Thanksgiving turkey

[Bearcarver]

Not sure what we're doing this year, most of my family has canceled Thanksgiving and probably Christmas this year. It will just be the wife and I, a whole turkey may be a bit much. I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Exactly!!
It will be just the 2 of us this year.
We used to have a Big Family Dinner of about 25 to 30 people, however the last few TG's have been about 8 people at Bear Jr's house.
This year, due to this raging Pandemic, it will be just the 2 of us here @ home.
That will hopefully mean we can have a few more bigger get-togethers after this brief side-step. Much better to skip one year to stay alive for the rest of the years.

Bear

 

[bhambrewer]

Aldi just put turkeys on sale at 69c/lb. Good chance to stock up.

 

[Inscrutable]

Aldi just put turkeys on sale at 69c/lb. Good chance to stock up.

For those of you in FoodLion country, they are $0.29 with a $35 purchase. Wish I still had a big freezer.

 

[LuvsBBQ]

What I plan for this years turkey is to do it up similar to how I do chicken I will split it open by cutting the back and folding it "flat" and I will rub butter herbs b spices under the skin and add a rub made for poultry to the skin. Smoke it at about 225 -240 till its done. I often times use mesquite and pecan and hickory when I have it. The bird comes out nice and juicy and the skin is crisp.

 

[noboundaries]

I have done 4-6 turkeys a year for decades. It's somewhat weird that this was the year I decided to take a break from turkeys. I made that decision while Christmas shopping last year. I might have one on the bottom of my chest freezer. I honestly can't remember. No matter. I'll still do an 18-24 lb turkey for Thanksgiving and freeze the leftovers.

 

[bhambrewer]

What I plan for this years turkey is to do it up similar to how I do chicken I will split it open by cutting the back and folding it "flat" and I will rub butter herbs b spices under the skin and add a rub made for poultry to the skin. Smoke it at about 225 -240 till its done. I often times use mesquite and pecan and hickory when I have it. The bird comes out nice and juicy and the skin is crisp.

spatchcocking - sounds rude, but makes a great turkey

 

[D.W.]

What do you use for the brine?

It's a real smorgasbord... apple cider or juice, water, salt, pepper, juice from 2 squeezed oranges and add peels to mix, crushed garlic cloves, bay leaves, fresh rosemary and thyme, toasted spices and toasted cinnamon sticks.

 

[3-2-1]

Not sure what we're doing this year, most of my family has canceled Thanksgiving and probably Christmas this year. It will just be the wife and I, a whole turkey may be a bit much. I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Here's the thing, just get a bird, smoke it and you'll have a great night with the wife and several turkey sandwiches and turkey soup over the week. Don't let Covid get you down just cuz you can't be with family.

 

[D.W.]

Here's the thing, just get a bird, smoke it and you'll have a great night with the wife and several turkey sandwiches and turkey soup over the week. Don't let Covid get you down just cuz you can't be with family.

I'm in the business of risk mitigation, but I'll be darned if it's just family. No one knows their time or place. Why give up that experience with the thought another experience will be here in the future (you're taking the assumption covid will blow over, other viruses will not come about, and things like cancer/pneumonia/car crashes will cease to exist). I guess I'm biased because it's my favorite holiday, and time together is worth more than anything, it may be the Sicilian in me.

 

[MauleGuy]

Kawboy,

Sort of the same story here, but we are doing a bit of a takeout Zoom T'day dinner. I will be smoking some Turkey quarters then local folks will drop by and pick up turkey and desert take these home add in the rest of their fixins. Remote folks are going to do everything at their place.

My plan is to brine 1/4's overnight, rinse then air dry in fridge overnight. I am debating if I should oil (butter) the skin before placing on pellet smoker. Probably going to set LG900 to 180F for 1/2-3/4 hr to get good smoke laid down then running temp up to 275-300F in an effort to crisp the skin but keep temps down. I am also debating about 250F then going up to 375F last 45 minutes for skin.

My issue is I have to be careful with the set temp on this grill since there is an about 30F differential in temps from right to left. Need to make sure left 1/4's get hot enough while not taking the right 1/4's up too fast.

I think I am going to open the lid at about 125F internal and swap sides w/ the 1/4's so everyone will get done about the same time.

I have seen set temps at 300F for good skin, then high to start or low to start. I have been smoking 1/4's about 230F the entire way but the skin is a bit rubbery that way.

Any feed back would be appreciated.

 

[slater]

Spatched, Injected and Smoked.

Chille
Do you think you will be doing your apple juice, butter, cajun seasoning injection on yours this year????
This will be my first turkey ever let alone on the smoker....
I asked my other half what her vote was as an injection mixture, garlic herb butter or cajun butter & she voted traditional garlic herb butter, that sounds boring to me.....

 

[jjlnyc]

I will be brining two 10lb birds for about 12 hours - one will go in my MES for 5-6 hours, starting with apple or cherry, finishing with maple. The other will be stuffed, tied and roasted in the kitchen oven. Will also be adding some salmon fillets to the MES towards the end, as we may have a vegetarian/pescetarian joining us

 

[hoginme]

I like to fry 12-14# birds, will do a few this year. Going to give meat church bird brine a try this year with some orange peels and whole garlic clove.

 

[3-2-1]

We always get together as a family but not this year. Luckily my friend of 30 years bought a house 3 doors down around the corner so we're getting together. Picked up 2 birds from Costco today. Thinking to smoke one for a couple of hours and then deep fry it for some fried smoke and roast the other bird. Personally I wanted to smoke the 2nd bird but the wife doesn't like smoked turkey leftovers for soup makings. All good. Just need to get some San Francisco Boudin sourdough breadcrumbs for the stuffing. Love T-Day

 

[WV_Crusader]

Great ideas everyone! Can’t wait to smoke my second Turkey this month lol!