Thanksgiving Smoking: Turkey and Prime Rib

[dhs135]

Hey All,
Long time reader, first time posting. Sorry for posting a new thread if a similar question existed already, but I couldn't find one.

For this years Thanksgiving I am going to attempt a 22 pound whole turkey and a 10 pound boneless prime rib. I have a WSM18. I have done each of these separately in the past, but always spatchcocked the turkey's to speed up the cook times. I will be picking up the meats on Tuesday evening, we plan to sit down to eat around 2 on Thursday.

I have read many threads recently to figure out my game plan, so I am fairly comfortable with my turkey brine/rub/injection plans. But I am worried about the timing of doing these two items at once. Looking for any advice from those who may have done something similar.

I know I have to use a higher smoker temp with a bird this big, so I am figuring about 300. I think that puts my turkey cook time at about 7 hours, and my prime rib at about 3.5 - 4 hours to medium rare.

Any thoughts, comments, or tips from anyone would be appreciated. Am I way off? I have to imagine people do this all the time...

Perhaps I should try to cook the turkey at the higher temps in the beginning to get it through the danger zone, and then bring it down to under 250 so that the PR gets an even medium rare color. But I have no idea how to time something like that.

 

[gmc2003]

The turkey(whole) should take about 5 to 6 hrs. at 300*. The rib roast will be about 20ish mins. a pound if your cooking it on the bottom rack. The bottom rack of the WSM usually runs cooler then the top You can add about another 40 min for the WSM to do it's initial recovery, and possibly a little more time when your opening it up to check the meat.

Chris