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How do you smoke a turkey

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Chickee3g
Chickee3g Posts: 3
in Forum Feedback
What's best way to smoke a turkey and how long does it take  
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  • Chickee3g
    Chickee3g Posts: 3
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    New to green egg
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  • GATraveller
    GATraveller Posts: 8,207
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    google.com - search big green egg turkey
    there's more info than you could read/watch in one day.


    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community [...] but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots."
                                                                                  -Umberto Eco

    2 Large
    Peachtree Corners, GA
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  • Macho_comacho
    Macho_comacho Posts: 6
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    I did mine in a brine for 14 hours and then smoked it at 250 until internal temp was what I wanted. Plate setter in, wood chips over the lump, and the bird in a rib rack. Best turkey I've had 
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  • SmokeyPitt
    SmokeyPitt Posts: 10,490
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    There is so much info out there it can be overwhelming.  If you use the pate setter and cook indirect, you can basically just consider your egg an oven and cook it the same way.

    I cook indirect at 325-350, with just a little bit of fruit wood (apple, peach, or cherry).  I use a V-rack over a roasting pan with carrots, onions, celery. I start the cook breast side down, and when I estimate I am about 1/2 way through flip it over breast side up.  The purpose of this is to give the legs a head start and to brown it evenly.  Cook until internal temp is 160 in the breast and hopefully the thighs/legs are closer to 170-180 at this point*.  I use the drippings from the pan to make gravy.  

    *One clarification, the turkey is safe to eat at 160.  However, most prefer the dark meat to go to 170-180 as a matter of preference.  It has more fat so the texture is better when cooked longer. I will pull the turkey when the breast is at 160.  So far I have had good luck- the dark meat has always been hotter. If the dark meat was only 160 I would still pull.  I would rather have "fatty" legs than overcooked breast.

    Which came first the chicken or the egg?  I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. 

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  • Chickee3g
    Chickee3g Posts: 3
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    Thank you so much smokey Pitt and everyone else.  Wish us luck , my husband and I are new using greenegg  
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  • CanadianAnvil
    CanadianAnvil Posts: 226
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    Alot of rolling papers and it's a bit*" to keep lit. 
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  • Hans61
    Hans61 Posts: 3,901
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    Echo the above. Indirect 325ish. The warmer part of the egg is toward the back so have the breast facing the front and the legs to the rear
    “There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body.”
    Coach Finstock Teen Wolf
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  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,674
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    Spatchcocked Turkey and Chicken on the Big Green Egg
    (you cut out the backbone and cook opened)
    I like a 11/12 lb bird. If I need lots of turkey I just cook a couple ( 1 & 1/2  hr cook app)
    Chicken 3 to 3.75lb bird or birds. Under an hour cook. 
    Or, just add a package of legs extra. 
    I do not brine the turkey or Chicken. 
    If time I like to leave uncovered in the fridge overnight (no problem if no time) 
    I cook "direct" @ 400/425 on a raised grill "skin side up" and never turn over.
    I will use a coffee rub. Use what you like.
    NOTE PLEASE (A LOT OF SMOKE IS NOT YOU FRIEND)
    I use about a single handfull of mixed chips: Cherry & Pecan. 
    Cook Turkey to temp (not time) breast @ 155/160 and thigh @ 165.
    Cook Chicken to temp breast 160.
    Rest both 10 mins.

     
    Coffee Rub (turkey, chicken, beef & pork)
    Equal part: Instant Expresso Ground coffee..
    Equal part: Brown Sugar..
    ½ part: Black Pepper..
    ½ part: Kosher Salt..
    ½ part: Garlic Powder..
    ¾ part: Ancho Chili Powder..
      Don't worry on exact, just close on measurement. I used to use turbinado sugar but we like with brown better. This is pulled from MollyShark, Hungry Man, & Richard In Fl then tweaked. I find the ancho chili powder is far less expensive in the bulk spice area than the bottled area ( have used both light or dark version). I make it starting with a half cup Instant Expresso Ground coffee and work from there as it seems to store well if sealed.

    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

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  • Jeremiah
    Jeremiah Posts: 6,412
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    With smoke. Use smoke. To smoke a turkey. 
    Slumming it in Aiken, SC. 
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  • westernbbq
    westernbbq Posts: 2,490
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    Youre in for a treat brother...

    Get bge to 350, put bird on breast up, no stuffing and indirect, thawed...cook 12-15 mins per lb until thigh probes 175 and breast probes 165 (i think these teps are right, double check tho on bge home page)

    Put a few pecan chips on fire during the cook

    Remove the golden brown perfect bird, carve properly and be a god


    I never brine, found that to be a waste of effort....
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  • The_Stache
    The_Stache Posts: 1,153
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    Its all in the brine!
    Kirkland, TN
    2 LBGE, 1 MM


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  • jtcBoynton
    jtcBoynton Posts: 2,814
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    westernbbq said:
    Youre in for a treat brother...

    Get bge to 350, put bird on breast up, no stuffing and indirect, thawed...cook 12-15 mins per lb until thigh probes 175 and breast probes 165 (i think these teps are right, double check tho on bge home page)
    .....
    165º is the USDA recommended safe temp.  That should be your finishing temp, not necessarily when you pull it from the egg.  Account for carryover to determine when to pull from the egg.
    Southeast Florida - LBGE
    In cooking, often we implement steps for which we have no explanations other than ‘that’s what everybody else does’ or ‘that’s what I have been told.’  Dare to think for yourself.
     
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  • Smoker317
    Smoker317 Posts: 238
    edited February 2017
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    If you don't care about looks, then spatchcock.  I have been smoking turkeys for 18 years and have tried many methods and variations.  My family likes a brine or injected, spatchcocked turkey with any fruit wood smoke flavor.  I try to keep temp around 250-280 and try to not get a bird larger than 12-14 #.   Spatchcocking a bird will knock off a considerable amount of cooking time. 

    A 12-14 # spatchcocked bird will cook in less than 4 hours, probably closer to 3 hours.  Lots of variables, how often will open the lid to look at the bird, how cold was the bird when you put on the smoker, what is your temp, closer to 250 or closer to 300 degrees?  

    As others have said, I pull my turkey when the breast hits around 160 degrees or so which seems to always put the legs around 170 ish.  I then let rest for maybe 20-30 minutes before carving or shredding/pulling if it is one of our non-Thanksgiving turkey bbq.  Winner winner turkey dinner.
    Egghead since November 2014, XL-BGE & ET-732
    Smobot
    Living near Indy
    36" Blackstone
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  • SOUTHERNLINKSBBQ
    SOUTHERNLINKSBBQ Posts: 123
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    Dry rubbed and smoked with maple lump and a handfull of pecan/hickory pellets. Smoked at 245 indirect till 160 inteneral at the thigh bone. 

    http://www.southernlinksbbq.com/

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  • westernbbq
    westernbbq Posts: 2,490
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    jtcBoynton said:
    westernbbq said:
    Youre in for a treat brother...

    Get bge to 350, put bird on breast up, no stuffing and indirect, thawed...cook 12-15 mins per lb until thigh probes 175 and breast probes 165 (i think these teps are right, double check tho on bge home page)
    .....
    165º is the USDA recommended safe temp.  That should be your finishing temp, not necessarily when you pull it from the egg.  Account for carryover to determine when to pull from the egg.
    Excellent point. I neglected to mention pulling it off egg a few degrees prior to safe....juicy perfect bird everytime,  just like sex panther cologne...sixty percent of the time it works every time....
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