My first full turkey

[canned smoke]

I have smoked several breasts, either plain smoked or with a little rub, but nothing too involved. This is my first whole bird, brined, then injected with a recipe I found here, thanks travcoman45. I rubbed it down with some Head Country rub (that's pretty damned good stuff!) then into the smoker it went. My MES only goes up to 275 and it did pretty good staying around 265 with the bird in there. The results were fantastic! Very moist, tons of flavor, crisp skin. Oh yeah, we are ready to do the Thanksgiving bird now. Thank you all for the tips! I now have my very first fatty smoking so once it is done that will get posted in the proper forum. Thanks again!

 

[walle]

Way to go RBH - excellent looking bird. Careful, who you share it with, you'll be cooking the entire neighborhoods birds next year!
Tracey

 

[waysideranch]

Great job. Beautiful bird!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[beerthirty]

Hope mine turns out that nice!

 

[fire it up]

Looks like a tasty bird!
Not allowed to smoke a bird for Turkey Day so I picked up one today ($.88lb!) and am going to smoke it in a few days just to see how it comes out.
Going to smoke then into the fryer to finish it off.

 

[cruizer]

Great looking bird there RBH. Have not tried one yet. Relatives cooking this year for the holidays. Cannot wait to try. Your pic gives me inspiration for that endeavor. Smoke on.

 

[rivet]

Hey, very nice and tasty looking bird; HUGE picture. Glad it turned out so well for you, congratulations and keep on smoking!

 

[travcoman45]

Nice lookin bird! Glad it worked out fer ya, there mighty tastey eatin!

 

[mballi3011]

SWEET looking bird there RBH. I like your choice of spices that you rubbed it with. So smoke away and enjoy the bird.

 

[mr mac]

What a gorgeous bird that is! Taste anything like it looks?

 

[savannahsmoker]

My problem is I do not get a crispy skin, family wants it, when I smoke. Is the key 275 degrees smoker temp and if so how much smokes get in the turkey. By the way good looking turkey.

 

[pineywoods]

Good looking turkey congrats

Savannahsmoker yes the higher temp is what gives the crispy skin. There are several different ways to do it. Some will smoke at the higher temps from start to finish. Some will smoke it then finish in an oven set to 350 or so. Others will finish it on a hot grill. All these seem to get a crispy skin and it becomes a matter of which suits your tastes/needs the best

 

[jeffj]

I love this. I just learned that at my new job they give a turkey out for the holiday. Since we already have plans this year. I was thinking about trying to smoke it since I am not out anything. I think that I have found the post that I will help me. I am a newbie as well, having done just some boneless chicken breasts, chops, and a small loin. Looking forward to trying this.

About how big of a bird and how long? I know that I need to get some more charcoal, but if I had an idea how long this might take would help.

 

[pignit]

Shweeeeeet!

 

[gruelurks]

Nice job! I'm getting ready to smoke a turkey breast for the first time this weekend myself.

 

[beer-b-q]

Great Looking Turkey...

 

[canned smoke]

To answer some questions, the cook time I didn't pay much attention to as I cook by temps, thick part of the breast to 170, but I want to say it was in the neighborhood of 5 and a half to 6 hours and the bird weighed in just over 10.5 lbs.

The crispy skin for me may not be the same crispy for others. The skin is crispy to me when it stops being rubbery and elastic. It is more like paper thin jerky if that makes sense. You couldn't take a piece and snap it, but it tears like paper. I don't know if I can describe better then that. I did baste the bird twice during cook times with a 50/50 of honey and unsalted butter as travcoman45 suggested with his recipe which really complimented the rub and I did take the water pan out at about 120 degrees.

Overall this bird was terrific. The injecting process I might not do EVERY time, but it was very good on the taste buds and I couldn't have had a juicier bird. It may be awhile before I tackle brisket again, but turkey and chicken will be a regular menu item at home for sure.

Thanks again for the all feedback!

 

[smokingohiobutcher]

I'm gonna tackle my first turkey on sunday...or maybe 4 of them!!!

We have them .69 cents a pound at work for thanksgiving so I might as well go hog wild!!

Right??

Anywho... hopefully every thing goes as well as it did for you! Great looking first bird!

 

[raceyb]

Nice looking color on that turkey. Skin even looks CRISPY! YUM on the pan drippings!

 

[mamunoz]

Local store here in Phoenix had them for like .39/lb this week too bad I didn't have time to stop by a grab a couple.