Cutting Turkey in half...

[dawna]

I ended up with a 15 pound turkey this year... Should I cut it in half to brine and smoke it?  I'm afraid it will take forever to smoke if I leave it whole.  So... cut it, then brine it, then smoke it, OR brine it, then cut it, then smoke it?

 

[venture]

At 15 LBS, it is a little large, but not a monster.

Smoke it!  Leave extra time as the time estimates are only guidelines. Be sure to allow for rest time before carving.

Sharpen your knives and:

Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[s2k9k]

You could spatchcock it, that will speed up the smoking time and cook it more evenly.

 

[dawna]

My smoker isn't big enough to handle it if I spatchcock it, which is why I was going to cut it in half. 
 

 

[so ms smoker]

  I think I would brine,cut, then smoke. If you spatchcock, go ahead and cut in half, then smoke. Remember smoking time will be decreased as you now have 2 pieces of bird each being approx. 6.5-7 pounds. At 40 mins per pound, about4.5 - 5 hours. Be sure to go by temp in breast though! Hope it comes out great!

  Mike

 

[diggingdogfarm]

I split the bird, expose the joints and then brine.
Exposing the joints ensures that It'll cook more evenly.
I split with a sharp chef's knife.



~Martin

 

[dawna]

Martin, Tell me about 'exposing the joints', please.  I'm not familiar with that....

 

[chef jimmyj]

You are not alone. Check the thread below...It really doesn't matter whether you brine first or cut first...JJ

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/130513/cut-that-bird-in-half-i-did#post_886085

 

[skull fish]

Here we go for a swim in chef jimmy's brine. I sub out the vinegar for fruit, tomorrow I'm gonna split it in half, this is a 16 lb bird. Details to follow..

 

[dawna]

Thank you, Chef Jimmy!  That is very helpful.

Skull fish, THAT looks amazing already.  I'll have to search and see if I can find Chef Jimmy's brine recipe.  I'm intrigued!

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Martin, Tell me about 'exposing the joints', please.  I'm not familiar with that....

The joints are often the stubborn spot that takes so long to cook.
If you cut into them the bird will cook more evenly.

In the following video Jacques Pépin spatchcocks a bird and cuts into the joints, I do it a bit differently, but this will give you the general idea.
Starting at 5:19 in the video.



I like to split the bird and cut into the joints before brining because the bird will brine in about half the time.

Works for me. :biggrin:

HTH

~Martin

 

[dawna]

Thank you, Martin.. that was very helpful!  I appreciate you!

With a little help from you all, and especially Chef Jimmy via pm, I'm about ready to put two halves of the turkey into my tiny smoker as soon as it gets up to temp!  Will make a report tomorrow evening!

 

[smokinhusker]

Great tip, thanks Martin! I'm going to give this a try.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Some day I'll do a thread showing how I do it, FWIW. LOL

Jacques cuts through the skin, I don't do that, I go up under the skin because i prefer to hide the cut.
He also doesn't pop the thigh joint out of the socket on the back, that's easy to do by cutting down into the joint from the inside of the bird, the joint can be easily popped out of the socket then.
Doing so, along with spatchcocking or splitting the bird ensures the dark meat is finished at closer to the same time the white meat is.


~Martin