This past Sunday afternoon I cooked two Turkeys together with a capon chicken. My parents and I had a meal together with the chicken later in the evening. Then I gave one turkey to them and sliced the other at home for use during the week bagging the rest and freezing.
Set to go in the cooker
1 hr. @ 350 deg. with heavy smoke, then down to 265-270 remainder of cook, smoke for 35 min. longer
One of the turkeys at 5 hours
Chicken
Chicken platter at my parents
Turkey slices out of the fridge Monday A.M. at home
Each of these birds were in brine 14 hrs. and then returned to refrigeration the same amount of time prior to cooking. In a large pot I combined all the brine ingredients including about 1/2 the amount of Morton Meat Cure typically used and the balance using kosher salt. Fresh poultry herbs and a few different seasonings with a little bit of brown sugar. And then, divided the mixture into three separate containers the next morning. The turkeys were about 13.5 lb. each and the chicken 7-8 lb. I believe. The second rack and forth rack in my cooker has about a 20 deg. heat difference so they were done at about the same time up to 165 deg. Then put in a cooler foiled for 35 minutes while transporting. When I arrived at my parents I opened up the cooler to chill the turkeys outside and took the chicken inside for our meal.
This was the fist time I had cooked a "capon" chicken and I got a great deal on it about half price. For final seasoning before going into the cooker I combined a little under 1 Tbs. each Penzeys Mural of Flavor, Mignonette Pepper and Alaea Hawaiian Sea Salt with approximately 3 1/2 Tbs. olive oil that I had mixed together the night before applied using a rubber glove. Underneath the skin on top of the breast of each I placed several slices of truffle butter with black truffles. Part of the breast skin of the chicken was missing so I had to improvise slicing some of the skin off the back end of the bird. Each had a third of an Asian pear inside their cavity.
I used strictly olive wood for this cook flavored with gin the day before using my crock pot method and then put into plastic bags for use. 7 medium-sized chunks added two at a time that were warmed on my cooking chamber before added to the coals for a total of 1.5 hrs smoke. It was about 25 deg. outside most the day while cooking with a slight breeze. This meat has a really great flavor with the truffle butter added and was moist and tender.
Set to go in the cooker
1 hr. @ 350 deg. with heavy smoke, then down to 265-270 remainder of cook, smoke for 35 min. longer
One of the turkeys at 5 hours
Chicken
Chicken platter at my parents
Turkey slices out of the fridge Monday A.M. at home
Each of these birds were in brine 14 hrs. and then returned to refrigeration the same amount of time prior to cooking. In a large pot I combined all the brine ingredients including about 1/2 the amount of Morton Meat Cure typically used and the balance using kosher salt. Fresh poultry herbs and a few different seasonings with a little bit of brown sugar. And then, divided the mixture into three separate containers the next morning. The turkeys were about 13.5 lb. each and the chicken 7-8 lb. I believe. The second rack and forth rack in my cooker has about a 20 deg. heat difference so they were done at about the same time up to 165 deg. Then put in a cooler foiled for 35 minutes while transporting. When I arrived at my parents I opened up the cooler to chill the turkeys outside and took the chicken inside for our meal.
This was the fist time I had cooked a "capon" chicken and I got a great deal on it about half price. For final seasoning before going into the cooker I combined a little under 1 Tbs. each Penzeys Mural of Flavor, Mignonette Pepper and Alaea Hawaiian Sea Salt with approximately 3 1/2 Tbs. olive oil that I had mixed together the night before applied using a rubber glove. Underneath the skin on top of the breast of each I placed several slices of truffle butter with black truffles. Part of the breast skin of the chicken was missing so I had to improvise slicing some of the skin off the back end of the bird. Each had a third of an Asian pear inside their cavity.
I used strictly olive wood for this cook flavored with gin the day before using my crock pot method and then put into plastic bags for use. 7 medium-sized chunks added two at a time that were warmed on my cooking chamber before added to the coals for a total of 1.5 hrs smoke. It was about 25 deg. outside most the day while cooking with a slight breeze. This meat has a really great flavor with the truffle butter added and was moist and tender.