Smoked Turkey Galantine - Happy Thanksgiving!

[tallbm]

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:

Thanks it was great! Inside the bird was the oh so "laborious to make" Stove Top Stuffing hahaha. I had honestly never made stove top until going this turkey route. I was shocked at how simple it was and how it is nothing more than bread crumbs, sage and few other herbs/spices, and chicken bouillon hahaha. The only thing simpler than stove top is the rice in the bag that you microwave or microwave steam in bag frozen veggies!

For deboning I just followed this video:
[Edit: posted wrong video link but corrected it now]


Deboning a turkey is not a trivial thing. Deboning a chicken is much simpler since it is smaller and easier to deal with along with no drumstick tendons.
I think I let you have the satisfaction of deboning a turkey all for yourself. You will grow so much as an individual and a cook that it would be a disservice for me to debone one for anyone else and deny them the opportunity to blossom into a new and better human being :p

 

[mneeley490]

The video I saw here is about cutting up a chicken. Not sure if it was switched, or what. But this is the one I go by:

 

[tallbm]

The video I saw here is about cutting up a chicken. Not sure if it was switched, or what. But this is the one I go by:

Good catch! I must have copied and pasted the wrong url haha. I'll edit my posts to use the correct video that shows deboning not cutting up. Thanks! :)

 

[mneeley490]

Just tried this technique tonight for the first time. Took me 30 minutes to do a chicken. Can't imagine the work to debone a turkey.

 

[tallbm]

Just tried this technique tonight for the first time. Took me 30 minutes to do a chicken. Can't imagine the work to debone a turkey.

Yeah it takes a little effort. I can say though that I got much quicker on the 2nd turkey. Last year I did 2 chickens about 2 months apart. This puts me at 4 birds over the past 2 years and I'm guessing (for me) at about 6-8 birds I would be much much faster to be able to get these birds done.
Similarly, I know from processing my own deer over the years it took about doing 12-15 whole deer before I got much faster with them. Now I go through the deer at about as fast of a pace as I can imagine without sacrificing quality or too much meat on the deer I debone :)

In his video Pepin is working with a smaller bird that "magically" happens to fit his cutting board and working area very nicely. I did chickens that were at least 5 pounds and they were a bit more difficult it seemed than the smaller bird in his video. There was no simple whacking the leg bones with a chef's knife on my chickens, I had to use the back end of a cleaver. All of that results in much more mess and a larger work area need.
In his case he is a master and it must be nice for him to know someone else is going to come behind him and clean up all the mess hahahaha :D

I think the way I setup for doing my turkeys would allow me to do 5-6 pound chickens much more quickly like in the video, knowing I wouldn't make a complete mess everywhere.
Also with the turkey I cleaned and sanitized a pair of needle nose pliers and used those to break the leg on the turkey. There was no whacking the turkey legs to break them, not even with a cleaver. Trying so I would have sprayed turkey bits all around my place. Using the pliers I just manhandled the bare turkey bone and broke it and then pulled any big bone chips out. Even then I could only break the turkey bone once got a grip directly on the bare bone. The pliers couldn't get a solid enough grip directly on the bone to do it over the skin an tendons, it's gotta be directly on the bone.

So how did your bird/dish turn out?

 

[mattyoc20]

Looks incredible and I have been inspired by you’re post. Thanks for sharing. I’m going to try this for Christmas with the family coming over. Did you Make a gravy with it? Was wondering about that as I am not sure how a traditional gravy would be with a smoked turkey.

 

[tallbm]

Looks incredible and I have been inspired by you’re post. Thanks for sharing. I’m going to try this for Christmas with the family coming over. Did you Make a gravy with it? Was wondering about that as I am not sure how a traditional gravy would be with a smoked turkey.

I'm flattered that you have been inspired :) I did not make gravy for it BUT a traditional giblet gravy would fit right in with it. I know because someone else brought giblet gravy and I put it all over my plate and this meat and stuffing :)

You will enjoy it for sure. Just be sure to allot enough time to debone, brine, prep, and smoke. It takes some real effort to do this but if you only do it once or once a year I think it is worth it! :)

 

[HalfSmoked]

Yup that's the way to go use the giblets to make a liquid to use as gravy. Simmer with season of choice until tender and enjoy as a special treat or dice up and use in the gravy.

Warren

 

[mattyoc20]

I'm flattered that you have been inspired :) I did not make gravy for it BUT a traditional giblet gravy would fit right in with it. I know because someone else brought giblet gravy and I put it all over my plate and this meat and stuffing :)

You will enjoy it for sure. Just be sure to allot enough time to debone, brine, prep, and smoke. It takes some real effort to do this but if you only do it once or once a year I think it is worth it! :)

Thanks for the advice. I was going to do the deboning and prep the night before. How long did it take to smoke? My bird is 21 pounds from the store. I would think on,y a couple hours. Thanks for the help

 

[tallbm]

Thanks for the advice. I was going to do the deboning and prep the night before. How long did it take to smoke? My bird is 21 pounds from the store. I would think on,y a couple hours. Thanks for the help

Well I brined mine for like 3 days (with cure for the flavor). I definitely recommend brining a whole bird even after it is deboned.
I smoked mine at 325F and I think it took either just over 4 hours or just under 4 hours. I can't remember.
Mine was a 23 pounder before deboning and it had 3 boxes of stove top stuffing in it.

I would highly recommend you get it seasoned, stuffed and tied up the the night before. Heck I would recommend the following process so you can guarantee success and avoid a mad panicking dash to get it all done.

1. Day 1 - put turkey in fridge in a pan/bowl/tub (to catch leaks) and let it defrost for 5 days
2. Day 5 - now it is defrosted, Debone the turkey, this may take an hour or more if it is your first time
   • You better have a big pan and cutting board and enough working space to deal with the big bird and the mess. A fold out table in the garage is a good idea if you don't want to make a mess in your kitchen or dining area. I have large meat tote/lugs and cutting board that fits in the bottom of them perfectly I used them to put the bird in while deboning to contain a majority of the mess. I used a 2nd one to throw the bones in as I removed them but a trash bag and trash can would work for holding the bones and tendons and such. DO NOT underestimate the space and setup for deboning as this is the most cumbersome step to deal with :)
   • Put the turkey in a brine of at least salt and water (mine also had cure #1 for the flavor), brine for 24 hours or more. 1/2 a cup of salt dissolved in 1 gallon of water should cut it for a 21 pound bird if you don't want to weigh it all and get very specific. This would be a lower sodium brine where some can get salty if you don't calculate it properly
3. Day 6 - After brining period, pull the turkey out, put in a large pan/tub, and pat dry with paper towels just well enough so it isn't a complete mess.
   • Dry season the turkey with anything you plan to season it with but avoid the salt if you brined it. I used POG and salt came from the the brine and cure for mine
   • Make Stuffing
   • Stuff the bird with your stuffing
   • Tie the bird up
   • Put bird on some kind of elevated roasting rack if you have one, put on a pan and put it all back in the fridge
4. Day 7 - smoke the bird to 160-165F with the probe in the dead center of the entire thing, not just the breast. You need to ensure the stuffing in the dead center hits a good save 160-165F. My bird easily climbed 5 degrees when pulled out so if you stop at 160-162F it will hit 165F just resting on the counter on the rack/pan.
   
   • Rest for as long as it takes to remove the cotton twine and put on a tray and get ready to serve (20 minutes is my guess)
   • Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Don't let all of this intimidate you. It is some effort but its worth doing at least once in your life if not once a year. I hope all this info helps you have a smooth go at it and your family will be astounded with what you have made once they see it on the table! :)

 

[HalfSmoked]

So how much cure #1 did you use

Warren

 

[tallbm]

So how much cure #1 did you use

Warren

I used 1/2 cup of table salt per Pop's Low Salt Curing Brine:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/ams/low-salt-curing-brine.9752/

If I remember correctly the cured brine recipe did just meet the requirements to cure my 23 pound turkey when I ran things through the cure calculator BUT since I was hot smoking the bird and using the cure for flavor it didn't matter if the bird was 100% cured all the way through. Mine was cured all the way through by the way since I cured it for a little over 3 days (72 hours) and I had split the breast meat like the Pepin video does.

The cure #1 is only there for the flavor and since the turkey is hot smoked and cooks up in like 4 hours it is well within safety temps to not even need the cure but I was shooting for that wonderful smoked turkey and drumstick flavor!

The flavor from the brine was great. It could have used a touch more salt for my 23 pounders but nothing was lost at all and you can always add a little extra salt at the table. Also the gravy I ate with it was good enough to add anything else I desired :)