First Turkey
- Thread starter burgerbob
- Start date
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D-Day has arrived and it's time to start getting Thanksgiving under way. I'm doing 2-13# turkeys since there will be about 20 of us.
For one turkey I did the same brine that I did for my previous turkey. This time I added sage and thyme to the brine instead of just rosemary. I put the turkey in the brine Tuesday night and left it in there for a little over 24 hours. Wednesday night I emptied the brine bucket, washed the turkey off, patted dry and put it back into the fridge uncovered to hopefully get a crispier skin. I read somewhere, most likely on this site, that by leaving the turkey uncovered for 12-24 hours allows the skin to dry out a bit and possibly give you crispier skin. I'd use the switch to the grill method except my grill isn't all that big and definitely wouldn't fit both birds. For the rub I did paprika, Lawry's, garlic powder, and a little bit of nutmeg. I then chopped up some rosemary, sage and thyme and put that on as well. Stuffed the inside with more rosemary, thyme and sage.
The second turkey, I decided to do Jeff's Maple BBQ turkey (http://www.smoking-meat.com/november-13-2014-smoked-maple-barbecue-turkey). I followed the entire instructions except I used a different rub. I believe my rub is about the same as his but that is based solely on the look of it. Probably some different amounts but I basically used paprika, chili powder, white sugar, brown sugar, kosher salt, cayenne, black pepper and celery seed. I also used Grade A maple syrup anytime it called for maple syrup. I put the turkey into the maple brine Wednesday evening around 8 or 9 p.m. after I had removed the other turkey from its brine. I then removed it from it's brine at about 9 a.m. then next day and seasoned with my mix before putting it back in the fridge before smoking.
Turkey Day - I started the smoker around 11 a.m. to get it up to temp. I'm still using my UDS with a Hickory/Oak charcoal mix with some pecan wood. Once I was able to get the smoker up to around 275 and make sure it was holding there I was able to put the turkeys on. I put the turkeys on around noon and kept the smoker at that temp. It did drop down to about 225 for about 15 minutes but that was because I had accidentally closed one of my vents. Once the birds got to about 140 IT, I spritzed the savory turkey with the Slaughterhouse spritz and then brushed the maple turkey with the maple syrup/rub mixture. About 45 minutes later I did that one more time on both turkeys. Around 3:30 they were done, which was kind of surprising to me since both turkeys were about 2 pounds larger that my previous turkey and they got done in about the same amount of time. After thinking about it though it makes sense since I was actually able to keep the smoker at 275 for most of the smoke.
All-in-all it was very successful. The skin on the savory bird, the one I left out uncovered for 24 hours, was definitely crispier than the maple syrup bird. So in my experience it makes a difference to leave the bird uncovered. Granted the skin wasn't nearly as crispy as a fryer turkey but it was pretty good. The family loved the turkeys and it was toss up between the two different recipes as to which was better. Personally, I thought that the maple turkey had more flavor but I'm a big fan of maple syrup so I'm a little biased. The savory turkey will definitely be something to keep in the old recipe book. I do got to say that I'm really glad that I was able to get a test run in before the fateful day. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any pictures of the turkey being cut up since everyone was chomping at the bit to eat. But I'll share what I did get pictures of.
Prepped and ready for the smoker, sweet on the left and savory on the right
Another angle
Savory bird finished
Another angle Savory bird
Maple bird done
For one turkey I did the same brine that I did for my previous turkey. This time I added sage and thyme to the brine instead of just rosemary. I put the turkey in the brine Tuesday night and left it in there for a little over 24 hours. Wednesday night I emptied the brine bucket, washed the turkey off, patted dry and put it back into the fridge uncovered to hopefully get a crispier skin. I read somewhere, most likely on this site, that by leaving the turkey uncovered for 12-24 hours allows the skin to dry out a bit and possibly give you crispier skin. I'd use the switch to the grill method except my grill isn't all that big and definitely wouldn't fit both birds. For the rub I did paprika, Lawry's, garlic powder, and a little bit of nutmeg. I then chopped up some rosemary, sage and thyme and put that on as well. Stuffed the inside with more rosemary, thyme and sage.
The second turkey, I decided to do Jeff's Maple BBQ turkey (http://www.smoking-meat.com/november-13-2014-smoked-maple-barbecue-turkey). I followed the entire instructions except I used a different rub. I believe my rub is about the same as his but that is based solely on the look of it. Probably some different amounts but I basically used paprika, chili powder, white sugar, brown sugar, kosher salt, cayenne, black pepper and celery seed. I also used Grade A maple syrup anytime it called for maple syrup. I put the turkey into the maple brine Wednesday evening around 8 or 9 p.m. after I had removed the other turkey from its brine. I then removed it from it's brine at about 9 a.m. then next day and seasoned with my mix before putting it back in the fridge before smoking.
Turkey Day - I started the smoker around 11 a.m. to get it up to temp. I'm still using my UDS with a Hickory/Oak charcoal mix with some pecan wood. Once I was able to get the smoker up to around 275 and make sure it was holding there I was able to put the turkeys on. I put the turkeys on around noon and kept the smoker at that temp. It did drop down to about 225 for about 15 minutes but that was because I had accidentally closed one of my vents. Once the birds got to about 140 IT, I spritzed the savory turkey with the Slaughterhouse spritz and then brushed the maple turkey with the maple syrup/rub mixture. About 45 minutes later I did that one more time on both turkeys. Around 3:30 they were done, which was kind of surprising to me since both turkeys were about 2 pounds larger that my previous turkey and they got done in about the same amount of time. After thinking about it though it makes sense since I was actually able to keep the smoker at 275 for most of the smoke.
All-in-all it was very successful. The skin on the savory bird, the one I left out uncovered for 24 hours, was definitely crispier than the maple syrup bird. So in my experience it makes a difference to leave the bird uncovered. Granted the skin wasn't nearly as crispy as a fryer turkey but it was pretty good. The family loved the turkeys and it was toss up between the two different recipes as to which was better. Personally, I thought that the maple turkey had more flavor but I'm a big fan of maple syrup so I'm a little biased. The savory turkey will definitely be something to keep in the old recipe book. I do got to say that I'm really glad that I was able to get a test run in before the fateful day. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any pictures of the turkey being cut up since everyone was chomping at the bit to eat. But I'll share what I did get pictures of.
Prepped and ready for the smoker, sweet on the left and savory on the right
Another angle
Savory bird finished
Another angle Savory bird
Maple bird done
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