It's that time of year, again. Smoked a turkey yesterday, and ate way too much. Sides were interesting this year, but very good. Had my brother, plus my parents over for dinner.
Dad ate exceptionally well. I was surprised, because at least twice a week mom talks about how 3-4 days of the week he doesn't have an appetite. I've explained to her that odds are that his Parkinson's, Post Polio Syndrome, and his meds probably all play into that. Today's thought may prove that I wasn't quite right on that. I cooked, for the most part. Everything was very flavorful and seasoned just right. And dad usually eats really well when they go out to eat. Suggests to me that mom's cooking, which has become rather bland over the past few years, is part of it. Not that she's a bad cook, but rather that perhaps either her meds make it seem like it's seasoned right when it isn't, or she has laid off of seasoning it as much for their health.
Anywho, we are discussing food. So, smoked the turkey, which frees up the oven. Before I get too far into this, I best apologize, I forgot to get pictures today. The 21 pound turkey was smoked in the WSM, over oak and peach. Only prep I did to the honeysuckle bird was pull the done plunger, liberally coat it in unsalted butter, and apply the rub. My brother helped me, and the rub was very liberally applied. Rub this year was Plowboy's Yardbird. Not sure how I feel about it yet, but the guy that runs the grill area at one of the local Ace Hardwares said it was his go to for when he smokes. Charcoal was leftover RO lump, and topped off with Blues Hog logs. Love the logs, but we'll get into that in a bit. The peach was from my very own peach tree, where I had trimmed a couple dead branches in the spring. Today was a high of 46, so with all vents open, I was running about 250, so added some more lit and it settled in around 275. Bird was over 140 in both the thigh and breast, in just under 2 hours. Left it on just a bit longer than bare minimum, pulling it with the breast at 190, and the thigh at 180, at about 3 and a half hours, which means I get to temp test my Inkbird this weekend. I would have expected that time frame if I'd been at 325. Skin was even nice and crisp, not the grey chewy stuff I was expecting. I suspect the butter was reason there. Amazingly tender, with being able to cut cross grain in the breast meat using just a fork.
Sides. As I said, A bit different. Standard homemade dressing, as well as some homemade oyster dressing. Homemade cranberry sauce, and cranberry fluff, as well as mashed taters and gravy. No giblets in tje gravy this year, there weren't any in the turkey. But, I did use the neck meat in the gravy, as well as some drippings from the smoke. Of course, the wife asked what the little white lumps in the gravy were. Flour. My immersion blender died a few years ago and I haven't replaced it yet. Dressing was cooked in the oven, of course. Green bean casserole, but that was cooked different this year, in the crock pot. Made life easy, mix it, dump it in the crock pot on low for 3-4 hours.
Charcoal. Extremely even and settled in temps with the Blues Hog Hog Logs. First time trying them, but they are great. They do seem more to be designed for low and slow instead of the hot and fast I was shooting for today. So, before the next time of smoking a turkey, I think I'll be looking to invest in one of those fans, to make life easier. May even pick up one of those rotisseries for the WSM come this spring, and use it for the turkey next year, although I'd have to see for sure how it works, to figure out how to use the temp probes with it.
Thanks for reading. All in all was a very good day. Lots of food, family here visiting, and of course, dad was having a very good day on top of it. I hope you guys and gals all had as good of a day as I did.
Dad ate exceptionally well. I was surprised, because at least twice a week mom talks about how 3-4 days of the week he doesn't have an appetite. I've explained to her that odds are that his Parkinson's, Post Polio Syndrome, and his meds probably all play into that. Today's thought may prove that I wasn't quite right on that. I cooked, for the most part. Everything was very flavorful and seasoned just right. And dad usually eats really well when they go out to eat. Suggests to me that mom's cooking, which has become rather bland over the past few years, is part of it. Not that she's a bad cook, but rather that perhaps either her meds make it seem like it's seasoned right when it isn't, or she has laid off of seasoning it as much for their health.
Anywho, we are discussing food. So, smoked the turkey, which frees up the oven. Before I get too far into this, I best apologize, I forgot to get pictures today. The 21 pound turkey was smoked in the WSM, over oak and peach. Only prep I did to the honeysuckle bird was pull the done plunger, liberally coat it in unsalted butter, and apply the rub. My brother helped me, and the rub was very liberally applied. Rub this year was Plowboy's Yardbird. Not sure how I feel about it yet, but the guy that runs the grill area at one of the local Ace Hardwares said it was his go to for when he smokes. Charcoal was leftover RO lump, and topped off with Blues Hog logs. Love the logs, but we'll get into that in a bit. The peach was from my very own peach tree, where I had trimmed a couple dead branches in the spring. Today was a high of 46, so with all vents open, I was running about 250, so added some more lit and it settled in around 275. Bird was over 140 in both the thigh and breast, in just under 2 hours. Left it on just a bit longer than bare minimum, pulling it with the breast at 190, and the thigh at 180, at about 3 and a half hours, which means I get to temp test my Inkbird this weekend. I would have expected that time frame if I'd been at 325. Skin was even nice and crisp, not the grey chewy stuff I was expecting. I suspect the butter was reason there. Amazingly tender, with being able to cut cross grain in the breast meat using just a fork.
Sides. As I said, A bit different. Standard homemade dressing, as well as some homemade oyster dressing. Homemade cranberry sauce, and cranberry fluff, as well as mashed taters and gravy. No giblets in tje gravy this year, there weren't any in the turkey. But, I did use the neck meat in the gravy, as well as some drippings from the smoke. Of course, the wife asked what the little white lumps in the gravy were. Flour. My immersion blender died a few years ago and I haven't replaced it yet. Dressing was cooked in the oven, of course. Green bean casserole, but that was cooked different this year, in the crock pot. Made life easy, mix it, dump it in the crock pot on low for 3-4 hours.
Charcoal. Extremely even and settled in temps with the Blues Hog Hog Logs. First time trying them, but they are great. They do seem more to be designed for low and slow instead of the hot and fast I was shooting for today. So, before the next time of smoking a turkey, I think I'll be looking to invest in one of those fans, to make life easier. May even pick up one of those rotisseries for the WSM come this spring, and use it for the turkey next year, although I'd have to see for sure how it works, to figure out how to use the temp probes with it.
Thanks for reading. All in all was a very good day. Lots of food, family here visiting, and of course, dad was having a very good day on top of it. I hope you guys and gals all had as good of a day as I did.
