My turkey experiences

[mrgrumpy]

I know a lot of people have different ideas on smoking a turkey. Here is what I found by accident one time and do it almost every time I smoke one.

I lived in a house that had an old apple tree in the backyard which I would cut some of the dead limbs off of to use for smoking poulty with. I was only using a Brinkman vertical in those days.

Well, there wasn't much for wood this one time, and my wife suggested throwing in some of the old apples we had. I thought she was crazy, but I did it anyway. She cut the apples into quarters. Well to my amazement, it was wonderful.... the apples gave it a darker skin, and a slight sweet taste. I have been doing it ever since.

Just take abt 4 apples, cut them into quarters and toss them onto the hot coals instead of, or with, some wood.

Bill

 

[gunslinger]

I have wondered many times if that would do anything. I have 4 apple trees that I have cut and split and am now waiting for them to season. The owner of a local orchard culled them last spring. They were alive when he cut them down, just not bearing fruit as well as they should. They're still a little green. In the meantime, I will have to try the apples.
I will let you know what I experience. Though I would say it'd work. When we were kids we used to core apples, fill them with brown sugar and cinnamon and throw them into Mom's fireplace for delectable treat. It would fill the whole house with the smell of apples.
Boy I miss the old farm house in Iowa now. :)

 

[kueh]

Though my actual smoking experience is small, your "experiment" with apples makes sense.

There is an Oriental smoking method called tea-smoking. Generally tea leaves, rice, and sugar are the major components. The smoke is generally intense and the food is not smoked for very long. The food is then finished in another cooking method.

If you're a fan of Iron Chef (Japanese version), you will find smoking is not limited to hardwood.

Example: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci..._29971,00.html

 

[gunslinger]

That looks like a very interesting recipe. I've often wondered if the Chinese smoked anything as I love Chinese cuisine. I just don't know about half a lb of pork getting "almost" done in 8 minutes. I may have to try this though.

 

[kueh]

Usually oriental type smoking is not a complete process. Smoking is simply used to add colour, taste, and smell to food. The food is then finished by another method, such as steaming, deep-frying, stir-frying.

This is like smoking meat for a few hours in a smoker, finishing it in an oven, then grilling it.

Perhaps here is a better explanation: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1045815