- Nov 21, 2017
- 1
- 0
Greetings all,
I have a 30" Masterbuilt electric smoker and was designated to smoke a turkey for this year's thanksgiving meal to accompany the fried turkey someone else is doing. I have seen many different posts with different suggestions, temps, and times for the cook but my smoker maxes out at 275.
The turkey I have is 9.3 lbs from Butterball and has. I have contemplated spatchcocking the bird to make cooking easier and I have done that with many chickens in the past. Doing this will greatly speed the cooking of the turkey. Having said that, wouldn't a speedy cook greatly reduce the smoke flavor on the bird?
To brine or not. Butterball already brines their turkeys and I don't want it to be too salty, but I am prepared to brine if needed. I usually smoke chicken thighs at 250 to 275 for 3 hours in this smoker to get a good amount of smoke flavor. I usually have the chicken in a roasting pan though with probably keeps a good bit of smoke off of it. I planned on putting the turkey in the upper 3rd and a cool pan 2 racks below it to catch the drips if cooking in the pan is illadvised.
We are eating at 3 PM. I figure the bird needs to be done by 220 to allow rest and carving. Any thoughts or advice you all can give would be very helpful since I'm in unfamiliar territory.
I have a 30" Masterbuilt electric smoker and was designated to smoke a turkey for this year's thanksgiving meal to accompany the fried turkey someone else is doing. I have seen many different posts with different suggestions, temps, and times for the cook but my smoker maxes out at 275.
The turkey I have is 9.3 lbs from Butterball and has. I have contemplated spatchcocking the bird to make cooking easier and I have done that with many chickens in the past. Doing this will greatly speed the cooking of the turkey. Having said that, wouldn't a speedy cook greatly reduce the smoke flavor on the bird?
To brine or not. Butterball already brines their turkeys and I don't want it to be too salty, but I am prepared to brine if needed. I usually smoke chicken thighs at 250 to 275 for 3 hours in this smoker to get a good amount of smoke flavor. I usually have the chicken in a roasting pan though with probably keeps a good bit of smoke off of it. I planned on putting the turkey in the upper 3rd and a cool pan 2 racks below it to catch the drips if cooking in the pan is illadvised.
We are eating at 3 PM. I figure the bird needs to be done by 220 to allow rest and carving. Any thoughts or advice you all can give would be very helpful since I'm in unfamiliar territory.
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