Smoked Whole Turkey

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

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

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:

Your welcome. I went easy on the maple smoke

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,

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

heres another unsafe practice, roasted turkey with stuffing

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

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!

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