Turducken success

SSN686

Morning All:[p]Last week I offered to cook a Turducken today for the monthly staff meeting. Having never prepared one before I was a little apprehensive to say the least! I ordered it through the Land & Sea Market in Brandon and it was about 16lbs (looked very similar to Mark Backer’s). Since the lunch meeting was to start at 11:30am and I live about 30 minutes from the office I was shooting to take it off the Egg at about 10:45am. Last night I cleaned out the Egg (medium) and re-loaded with fresh lump plus five chunks of cherry in preparation for an early start (also test fit the setup just to make sure everything worked). Up at 5:00am (as usual) and lit the Egg. While the Egg was coming up in temp I decided I would add a paste of softened butter mixed with rosemary, thyme & savory leaves to the outside of the Turducken (probably not needed as it already had some spices on it, but I figured it couldn’t hurt any). Once the egg was up to about 250 I put in the platesetter (legs up), water pan, drip pan and then the Turducken in a V-rack at about 275 (it’s now about 5:30am). I let the temp continue to rise to about 330. The internal temp of the bird was about 34 degrees when I started and didn’t seem to rise hardly any the first two hours, only at 40 at 7:30am. Initially I had placed it breast down (as the directions said) and when I peeked at about 7:00am the wing tip parts were getting browned too quickly so I turned it over and put foil around the wing tips. At about 9:00am it was still only up to about 110 degrees internal, so I thought maybe the temp probe was not in a good spot. I relocated the temp probe and it read 124 in the new location, so I got my Thermapen to check a few other spots and they were all between 118 & 127. Now I’m worried that it might get done too soon!?!? By 10:15am the temp probe is reading 166 and the thermapen checks are all between 165 & 170, so I take it off and cover with foil for the trip to the office. The hardest part of the whole morning was driving to the office smelling that great smell and not being able to get any right then (my car will smell like a turducken for days probably). It was a big hit with all 15 people at the lunch meeting with enough leftovers for 3 or 4 people to have tomorrow. Since it got above 165 it was a little dry after it had set for an hour before we ate it, but still very tasty. Would I try it again? Yes, but would probably take it off at about 160 instead of 165.[p]Have a GREAT day!
Jay[p]

Mark Backer

SSN686,[p]Thanks for the 411. That's the kind of information I needed to stop me from shaking. That and I need to stop drinking so much. [p]Anyway, I'm glad yours worked. Keep your fingers crossed for mine. They told me 375 for four hours in the oven covered plus one hour uncovered, but me thinks that it might not take that long...

SSN686

Mark Backer,[p]I forgot to mention that I left it uncovered at first (probably the first 90 minutes), then did cover for the remainder of the cook as it seemed to be browning up pretty quickly.[p]Have a GREAT day!
Jay

katman

SSN686,[p]Sounds delightful. I can't figure out why some recommend longer cooking times for turducken. When it's done it's done. [p]I've been away for a few days. What got Chet so upset about turducken?

BucsFanJim

SSN686,
Great info.
Land and Sea Market is the best thing to hit Brandon...since...since...since Campbells Dairy Isle.

Smokin Bob

SSN686,[p]The entire time was @ 330?[p]Thank you very much![p]B o B