Newbie and Turkey Day Re-Cap

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Is black skin on a smoked turkey such a big problem if the meat comes out great?

  • Black skin is a hazard of b'cue hacks and should be avoided through care and precision.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Black skin is fine if the meat is good; it's a dang bird!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .
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jgeyer

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 28, 2014
1
10
I'm new to this forum, but have already found a ton of great info and I'll be back frequently for more. Yesterday's turkey was great inside, but I had a heck of a time with temps (anywhere from 300 to 400), and my fuel was giving me fits with too much smoke, so I had the classic 'black skin' syndrome. As I said, it was delicious inside, and the timing of the cook was just right.

Using a Char-Broil dual with side-box. Burning raw Pecan wood (see problem below). Turkey was thawed, spatch-cocked, salt and pepper only, 15 pounder.I did not pat the bird dry (mistake?)

Probelms:

1. Temp.fluctuations Using the thremometer that comes with the grill. Prob need to invest in a nicer thermometer for cook temps and meat temps.

2. Raw Pecan. Tough to get this down to TBS. Either burns too fast or too slow --constantly messing with vents resulting in smoke problems and temp problems --too much air, not enough air

3. Black skin --mother in law wanted Norman Rockwell golden crispy skin, and I won't hear the end of this.

Succeses:

1. Decided to cover bird with foil about 2 hours in to cook, and at last minute also transfered to foil pan and covered with foil. Left it in the smoker, and it really stayed juicy while it finished getting up to and beyond 165. I think it also prevented the bird from getting 'blacker'.

2. Meat was juicy, tender, great pecan smoke flavor-- dark meat was hammy, rich, and succulent (need to take a break now and go have a sandwich)

3. Timing was pretty dang good. The internal temp got a little too high (180), but didnt seem to have a negative effect on taste and textures.

Hope you all had a great holiday, and anyturkey tips you want to throw my way would be enthusiastically welcomed!
 
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  Good morning and welcome to the forum, from a nice cool day in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything 

Gary
 
Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...
Happy smoken.
David
 
Welcome to our world.
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I'm personally a relative Newbie to smoking other than jerky and salmon but judging by your insight into your issues and successes you seem to have a solid foundation in technique. 

I'm sure you will receive much good advice and input here but as mentioned you will get a full spectrum of experiences and opinions. Apply what is useful to your situation and please, to help us get our fix....Q View !!!! 
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