Upside down Turkey smoke for T-day, anyone done it?

[chilerelleno]

I did parts similar to 3rd eye for a very long time, but then a couple of years ago I started doing some experiments with whole bird cooking and discovered a little trick to get the highly desired Normon Rockwell bird that is properly cooked.......

The little secret is to remove 1/3 of the backbone to allow for air flow through the chest cavity.
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This allows for the breast to come up to temp faster as it is the thickest point......

Next I "roast" it at 325, this is a 20lbr after 3.5 hours (Yup thats it!)...... note the trussing for presentation and to keep the drums a bit closer to the bird body for even cooking.
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The above results speak for themselves......This is when I pulled it to rest in the house oven @ 145 till all the sides were done......
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This method will get a try here very soon.

 

[civilsmoker]

This method will get a try here very soon.

Chiler, place the top part of the big bird in the center above the deflector plate, closer to the back of the CC vs the front (so the front of the bird is a uniform distance from the CC wall curve), I'm just assuming the air flow in your 1250 will be similar to mine...... you can spin it part way through if you see things happening in an uneven way..... I did foil the wing tips the last 40 mins....

 

[kilohertz]

Some cool ideas and pictures being shared here, thanks everyone.

I decided for this weekend I am going to stick my original plan of cooking the inverted bird. I setup the smoker this afternoon with a 1/2" steel rod and some bailing wire, I can adjust the height once the bird is on the rod and in the smoker. I removed one of the hinge screws as it is pretty much centered front to back and ran the wire through the hole and around the rod. With the grates out there is enough room for the bird to sit over the drip pan.

Going to try the bird in half method next, thanks thirdeye . Also will still brine the bird Friday night, cooking Saturday.

Looking forward to it.

Thanks for the great discussion.

Cheers

 

[gmc2003]

Good luck and enjoy. Let us know what you think.

Chris

 

[Fueling Around]

Ah baling wire
The original zip tie

 

[Brokenhandle]

After cutting your first one, you will be an expert. Start off with the bird breast up. Cut the skin only between the leg and the breast, then continue down the thigh. This will expose the pelvis and a short section of the backbone. Pick up the bird and crack the backbone, then finish off the cut with a knife and tidy up with some scissors. If you want, you can also use scissors to remove the backbone and ribs.
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Guess I'm an expert now... have done it once! Have to say thanks thirdeye your advice came in handy... and I loved how it turned out!

Worked so well!
And this was my first smoked turkey. Brine in Pop's low salt with a bit of lemon extract added, thanks to some advice from chopsaw and it was very moist.

Will definitely be doing this again!
Look forward to how your bird turns out!

Ryan

 

[chopsaw]

Nice color on that bird Ryan .

 

[civilsmoker]

This isn't a turkey shot but this is how I use to do parts for reference..... I got the time down on which parts went on in which order so they were all done at the same time. For chicken I often did 375 vs the turkey 335 to get better skin since it was a shorter cook.....

 

[schlotz]

Alternate approach: use the rotisserie on the grill and a smoker tube. The bird bastes itself, skin is a dark golden brown, meat is really moist and the smoke flavor is perfect. This has been my go to route for a number of years. BTW: when using a rotisserie don't stuff the bird - food safety.

 

[kilohertz]

Gentlemen, start your enzymes...

The turkey is brined and seasoned and on the rod, hanging in the smoker and timer has started. It looks like it will work very well, lots of clearance to the top, wing tips just touching the drip pan, lots of space around the bird. I set the temp at 300* to start, see how the temp climbs and the color looks in an hour or so.

Standby, more to follow.

Cheers

 

[kilohertz]

3 hours in, still 325* and bird is at 165* in the thigh.

Mmmmm.

 

[pc farmer]

Looking good

 

[kilohertz]

All done pulled at 180*, 4 hours at 325*, 13lbs. Tasting in an hour. Looks like I didn't need to foil the wingtips.

Cheers

 

[civilsmoker]

Nice looking bird, well done!