Smoked Turkey Galantine - Happy Thanksgiving!

[tallbm]

Well I went and did it. I deboned a 23 pound turkey, cured Pop's Low Sodium Cure/Brine, stuffed with Stuffing, tied up and smoked the sucker for Thanksgiving! This is a Smoked Turkey Galantine!

Here is something like a time series of the process (except no stuffing and tying shots).

I wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving!

 

[chilerelleno]

Great looking rolled bird, yum!
Like!

 

[tallbm]

Great looking rolled bird, yum!
Like!

Thanks chile! It was fantastic!

 

[motocrash]

Tasty looking and a lot of work! Any chance you weighed it after deboning? I'm curious what carcass/meat weight was...

 

[gmc2003]

Thing of beauty Tall. Even though it looks like a ton of work the rewards are worth it.

Point for sure.
Chris

 

[cooker613]

Great looking bird. I’m starting think to think a galatine / ballotine is the only way to go, even cooking, easy serving, a show stripping cook looks. (I know one is usually hot and one cold, but I can never remember which is which) ;)

 

[ab canuck]

That is a good looking bird. I am a big fan of the galantine / ballotine method. A great change up. Great job!!! Point...

 

[tallbm]

Tasty looking and a lot of work! Any chance you weighed it after deboning? I'm curious what carcass/meat weight was...

I didn't weight this one BUT, I did a practice bird I smoked the Sat before this past Thanksgiving and that bird was a 22 pound bird and when done deboning it was 17.5 pounds. This bird was a 23 pound bird so I'm guessing 18'ish pounds or so deboned :)

Thing of beauty Tall. Even though it looks like a ton of work the rewards are worth it.

Point for sure.
Chris

Thanks! Yep it was a great dish but I won't be deboning turkeys all the time though. The tendons in the drums are a little tricky but I got much better with it being that this was my 2nd bird in 2 weeks :)

Great looking bird. I’m starting think to think a galatine / ballotine is the only way to go, even cooking, easy serving, a show stripping cook looks. (I know one is usually hot and one cold, but I can never remember which is which) ;)

Thanks! Yeah it cooked up quite easily, is nice to cut and serve. I got the deboning down to about an hour where the freakin tendons in the drums were the slowest part. Doing a chicken is quite a bit quicker :)

That is a good looking bird. I am a big fan of the galantine / ballotine method. A great change up. Great job!!! Point...

Thanks! It is a cool method and makes for a very pretty sight as well as a tasty bird. I wanted to surprise people at the dinner with something they may not have seen before :)

 

[tropics]

Nicely done LIKES
Richie

 

[atomicsmoke]

Wow. Very impressive. Care to share some tips on deboning such a monster?

 

[GaryHibbert]

Nice looking bird, tallbm, but you've got a lot more patience than I do--deboning a 23 pound turkey. LOL
It certainly makes for a nice presentation though.
POINT
Gary

 

[tallbm]

Nicely done LIKES
Richie

Thanks!

Wow. Very impressive. Care to share some tips on deboning such a monster?

Thanks!
Tips, well I followed Pepin's approach:
[Edit: posted wrong video link but corrected it now]


I deviated a little where I remove the back bones separately from the breast bones. This is just for easier management. I also did the work in my meat totes with a cutting board lying on the bottom of the tote. This kept things from being a mess everywhere lol.

Other tips would be to cut the tendons in the drum from the top down, where the top is at the fat part of the drum not the ankle part. If you cut through the meat at the fat part of the drum you can clean down deep into the ankle and and of the drum where the skin is tight and if you clean down far enough with the knife the tendon will more easily slip out of the drum. The tendons are really a pain where they all connect down at the ankle part of the drum. Just be prepared to fight with the tendons. I got 100 times better with them on my 2nd bird :)

Other than those tips and tricks it is much like the video and just simply takes some time :)

Nice looking bird, tallbm, but you've got a lot more patience than I do--deboning a 23 pound turkey. LOL
It certainly makes for a nice presentation though.
POINT
Gary

Thanks Gary!
Yeah it took some patience. Doing 2 birds within 8 or so days of one another helped me get into a groove on the 2nd one. I have a 3rd bird in the freezer that is about 22 pounds and I don't plan to debone that one hahaha. I will likely cut the quarters off it, cut the back out of it, and then cure and brine all the parts and smoke separately. I may not smoke them all at the same time either... we'll see :)

 

[wannasmoak]

Looks beautiful, I ended up just cutting my turkey into 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, etc and curing each individually, then going for a 250 smoke for 3 hours and finishing hot in the oven. Turned out okay, but I think next year I'm going to try deboning the whole thing like you did.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Nice job now try a turducken. That's a boned turkey stuffed with a boned duck and chicken now that your in the grove. :D

Warren

 

[ab canuck]

That is the video I have been using for the last yr. It works great, would recommend it to anyone interested.

 

[Lonzinomaker]

I use the drumsticks for meat in the dressing instead of giblets. Easy to debone after cooking them in the instant pot for 30-50 min with aromatics. Get great gravy stock that way too.

 

[crazymoon]

TBM, Awesome looking meal for Thanksgiving !!!!!! like

 

[uncle eddie]

Looks delicious...Like!

 

[tallbm]

Looks beautiful, I ended up just cutting my turkey into 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, etc and curing each individually, then going for a 250 smoke for 3 hours and finishing hot in the oven. Turned out okay, but I think next year I'm going to try deboning the whole thing like you did.

Thanks!
I'm taking the same approach you did with my discount bird in the freezer :)
Just be very prepared to handle the process of curing and deboning such a large bird. Without my garage fridge and 2 big meat totes/lugs there is no way I could have gotten it done as smoothly as I did.

Nice job now try a turducken. That's a boned turkey stuffed with a boned duck and chicken now that your in the grove. :D

Warren

Hahaha I've always wanted to eat a Turducken, but never had the chance. I'm not sure I want to take on 3 birds. I can't even imagine how big the turkey would need to be for that hahaha. I could maybe manage a turkey, chicken, and cornish game hen :P

That is the video I have been using for the last yr. It works great, would recommend it to anyone interested.

Yeah I saw it posted here a long while back by someone, it may have been your doing. If so thanks for the inspiration! :)

I use the drumsticks for meat in the dressing instead of giblets. Easy to debone after cooking them in the instant pot for 30-50 min with aromatics. Get great gravy stock that way too.

I bet they make awesome gravy. The dark meat is my favorite hands down!

TBM, Awesome looking meal for Thanksgiving !!!!!! like

Thanks! It was good eatin :)

Looks delicious...Like!

Thanks! It tastes fantastic!

 

[dwdunlap]

That is a really fantastic looking bird! I didn't know what was inside but looks soooo good! A like for sure and points if still available.

I see nothing on how you actually "deboned" the turkey but I'll bet that's a whole art in and of itself. How about you fixing on for me and I buy it ready for smoker? :rolleyes: