Turkey skin

[graperadio]

I would like to get a crisper Turkey skin when I smoke a whole Turkey. The meat comes out great, but the skin can get tough or rubbery. I assume the skin needs a higher temp to crisp, but when I do that, I do not get the depth of smoke in the meat that I would prefer. Any suggestions?

 

[fire it up]

Towards the end of the smoke crank up your heat to crisp.
I have put a lot of turkey in the broiler to crisp the skin but that always seems to tear the skin.
You could pull the bird when it is nearing the end of the smoke and maybe throw it in a 350-425 oven until it reaches 160-170 whatever you are bringing it to and then let rest.
I know some people take a torch to the skin and crisp it up that way also.

 

[irishteabear]

One option is to smoke at a higher temp. The other option would be to crank the smoker or a grill up and crisp the skin after you've decided the turkey has reached the smoke level you want.

 

[rivet]

You didn't say at what temp you smoked it, but your results are more than likely caused by smoking temperature being too low. To properly smoke poultry, it should be smoked between 275 and 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

There are many ways to do this, but my preference is 300 F. Smoke the bird until the internal temp is at 165 degrees minimum. 175 to 180 is fine, but no more or it will get dry. Pull your temperature readings from an internal probe at either the breast or the thigh, careful not to touch bone.

Here's a pic of a turkey I smoked a couple weekends ago over cherry wood. The skin is crispy, as you were trying for.-



Here's another shot of it at about half way through smoking. You can see that at this point the skin is tending towards crispy-



Hope this helps you and good luck with your next try. Don't get discouraged....we all gain experience from repeated tries at getting what we want. May the TBS follow you wherever you go!