Another Smoked Turkey and a couple of firsts...

[Gonna Smoke]

So my best friend was given a Butterball turkey and a smoked ham for Christmas by his work. He asked me if I had room for the turkey in one of my freezers and that's how I acquired it. There was no weight on it, but I'd guess it was around 15-17 lbs. and it took up a lot of room so its time had come and since I have never smoked a spatchcocked turkey, well...

Thawed it in the fridge for about 5 days and it was still partially frozen on the inside when I unwrapped it, the beer fridge is COLD !! Got out my trusty poultry shears and went to work on it from the back. Also removed the breast bone from the inside. Got that done and into a brine of 1 cup coarse salt and 1 cup of brown sugar to each gallon of water for an overnight bath.

Next morning I rinsed it and seasoned it up with a mix of poultry seasoning, coarse salt & garlic powder, and then a sprinkling of Kinder's All Purpose rub. Injected with a butter/garlic/creole injection I make. It consists of a stick of unsalted butter melted, some granulated garlic powder to taste, and some Tony C's to taste, maybe a tsp of each, but I don't measure. Garlic salt can be used instead if you think it's not salty enough or just add some salt...

Fired up the Oklahoma Joe with some white oak and on it went...

After about 3 hours or it's so getting a little dark, but not done...

Pulled it at about 5 hours. Thighs were 175℉ and the breast was around 162℉. Darker than I wanted, but...

Next was another first, Alabama white sauce. Used a recipe from Meat Church, but only covered half the bird because I wasn't sure who would eat it...

Served with cheesy scalloped potatoes and sauted squash, zucchini, and onions (one of my wife's favorite veggie combos), and stuffing with gravy...

Turned out that the white sauce was a hit and next time I'll coat the whole bird with it. First spatchcocked turkey ever and may be the only way I do them from now on...

 

[gmc2003]

That turkey plate looks real good from my screen Charles. If you cover the turkey with aluminum foil and remove it for the last couple of hours then It will help prevent the skin from getting to dark.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[adam15]

Good looking plate and turkey for sure! Something that I have used with turkeys is wrap them in cheese cloth. They still get the smoke and I’ve had good results with the color not getting too dark. That’s worked for me the last few that I’ve done.

 

[JLeonard]

Thanksgiving in march! That is a plate full of heaven right there!
Jim

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Thanksgiving in march! That is a plate full of heaven right there!
Jim

Yes sir, it is and I've got another one still in the freezer and soon it's got to go, too...

 

[bauchjw]

Looks tasty! I’d given up on smoked Turkey….but…..you got me thinking to give it a go without holiday pressure! Nice experiment! Great results!

 

[sandyut]

YUM! Love smoked turkey. Yours looks great for sure

 

[chopsaw]

Nice work . I really like the white sauce myself .

 

[DRKsmoking]

Looks Great Charles, nice plate of food.

And like Jim JLeonard said Thanksgiving in March
I have read about the white sauce and on the list to use , now bringing up closer to the top of list
David

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Tasty looking plate thee. I love that sauce.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Looks tasty! I’d given up on smoked Turkey….but…..you got me thinking to give it a go without holiday pressure! Nice experiment! Great results!

YUM! Love smoked turkey. Yours looks great for sure

Nice work . I really like the white sauce myself .

Looks Great Charles, nice plate of food.

And like Jim JLeonard said Thanksgiving in March
I have read about the white sauce and on the list to use , now bringing up closer to the top of list
David

Tasty looking plate thee. I love that sauce.

Thank you all very much for the compliments. The white sauce was indeed a very pleasant surprise and I highly recommend it to those who have not tried it. The sauce recipe I used was from MeatChurch.com, but there are many others out there. I actually ended up on Meat Church when I was exploring spatchcocking and brining a turkey. I looked at many different ideas including 2 of Jeff's videos and the brine was his recipe...

.
I came across the white sauce suggestion and thought, "Why not?"

 

[Brokenhandle]

That looks awesome! A plateful of heaven right there! And I seem to have a turkey in the freezer as well!

Ryan

 

[tx smoker]

Beautiful Charles, just beautiful!! Personally that's about the color I like my turkeys. To me though that crispy skin is a meal in and of itself I've often wondered about the Alabama white sauce and of course you see it all over the cooking shows. I might have to give it a run based on your comments....and those of your family of course. Very well done my friend and a great way to bring family together.

Robert

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Try the white sauce, Robert. I was skeptical at first and I think it is because of the color, BBQ sauces aren't usually white . In the future, I'm going to try it on something other than poultry, probably pulled pork, and see how that works...