Practice turkey, a lot of things going on

[voldaddy]

I have smoked turkey breasts, but never a whole turkey. We picked up several for .49 per pound, and I'm practicing on one this weekend.

I brined for 26 hours using Tip's brine, rinsed well, and patted dry.

I tried to used his marinade and inject after brining, but it was a mess. I started a thread about my issues there. I injected the concoction that I ended up with, wrapped, and back into the fridge overnight.

I then do as I usually do my breasts, and put herbed butter under the skin. Instead of fresh herbs that I normally use, I used the other half packet of Italian dressing seasoning that was left over from the marinade.

I then rubbed with olive oil and house seasoning.

Finally, I put thick cut bacon on the top to...well, who knows, but bacon makes everything better, so I doubt that it would hurt.

Here it is after rubbing butter under the skin, olive oil, and seasoning, and the bacon draped across it, ready for smoke:

It was about 39* when I put it in at 250*, and it's now at 116* after 1 hour and 20 minutes.

I'm going to cut back to 225* to let it smoke longer.

Will post updates.

 

[rbranstner]

Best of luck with the practice bird. Get all the kinks worked out for the big day next week. hehe

 

[0331grunt]

I am smoking a turkey right now, too!  My first whole turkey as well. I will share pics in my own thread,if I can figure out how...  Hope yours turns out well!!  Good luck!

 

[voldaddy]

This thing is cooking A LOT faster than I anticipated.

2 hours in and I'm at 138*.

I did lower the heat to 225...once I get to 140 out of the danger zone I may lower to 200 to absorb more smoke.

Looks like I will be foiling and into the cooler for 2 hours on this one.

Here's a 2 hour update shot:

 

[0331grunt]

That looks good!

 

[voldaddy]

That looks good!

Thanks grunt, looking forward to seeing your Q-view.

3 hour update...I dropped the temp on my MES to 200, and I'm at 147.

I had 3 boneless skinless breasts in the fridge, so I rubbed with EVOO, house seasoning, and wrapped in bacon. I threw them in the smoker, and bumped back to 225.

Man I love the smell of hickory in the afternoon...

 

[richoso1]

This thing is cooking A LOT faster than I anticipated.

2 hours in and I'm at 138*.

I did lower the heat to 225...once I get to 140 out of the danger zone I may lower to 200 to absorb more smoke.

Looks like I will be foiling and into the cooler for 2 hours on this one.

Here's a 2 hour update shot:

I didn't notice the weight of the bird, but going by the internal temp taken at the 2 hr. mark, it must be close to a 12 lb. bird. You're doing great. It's all good my friend.

 

[voldaddy]

Thanks Rich, it was about 12.5 pounds.

 

[voldaddy]

4 hour update...turkey is at 156.

Here's a pic with the bacon wrapped chicken breasts thrown in:

 

[smokingnd]

Those are some fantastic looking birds, I've got spares in today and getting ready to brine tomorrow's practice buzzard. 

Martin

 

[voldaddy]

Well, my turkey stalled at about 151. It seemed to take  f-o-r-e-v-e-r  to get to 165. I guess because it was rolling along so quickly earlier it seemed like it was forever.

I cranked it to 275 during the last 30 minutes to try to color the skin a little better and hopefully crisp some.

It's triple foiled in a cooler full of towels now, going to rest for an hour.

The chicken breasts took about 3 hours. I pulled them at 2 and checked them, and they were only about 120.

Here's the finished pics:

 

[0331grunt]

Man that looks good!!

 

[voldaddy]

Well, it was delicious.

Sorry, no plated pics...we were too hungry!

None of my family are too keen on the dark meat, so I'll probably stick to the turkey breasts only after I finish off the other 4 whole ones that I have, but it was good.

We are going to make stock with the carcass and make a turkey soup tomorrow. If anyone has a good recipe or suggestions, I'm all ears.

IMO, smoked turkey is better the next day. It seems like I can taste the smoke even more.

Thanks for visiting my practice turkey thread. Hopefully, someone will get some use from it.

About time to watch the Vols (hopefully) whip up on Vandy!