As a kid I LOVED the vacuum sealed smoked turkey drumsticks you could get from the meat counter of the grocery store. It is my understanding that Disneyland/world also sells these same kind of drumsticks but I've never been there.
Well doing the same kind of drumsticks was on my list of smokes and wow I just knocked it out of the park on the first attempt even though there isn't a lot of clear info out there on making these. QView first and then the write up :)
Below you can see the history of my cook/smoke.
So trying to find out how to make these kinds of drumsticks was not so easy. I found lots of information discussing "Disney" drumsticks but not a lot of "here is how you make them". I came across a website where the guy provided fairly clear steps and information so used it and my other knowledge to fill in the gaps and alter things to seem more accurate.
All I can say is WOW!!! This came out amazing on the first try and I ate 3 of these things in one sitting hahahaha. I had turkey drums with a side of turkey drums for dinner :)
These things cook quickly, they only took 1hour on the dot to reach IT of 165 in 3 out of the 6 drums I smoked.
Here is what I did.
Ingredients:
I bet this would work for chicken drumsticks and I would LOVE a whole turkey done this way. I think I will experiment with a whole chicken done this way first and then go from there onto a turkey.
I hope you guys find this information helpful and can use this post for a single source of help rather than sorting through all the scattered bits of information around the internet. Best of luck!
Well doing the same kind of drumsticks was on my list of smokes and wow I just knocked it out of the park on the first attempt even though there isn't a lot of clear info out there on making these. QView first and then the write up :)
Below you can see the history of my cook/smoke.
So trying to find out how to make these kinds of drumsticks was not so easy. I found lots of information discussing "Disney" drumsticks but not a lot of "here is how you make them". I came across a website where the guy provided fairly clear steps and information so used it and my other knowledge to fill in the gaps and alter things to seem more accurate.
All I can say is WOW!!! This came out amazing on the first try and I ate 3 of these things in one sitting hahahaha. I had turkey drums with a side of turkey drums for dinner :)
These things cook quickly, they only took 1hour on the dot to reach IT of 165 in 3 out of the 6 drums I smoked.
Here is what I did.
Ingredients:
- 1 Gallon Ziplock bag
- 4.75 pounds of Turkey Drumstricks
- Just under 1 teaspoon Cure #1
- 2 Tablespoons salt (I used table salt because it was on hand)
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- Enough Water to cover the drumsticks (about 2.5 cups maybe?)
- Blend water, cure, salt, and sugar in at least 1.5 cups of water until ingredients are dissolved (about 45 seconds)
- Add Drumsticks and blended cure/water mixture into the 1 Gallon Ziplock bag
- Add extra water to be able to squeeze out air and cover all drumsticks
- Add to fridge and Brine for 24 hours, and flip once halfway through
- After 24 hours of Brining, rinse and pat dry
- I added drumsticks to smoker and cold smoked the drums for 30 minutes
- I used 100% Pecan pellets and applied Double smoke using the AMNPS and my Mailbox mod. (These cook quickly so the double smoke seemed very necessary)
- I also kept the vent on my MES 95% CLOSED to get more smoke to absorb
- Cook with the smoker set 325F (I tried to do this with the drums inside and it never reached 325F, it only reached 285F but the skin was very edible and the same texture as the store bought drumsticks, but not crispy skin. I think my Fan mod has a lot to do with getting edible skin with under 300F temps and 1 hour of cooking)
IMPORTANT: Next time I will cold smoke for 30 minutes, pull drums then pre-heat the smoker to 325F and add the drums back. - I inserted probes into 3 drums as best I could and cooked until the last one (the biggest one) was reporting 168F.
- The cook took exactly 1 hour just in case you cannot completely trust your probes since it is hard to judge the depth on drumsticks and not hit bone
- This made PERFECT drumsticks like the vac sealed ones in the grocery store. The salt content was right on with 24 hours of brining.
- The color was slightly pink for the meat and the skin was orange/brown'ish just like the store bought ones
- These Drumsticks cook QUICKLY, even 5 pounds of them
- Double smoke with vent mostly closed on my MES was a great idea (man am I learning my system well)
- 100% Pecan pellets was great on the Turkey. I had read about how in Texas pecan on turkey was desirable and wow did these come out great!
- With the proper brine and applying the double smoke practice this dish was SUPER easy even though I wasn't able to hit my 325F in the short 1 hour cook.
- I think next time I will cold smoke for about 30-45 minutes, remove the drumbsticks, bring the smoker to 325-335F and then add the drumsticks again having the smoker only drop to about 315F in the process so it can recover to 325F quickly.
I bet this would work for chicken drumsticks and I would LOVE a whole turkey done this way. I think I will experiment with a whole chicken done this way first and then go from there onto a turkey.
I hope you guys find this information helpful and can use this post for a single source of help rather than sorting through all the scattered bits of information around the internet. Best of luck!
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