Got Volentold.....

[Alsta]

Afternoon all!
So over the weekend, It was decided for me that for T-Day not only were we going to have the pernil (My wife and family are from PR) but we are also going to have a smoked turkey that I get to cook.

so That led me to to immediate thoughts:
1) WHOO HOO!!!!! I get to smoke a turkey!
2) How the hell do I smoke a turkey?

I'm looking to you master chefs out there to give a newbie some ideas for how to flavor it as well as how long to cook.
Since we are going to have the Pernil, I'm only going to go with a 10 -15 Lb bird, and I use a Char-Grill offset charcoal smoker.

Any suggestions?

 

[BigW.]

Volentold...love it. There are several different ways to do it. You can brine, spatchcock, inject, cure etc. Lots of ways to do it and all tasty. There are tons of turkey threads on here. I'm sure some new ones will be starting soon also. I injected and smoked mine last year.

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

Definitely spatchcock! You can bribe it if it isn’t “enhanced with salt”, and also smoke it with a higher temp so you get crunchy skin just like a chicken. Or pop it in the oven on like 400* to finish it off for the skin

 

[indaswamp]

Brine it first so it stays moist and juicy. Can either spatchcock it or net it and hang. 275-325*F. Pull when the breast is 160*F. Let rise to 165*F.

 

[indaswamp]

I like apple or cherry wood on turkey. Can inject or not....

 

[indaswamp]

I like the way BDSkelly does Turkeys. Here ya go:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/bdskelly-smoked-turkey.275009/

 

[indaswamp]

Ooops. Instructions are here:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/bds-pre-holiday-smoked-turkey-a-foamheart-request.171145/

 

[Alsta]

Brine it first so it stays moist and juicy. Can either spatchcock it or net it and hang. 275-325*F. Pull when the breast is 160*F. Let rise to 165*F.

I may look into spatchcock, as the smoker I have is a grill with a side smoker unit, not a true dedicated smoker cabinet (Yet)

 

[SmokinAl]

I part them out so you can cook the breasts to 157 & rest on counter, but I take the thighs to 180. They need to cook to a higher IT to be tender & juicy.
Here is one I did a while back, I also cook them in a pan.

SMOKED A 21# TURKEY IN 3 1/4 HOURS ON THE LANG

I work part time as a pool tech. here in the community where I live. I had a request to smoke a turkey & a ham for the company TG Day lunch. They want to have everything ready to go at 11:00 AM the day before TG. I haven't smoked a turkey on the Lang yet & had no idea how long a 21# bird...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Al

 

[TNJAKE]

I like to do bone in turkey breast. I inject with Cajun butter and rub with Cajun seasoning. On the smoker at 225 for an hour for some smoke. Bump the temp to 350 until finished. I baste with Cajun butter every 30min or so

 

[schlotz]

I'll throw out an different method. You can start with a brine but actually not necessary when using a rotisserie on the grill with a smoker tube full of pellets. It self bastes, and the higher grill temp (usually run around 350º) yields great tasting skin. Very juicy. Depending on size, it's a 4-6 hour cook. This is an indirect cook, no burners on directly under the bird.

 

[tallbm]

Afternoon all!
So over the weekend, It was decided for me that for T-Day not only were we going to have the pernil (My wife and family are from PR) but we are also going to have a smoked turkey that I get to cook.

so That led me to to immediate thoughts:
1) WHOO HOO!!!!! I get to smoke a turkey!
2) How the hell do I smoke a turkey?

I'm looking to you master chefs out there to give a newbie some ideas for how to flavor it as well as how long to cook.
Since we are going to have the Pernil, I'm only going to go with a 10 -15 Lb bird, and I use a Char-Grill offset charcoal smoker.

Any suggestions?

I'm in the brine camp, it has always come out best for me. Natural or bird with solution I brine at like 1.8% salt and they come out awesome.

Simple 1.8% Salt Brine:

Basically figure out the water weight (1 gallon weighs 8 pounds = 128ounces of weight) then add that number to the weight of your turkey (15 lbs = 240 ounces).
So, 128ounces + 240 ounces = 368 ounces.
Multiply by 1.8% and that is how much salt you need. So 368 x 0.018 = 6.624 ounces of salt.


Dissolve the salt in some of the water in your blender.
Pour that dissolved salt+water into your brine container then add the rest of the water and mix around. Add the turkey to the water.
Take marinade injection needle and draw water into it and inject the turkey all over.

Now you will have a good equillibrium brine that will brine the turkey from inside out in 24-48 hours no problem.


Cooking:
Pull from brine and pat a little dry but still wet enough to hold seasoning.
Season with Pepper, Onion, and Garlic. Simple.

IMPORTANT: Smoke at 325F or higher and your skin will be edible and maybe even crispy. Tukey and chickens with skin on will have rubber/leather skin if not smoked at a high enough temp.
There are other things that can be done to try and avoid bad skin texture but smoking hot enough is foolproof if you can do so.

This works spatchcocked or not and the turkey will rock!

Tip: if you have cure#1 salt I would add that to the brine in the proper amount for the water + turkey weight to get that nice smoked turkey flavor like you get with state fair drumsticks and such. It's a total game changer! :)