventura

Kent,
I want to slow smoke a Turkey.
Ross
PS did you get my email?
Send it please

Ross in Ventura

CW,
Thanks I'll be careful.
Ross

BillT

I tried to slow smoke a turkey one time and it was dry and tough. It was early on in my eggin days, but it wasn't good. That is why I use the start slow and finish technique above.

BillT

Grandpas Grub

Ross,

Yes, I got the email and responded. Yours will be the the next batch.

What temp are you thinking of cooking at.

The reason I ask, there are quite a few Q restaurants. My egg cooks better tasting than all of them but one.

That restaurant has and excellent smoke flavored chicken. I can't come close to the flavor.

From the look of their chicken they are low temp cooking. I am wondering if they are brining and or injecting the chicken.

Whatever the restaurant is doing I would think turkey done the same way would be fantastic.

I hope there are some more posts with some suggestions.

Kent

fishlessman

ive slow smoked hundreds of birds, food safety wise its not recommended but i never cared. 225 is a good temp, i always used a water smoker and in the egg would probably still use a water pan. i use pecan pellets soaked in water for turkey and sometimes add 1 small chunk of cherry, for whatever reason i like the pellets better than pecan chunks. i dont brine slow smoked birds, its not needed, what you want though is to buy a frozen kosher turkey which already has been soaked in salt water. these birds will have pink meat near the bone when done, moreso than a fresh bird, its still safe to eat just make sure to cook by temp. i put these on in the morning and when i come home late in the day i turn the heat up to 300 to finish. the skin is a throw away but the meat is moist as long as you dont over cook it, take it off the egg around 165 internal in the breast. it wont be the same texture as a roasted bird, its moist and can have a slight gummy texture. in the egg you want to put the legs facing the back where its hotter

fishlessman

heres another unsafe practice, roasted turkey with stuffing

Ross in Ventura

Bill,
Good advice.
Ross

Ross in Ventura

Kent,
I'm thinking 200*-225* I have had a lot of good responses.
Ross

Ross in Ventura

Thank You for your good advice.
Ross

Grandpas Grub

Looking forward to learning the results and how you brined.

Not sure if you looked but Thirdeye has some brining information on his site.

http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/1999/07/brining_29.html


GG

Ross in Ventura

Kent,

This the recipe I'm thinking of using! I like adding the cola for liquid. What do you think?
Ross
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Turkey-in-a-Smoker/Detail.aspx

ChitownBBQ

This is the recipe I did in my CharGriller. I'll be doing it on the BGE this Thanksgiving.

I had a 16-pound fresh (no additives) turkey.

I wanted to brine it, but I can't stand sugar in meat courses (I'm not looking for arguments, I get it that lots of people do...) but someone told me I could replace the sugar with bourbon and I was home...

brine: 1 gallon water, 1 cup salt, 2 cups bourbon, black pepper & garlic powder (2 TBS each).

It was Chicago over Christmas when I did this, so I stuck the brining bag (big ziploc) into a cooler, packed the whole thing with snow and set it outside my basement door for 3 days to brine.

Rinse in cold water (otherwise, it can be too salty) and I just dusted it with basic turkey spices (from the song...Parsely, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme).

225 for 11 hours (time will vary) with lots of apple wood tossed in periodically until the thermometer in the thigh caused the meat to fall off...

Tent for 15 minutes.

As someone else mentioned, the skin texture isn't all that great - but the flavor was incredible. Think bourbon-chicken meats beef jerky.

The meat was juicy and flavorful.

I may try oiling the skin to encourage crisping, but at that low temp, I don't think it would work.

Cajun deep-fried with be the 2nd bird, so I guess I can just send the folks wanting crispy skin over there.

It's all good!

Bordello

That's the first time I've heard of putting cola in the turkey cavity. Interesting.

Good Luck,
Bordello

Bordello

I have to laugh everytime I hear that. I grew up with mom always cooking the stuffing in the bird and my 69 year old aunt still cooks that way every year and were all still here. :woohoo: :woohoo:

Regards,
Bordello

Grandpas Grub

Just read the recipe and it looks like it would be good.

I wonder how that much liquid would stay in the cavity possibly use some type of veggie to hold the opening up a little.

All the review are very positive. I think it would be good to try. I am planning beef this weekend otherwise I would give it a try.

Kent

Ross in Ventura

Kent,
Happy Egging this weekend! I'm cooking the Turkey Sunday start at 6am.
Ross