Thanksgiving practice

smokersteve7879 · Oct 20, 2012

So I posted a couple of weeks ago about wanting to practice a turkey for Thanksgiving. I wasnt able to get my hands on a bird till last week. Let it thaw early in the week, put in the a brine for about 14 hours, seasoned and set in the fridge uncovered for about 18 hours and put in the smoke this morning. Im using my AMNPS with the mailbox mod. Now fired my MES30 up and got it up to 275 but when I put the bird and the CBB in the temp dropped normally to about 230 and I closed it up fast. Im a little concerned because when I came back about 30 minutes later the temp was at 185. Should I have let the bird and the CBB come to room temp first? The temp is rising (have it set to 250) slowly but surely. Ill post some pics when its done.

daveomak · Oct 20, 2012

Steve, morning..... When you put a cold bird in the smoker, it is using up the heat.... normal thing... the temp will rise as the bird warms up.... Letting the bird warm to room temp, would only increase it's time in the "danger zone" for bacterial growth.... You did good.... Dave

gadgetman53 · Oct 24, 2012

Any pics of this? I'm really curious to know how well it worked out for you! (I want to do a Thanksgiving bird of my own).

kathrynn · Oct 24, 2012

Me too! I wanna do a practice run before Turkey day....thinking about getting parts instead of a whole bird. Going to smoke one and fry the other bird for the Holidays.

thsmormonsmokes · Oct 24, 2012

My first smoke ever was a full turkey on Thanksgiving 3 years ago. It was a Butterball, smoked in a Weber kettle style grill with hickory chips thrown on the coals periodically. I didn't have the first clue what I was doing. I had terrible temperature monitoring abilities and I probably opened the top every 45 minutes or so to throw more soaking wet chips on to keep that pretty thick white smoke billowing out. Despite committing smoking sin after smoking sin, I wound up with a surprisingly good final product. There was some beginner's luck involved, but here's my bigger lesson.

If you want a wide margin of error, grab a Butterball turkey. They infuse so much butter and other stuff in those things that it's pretty tough to have it dry out or not taste amazing.

linguica · Oct 24, 2012

How about running the smoker hot when the turkey is first put in and let the temps drop the a comfortable cooking temp? Like putting a bird into a 450 deg F oven and immediately dropping the setting to 325 deg F. to roast.

oldschoolbbq · Oct 24, 2012

As Dave says... don't let it get room temp. , take bird from Reffer to Smoker immediately and start at about 300° fro a crispier skin and leave it alone, do not crank up the heat . You will get to 140° from 40° in 4 hrs. easily(if you have thawed the bird thououghly). Run the IT to 165° in the Deep part of the Breast-without touching bone. The Thigh should be 275° (they will not be dry)

Prep. consist of a Brine(Slauterhouse) for 12 hrs. or more . drying it off for several hrs., then rub a Compound Butter(mix of Buttrer and Rub spices) under the skin in all places you can reach. Oil the outside of the skin with EVOO and rub with spices(Rub) ; this will help crisp the skin. Cook @ or close to 300° until the IT's are recahed.

Have fun and...

linguica · Oct 24, 2012

oldschoolbbq said:
As Dave says... don't let it get room temp. , take bird from Reffer to Smoker immediately and start at about 300° fro a crispier skin and leave it alone, do not crank up the heat . You will get to 140° from 40° in 4 hrs. easily(if you have thawed the bird thououghly). Run the IT to 165° in the Deep part of the Breast-without touching bone. The Thigh should be 275° (they will not be dry)

Prep. consist of a Brine(Slauterhouse) for 12 hrs. or more . drying it off for several hrs., then rub a Compound Butter(mix of Buttrer and Rub spices) under the skin in all places you can reach. Oil the outside of the skin with EVOO and rub with spices(Rub) ; this will help crisp the skin. Cook @ or close to 300° until the IT's are recahed.

Have fun and...

Thank You.......that is "cut and Paste" information.

pit 4 brains · Oct 24, 2012

The Thigh should be 275°

Did you mean 175?

pgsmoker64 · Oct 26, 2012

Pit 4 Brains said:
Did you mean 175?

LOL....I hope he meant 175*...

Stan?

smokersteve7879 · Oct 29, 2012

View media item 176006
Hi guys, its me again. After almost 2 weeks of computer problems I'm finally back up and running. Anyway, I planned on posting these pics the Saturday before last but got struck with a nasty little computer virus. This is my turkey, brined in a Thanksgiving herb brine, seasoned with no sodium Todds Dirt, and smoked with the AMNPS using Pecan pellets. The corn beef brisket was rubbed down with Mrs. Dash no sodium Onion and Herb seasoning, it turned out really good for sandwiches. Hope you enjoy.

so ms smoker · Oct 29, 2012

That looks great!

Mike

smokersteve7879 · Oct 29, 2012

It turned out great. So juicy and flavor rich. The only thing I dont really care for is the sodium content. Unfortunatley its a necesary evil when brining. Thats why I went with the no sodium dry seasonings and I was really impressed with them. The brisket I cut into paper thin spices and use as sandwich meat. Again, salty but I use sparingly.

chef jimmyj · Oct 30, 2012

SmokerSteve7879 said:
It turned out great. So juicy and flavor rich. The only thing I dont really care for is the sodium content. Unfortunatley its a necesary evil when brining. Thats why I went with the no sodium dry seasonings and I was really impressed with them. The brisket I cut into paper thin spices and use as sandwich meat. Again, salty but I use sparingly.

If you cured the CCB yourself you can control the salt as you wish. I find 1/2C per Gal is perfect but Pops uses even less 1/3C/Gal. If you bought a pre-brined Corned beef, soaking for a few hours in a couple of changes of water will remove a good amount or as much salt as you want. The Salt is needed to get the whole Osmosis/Diffusion process to work but there is no rule that say you have to leave it there...JJ

pgsmoker64 · Oct 30, 2012

Looks good Steve! Well done...

azkitch · Oct 30, 2012

Great thread, guys. I'm of the hotter cook camp for turkeys. They'll be in the smoke for several hours even at 350. It takes 3-5 hours in your conventional oven at that temp, so that's plenty of time to smoke a turkey.

I am originally from the DC 'burbs, and I grabbed some Todd's original when I was back there a few years ago...pretty good stuff! I would love to try some of his other rubs, but $ has been tight lately...Everything I've had from Dizzy Pig has been amazing, too. And someday, I'll try Plowboys Fin & Feather...

Another popular turkey method is to soak several layers of cheesecloth in butter/herb butter, then wrap the turkey in the cheesecloth while smoking...

katfacer · Oct 30, 2012

Using the MES, the highest you can get the temp to is 275. (Unless it's different than my MES 40) So to get the crispy skin you will have to throw it in an oven. I have smoked two turkeys, one of which went into work, and the guys are still asking me when I am bringing another one in!

oldschoolbbq · Oct 30, 2012

Duh

, Yeah , I meant 175°, Holy Cow @ 275° , it would another type of 'Charcoal' ; sorry - my bad...

kiteman · Oct 30, 2012

Smoked Turkey 1.JPG

kiteman
Oct 30, 2012

I did this turkey in September, I brined it in salt water and buttermilk overnight. dried it, pushed seasoned butter under the skin then seasoned the outside. I have an electric smoker with a top that has a thermostat that just has low just right, high. and to keep the heat just right, I place a taken-apart large moving box that covers about 80% of the sides and I drape a towel over the top. I loosley cover the turkey with foil for 4 hours or so, then remove the foil for another 4-5 hours. I find with turkey the longer it cooks the better it is. If you don't cook it long enough its too moist and chewy. I use smoke in both the covered and uncovered cooking time.

kiteman · Oct 30, 2012

Smoked Turkey 1.JPG

kiteman
Oct 30, 2012

I did this turkey in September, I brined it in salt water and buttermilk overnight. dried it, pushed seasoned butter under the skin then seasoned the outside. I have an electric smoker with a top that has a thermostat that just has low just right, high. and to keep the heat just right, I place a taken-apart large moving box that covers about 80% of the sides and I drape a towel over the top. I loosley cover the turkey with foil for 4 hours or so, then remove the foil for another 4-5 hours. I find with turkey the longer it cooks the better it is. If you don't cook it long enough its too moist and chewy. I use smoke in both the covered and uncovered cooking time.

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