After the holidays, turkeys go on sale and I stock up the freezer! At 69¢ a lb. it makes a great smoking bargain! I would venture to go out on a limb and say, that other than the holidays, its not a regular "go-to" BBQ item you see too often around here. But I'll make my case here in that turkey is very inexpensive, generally healthier for you, so very versatile, and WAAAY under-rated! It is super simple to transform this protein into something special that is NOT some dried out old bird!
A lot of them I will spatchcock, season, inject and roast them indirect on the Kettle. These are just as good, if not better, than any "beer can" chicken or grocery store rotisserie chicken! What isn't consumed immediately, is deboned and vacuum sealed up for quick weekday meals- soups, stir-fries, tacos, and whatnot.
Another of my favorites is to chisel out the raw bird into different cuts: breast fillets, wings, drums, and deboned thighs and back meat. The, bones, broken down carcass, neck and gibblets are tossed into a stock pot with water to boil and reduce for stock. The stock is strained, defatted and frozen into blocks, and vacuum sealed. The bits and pieces the fall off the bones are saved for THE BEST soups and stews! The Legs and Wings are too much work to debone raw. So they will usually get thrown on the grill with the vortex. Sometimes I will cure them for a couple of days, others I will straight brine, and/or just a light rub or seasoning.
The thighs meat makes a GREAT ground sausage! Here is 5 lbs of Richies Turkey Italian Sausage which I highly recommend! Vacuum seal in packages or stuff into casings- smoked or fresh brats- amazing!
Now lastly for the breast meat…. Those get dry brined and seasoned with a little salt, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Injecting is optional. Curing is also an option and I do recommend. In any case they get stuffed into a 5” nylon mesh bag and hung for a few days in the refrigerator to form and firm up before smoking. There are just the skinless boneless breasts from one 13 lb turkey in this photo. You can use "meat glue" if you want, but I found that it is not needed! It holds together just fine. Then it gets put on a rack in a pan with a little braising liquid to go in the smoker. I used apple juice here on this one.
Started smoking @225 with cherry. because I was about 3 hours in and hadn’t hit safe temps yet (130’ IT), I wrapped the pan and bumped temp to 235’ I sterilized and inserted meat probes. About 1 hour and a half later it hit~160-163” internal and I cut the power let it rest in the smoker (low 40s outside) to cool and then went in the fridge. overnight before slicing.
The next day, time to put the slicer and vac sealer to work. Most excellent flavor, tender, juicy and texture worthy of the finest deli around!
Thanks for watching folks! I hope I have inspired you to find the cheapest turkey you can find and transform it. Go ahead and "flip the bird" into something special!
A lot of them I will spatchcock, season, inject and roast them indirect on the Kettle. These are just as good, if not better, than any "beer can" chicken or grocery store rotisserie chicken! What isn't consumed immediately, is deboned and vacuum sealed up for quick weekday meals- soups, stir-fries, tacos, and whatnot.
Another of my favorites is to chisel out the raw bird into different cuts: breast fillets, wings, drums, and deboned thighs and back meat. The, bones, broken down carcass, neck and gibblets are tossed into a stock pot with water to boil and reduce for stock. The stock is strained, defatted and frozen into blocks, and vacuum sealed. The bits and pieces the fall off the bones are saved for THE BEST soups and stews! The Legs and Wings are too much work to debone raw. So they will usually get thrown on the grill with the vortex. Sometimes I will cure them for a couple of days, others I will straight brine, and/or just a light rub or seasoning.
The thighs meat makes a GREAT ground sausage! Here is 5 lbs of Richies Turkey Italian Sausage which I highly recommend! Vacuum seal in packages or stuff into casings- smoked or fresh brats- amazing!
Now lastly for the breast meat…. Those get dry brined and seasoned with a little salt, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Injecting is optional. Curing is also an option and I do recommend. In any case they get stuffed into a 5” nylon mesh bag and hung for a few days in the refrigerator to form and firm up before smoking. There are just the skinless boneless breasts from one 13 lb turkey in this photo. You can use "meat glue" if you want, but I found that it is not needed! It holds together just fine. Then it gets put on a rack in a pan with a little braising liquid to go in the smoker. I used apple juice here on this one.
Started smoking @225 with cherry. because I was about 3 hours in and hadn’t hit safe temps yet (130’ IT), I wrapped the pan and bumped temp to 235’ I sterilized and inserted meat probes. About 1 hour and a half later it hit~160-163” internal and I cut the power let it rest in the smoker (low 40s outside) to cool and then went in the fridge. overnight before slicing.
The next day, time to put the slicer and vac sealer to work. Most excellent flavor, tender, juicy and texture worthy of the finest deli around!
Thanks for watching folks! I hope I have inspired you to find the cheapest turkey you can find and transform it. Go ahead and "flip the bird" into something special!