HUGE turkey

[walking dude]

i have a 19 lb turkey i am smoking friday, for my mom's 75th birthday celebration saturday..........its in a soak now.........i will be brining and injecting.........last turkey i brined for @24 hours.......and it was just 12 lbs......should this larger bird be brined longer

second question.......breast be sliced......dark meat prob. pulled.......mother wants this as sandwich meat, cold......(YUK).....how to keep it moist......smoked most of the day friday, prob. finished up in the oven.......should i wait to pull, slice till sat., or do it after its rested friday nite?

TIA

 

[smoke_chef]

Sorry Walking Dude, I don't have any advice. I just wanted to wish you the best of luck. I love me some smoked turkey! A 19 pounder... wow. Also, Happy Birthday to your Mom.

 

[brianj517]

WD...19lbs is one BIG bird...a bird that large is likely to be in the danger zone longer that it should. Generally 10 to 12 lbs is the max recommended size for smoking. I would suggest halving or quartering for safety sake. Then brine & smoke as you normally do...

Cheers,
Brian

P.S. Happy 75th to yer maw!

 

[desertlites]

yup Steve I think split the bird in 1/2 to smoke-and only a 24 hr brine-ain't done 1 and prolly never will but that makes sence to me.

 

[walking dude]

don't have the room in the smoker to split it in half........

 

[brianj517]

Well then...it'd be alot more work, but I reckon you could debone it...just an idea...I'm just concerned about the danger zone with a bird that BIG! Don't want Mamma to get an unexpected b-day surprise!

 

[desertlites]

you have 2 racks right??

 

[walking dude]

yeah..............

 

[desertlites]

shakes his head as eating a pulled pork Sammie with Slaw on it thinking WHY they won't fit?

 

[walking dude]

i thought you was talking about spatchcocking it............

 

[sumosmoke]

Hey WD - good luck on that bird! Happy b-day to your Mom!

 

[walking dude]

who has step by step, then, to cut this monster in half then.............bob

 

[sumosmoke]

Do you have some really sharp kitchen shears?

 

[sumosmoke]

Do you have some really sharp kitchen shears? If so, you could probably cut the thing in half, up along the back, and split the breast down the middle = 2 halves ...

 

[walking dude]

laurel.........i have a splitting axe

 

[walking dude]

but you also have a breast bone.......having a hard time getting my pea brain (shut up you guize) around the idea

 

[sumosmoke]

Use those big man-hands and push down on the chest like you're going to break it open! :)

 

[walking dude]

the kitchen shears we had, the handle broke off.
one of those ron popell specials

 

[sumosmoke]

Once it's cracked you can use the axe to cut through the meat.

 

[smok'n steve]

Cook it standing up, for that size, you will need a big v8 juice can. When it is standing like this, you get better airflow around the whole bird and it cooks faster. You might be surprised, it could be done in 4 hours at 275. When you carve it, lob an entire breast off for Mom and wrap it up, it slices nice and thin when its cold:-)

I'v done 22 pounders this way with good success:-)