18 Legs Smokin'

[sawhorseray]

Up early this morning to get 18 turkey legs that had been brining for 48 hours in my 7-up curing solution. Dumped them into the sink for a quick rinse, then patted them dry

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• sawhorseray
• Nov 8, 2014

Having had done this before a few times I got the legs tied up and on sticks, knew I could fit 18 on one rack with no touching. Right at 7am I put the legs into my 110º preheated Pro 100 smoker to dry for a hour with vents wide open.

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• sawhorseray
• Nov 8, 2014

At 8am I'll close the vents to 1/3 open, raise the smoker temp to 125º, and introduce a pan of moistened applewood for four hours. At noon I'll change the chip pan, close the vents, and raise the temp to 140º for another four hours, then remove the chip pan and raise the temp to 185º until the batch of legs reaches a internal temperature of 165º. Gonna be a long day, I might need a nap. RAY

 

[themule69]

It looks good so far. Keep the pics coming.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Do you use any cure in your brine? Just curious if your method will get your internal temps to 140 in 4 hours?

 

[mdboatbum]

Looks like a lot of good eating, Henry VIII style!! Your "7-Up curing brine" sounds intriguing. Care to share the ingredients?

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Sounds good to me , Ray . Sounds like a good way to spend a day.

 

[sawhorseray]

Looks like a lot of good eating, Henry VIII style!! Your "7-Up curing brine" sounds intriguing. Care to share the ingredients?

My apologies, I was stupid to not post this originally. It's the same brine I use for whole turkey and chicken, no injection tho, just cover-pickle for legs. 48 hours seems to work fine.

2 gallons water
1 gallon 7-Up[emoji]8482[/emoji] (soft drink)
2-1/4 cups powdered dextrose
1-1/2 cups salt
1 cup Prague Powder #1

I've been cheating just a little by raising the smoker temp five degrees evey half hour starting at 2pm .I'll be pulling the pan in a half hour and jacking the temp up to 185º. Nice day to smoke with lots of football on TV. RAY

 

[b-one]

Nice looking smoke!

 

[sawhorseray]

Thanks b-one. I'm 14 & 1/2 hours into it now and both meat thermometers are within a degree of 155º. It always seems to happen, the temperature runs at a fairly steady climb and then when it starts to look like there's a little light at the end of the tunnel "smoker stall" rears up it's ugly head. Can't raise the temp, keep the door closed, pour a glass of scotch and just wait it out. RAY

 

[smokin pastor]

Ray- where did you get your turkey drums??? I'm looking for a source to buy XL drums.

 

[sawhorseray]

My wife found them at a Sprouts market, that's where we usually go for veggies. The legs are not XL, I don't think they can be found, every one is already promised out to some place like Disneyworld so they can be sold at a exorbitant price. It's 1:25 am and I'm up to 163.7º, done a half a fifth of Glenlivet. I will not falter, I will not raise the temp, I will not open the smoker door. I WILL feel like crap tomorrow, but my wife will have the perfectly smoked turkey legs which she likes so so much. I've been retired for eight years, all I need to be awake for is the Niner game. RAY

Ray- where did you get your turkey drums??? I'm looking for a source to buy XL drums.

 

[wazzuqer]

I saw these at a Safeway a couple weeks back...

 

[sawhorseray]

I finally got them pulled after a total of 20 hours on the smoker, got to bed at 3:30. The official taste tester gave the effort a thumbs up, said they were juicy with a lot of smoke flavor. RAY

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• sawhorseray
• Nov 9, 2014
• 1

 

[themule69]

 
I finally got them pulled after a total of 20 hours on the smoker, got to bed at 3:30. The official taste tester gave the effort a thumbs up, said they were juicy with a lot of smoke flavor. RAY

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• sawhorseray
• Nov 9, 2014
• 1

OH YEAH! I could eat those all day. Now go get some sleep. Your going to have to fire up that smoker again. I like most here have to get our fix.

Happy smoken.

david

 

[driedstick]

Wow that looks great, Not a brine person yet but isn't that a lot of cure?? Just wondering I was going to get into doing some salmon possibly. 

DS
 

 

[driedstick]

Never mind I remember your post of the 6 chickens now and the discussion there and that is was just fine. 

Great Job. 

DS

 

[sawhorseray]

Glad you got it figured out Stick. That was a huge error on my part, not posting the entire brining recipe on each individual thread, and it will NEVER happen again. I smoked salmon for about 35 years on a Little Chief, never used any nitrite, never had a problem. I've been adding a minimum amount to my brine the last few years since I got into smoking sausage and meat just to be safe. RAY

 

[nypigfarmer]

that is some tasty look'n Q-view

love that smoked bird

 

 

[crankybuzzard]

Ray, loved your posts on another board, and I'm digging them here!

Now, I'm gonna try that brine recipe this weekend! Do you do 48 hours for a whole bird as well?

 

[leah elisheva]

That's so wild! Fantastic stuff! Cheers! - Leah

 

[sawhorseray]

I finally got them pulled after a total of 20 hours on the Pro 100, in bed at 3:30am. Long day.

Ray, loved your posts on another board, and I'm digging them here!

Now, I'm gonna try that brine recipe this weekend! Do you do 48 hours for a whole bird as well?

Sorry it took me so long to get back CB, been fishing, fish processing, and fishing some more. A whole bird has to be injected with 10% of it's green weight with the brine, and then covered in the brine for a day. I've followed these guidelines set forth by folks a lot smarter than I  and haven't killed or made anybody sick yet

" Dissolve Cure in water and mix thoroughly. * Inject product with hand brine pump or electric pump at 10% of weight of bird. Place in S/S or plastic lugs and submerge in the same pickle solution with a cover. Remove after 4-5 hours and wash "with COLD water" and dry for 2 hours. Note: In the absence of an injector a cover pickling method may be used as follows

3-5 lb.	36 hours
6-8 lb.	40 hours
9-11 lb.	50 hours
13-14 lb.	60 hours
15 lb.	70 hours

Note: For less smoke, use 2/3 pan and omit second smoking.

Note: For best results poultry 6 lbs. and up should be pumped and then submerged from 5 - 10 hours."

I've found a real clean five gallon bucket works OK for me, got a couple new that's just for the purpose of brining only. Good luck, let us know how your bird comes, post a pic! RAY