Thanksgiving this year was going to be at my mother-in-law's house, as usual. I've brought some smoked goods over to family gatherings before, and they all seemed to enjoy it. This year, I bought two of these Butterball boneless breast roasts at Costco, 4.75 lbs. each.
You don't get the same presentation, but these are SO, SO much easier than messing with a whole turkey. They were placed in a 2 gallon bucket overnight with 1 gallon of orange juice, 1 cup of kosher salt and about a dozen thyme sprigs. Next morning, rinsed and injected with butter and more orange juice, mixed with some garlic powder and rub. Into the MES30 at 275° (as high as it will go) with a water pan, and about 60% orange and 40% sugar maple pellets in the mailbox mod.
And about 4 hours later...
Forgot to get a sliced pic, as we were in a hurry to get everything on the table, but it was very moist and juicy. Also very consistent all the way through. My nephew asked if it was a pork loin.
Since there was going to be about 20 people there, I had only intended for it to supplement my mother-in-law's 14 lb. bird. But as soon as the in-laws showed up, their first question was did I bring any smoked turkey? Yes, and some homemade Chinese bbq pork and soppressata as well.
Everyone ended up going for my smoked turkey, and hardly touching my m-i-l's bird at all. Not that there was anything wrong with hers, it was just oven roasted; but now I feel a little guilty about the whole thing.
One thing that will probably be talked about for the next few Thanksgivings: My mother-in-law lives in a pretty posh house overlooking Puget Sound. Along with all the family members, came an uninvited guest.
In the middle of the meal, a small(ish) rat ran across the white carpeting, right past everyone in the dining room and into the kitchen! It created quite a hoopla. My son and nephews chased it into the m-i-l's bedroom, where it climbed into her bed between the sheets. So of course, that's where they managed to kill it, with no little bloodshed. :confused: Good thing sheets can be washed.
You don't get the same presentation, but these are SO, SO much easier than messing with a whole turkey. They were placed in a 2 gallon bucket overnight with 1 gallon of orange juice, 1 cup of kosher salt and about a dozen thyme sprigs. Next morning, rinsed and injected with butter and more orange juice, mixed with some garlic powder and rub. Into the MES30 at 275° (as high as it will go) with a water pan, and about 60% orange and 40% sugar maple pellets in the mailbox mod.
And about 4 hours later...
Forgot to get a sliced pic, as we were in a hurry to get everything on the table, but it was very moist and juicy. Also very consistent all the way through. My nephew asked if it was a pork loin.
Since there was going to be about 20 people there, I had only intended for it to supplement my mother-in-law's 14 lb. bird. But as soon as the in-laws showed up, their first question was did I bring any smoked turkey? Yes, and some homemade Chinese bbq pork and soppressata as well.
Everyone ended up going for my smoked turkey, and hardly touching my m-i-l's bird at all. Not that there was anything wrong with hers, it was just oven roasted; but now I feel a little guilty about the whole thing.
One thing that will probably be talked about for the next few Thanksgivings: My mother-in-law lives in a pretty posh house overlooking Puget Sound. Along with all the family members, came an uninvited guest.
In the middle of the meal, a small(ish) rat ran across the white carpeting, right past everyone in the dining room and into the kitchen! It created quite a hoopla. My son and nephews chased it into the m-i-l's bedroom, where it climbed into her bed between the sheets. So of course, that's where they managed to kill it, with no little bloodshed. :confused: Good thing sheets can be washed.
