As it has been quite a while since I've posted here I thought I'd share some Q-view of our Christmas Turkey, a beautiful 21 pounder a family member wanted me to smoke.
I wanted to try out the new wheeled base I put together (a mover's wheeled base from Lowe's with a 3/4" plywood piece attached with stainless steel screws) - it worked really well. This allows me to easily wheel it out of the way when not in use. Rather than using the chimney I just placed some firestarter cubes around the top which got a nice even fire and burn going. I also foiled my small pan to catch all of the drippings.
Because of a number of dietary restrictions for some of the guests, I decided to just place some vegetable oil on the skin and use a lot of sea salt (and let the smoke impart the flavor). I didn't worry about injecting or placing anything under the skin as I really wanted to see how this nice one tasted by itself. Having received the iGrill-2 and separate Ambient Probe accessory earlier in the year as a gift, I placed one probe in the breast, one in the thigh, and used the Ambient probe in the middle compartment where I was planning on placing the turkey. When the Ambient temp reached a stable 325 degrees (about an hour after starting the coals) I added a few softball size hunks of apple wood and a handful of peach wood chips, then placed the turkey on the middle shelf and let her go.
Some minor vent adjustments were needed after inserting the large cold turkey but ended up with the following vent settings - top wide open (as always for me) and bottom three about one quarter open (with some minor adjustments along the way for those). Around 4 hours and 20 minutes later it was time to come off, with the thigh at 175 degrees. Not sure what everyone else on here aims for as it seems there are differing philosphies about temp - some recommend taking off when the breast is 160, and some recommend taking off when the thigh is at 180. I wanted to make sure it was thoroughly cooked so I followed mainly the thigh temp, but the breast was at about 172 at the end.
I let it sit tented with aluminum foil for about 30 minutes while getting the meal prepared and calling folks to the table. I had planned on taking some pictures of the meat on the platter but things got pretty hectic around that time and honestly I just forgot.
Without a doubt it was one of the best turkeys I have ever eaten, and others commented the same. As many in my family don't like a strong smoke taste I was really pleased how the apple and peach provided a subtle sweet smokiness throughout. Even with the breast meat at the low 170s it was juicy and cut like a dream without any dryness or crumbling. I'm not sure how much of that has to do with the quality of the turkey itself but I suspect it does. Just like beef rib roasts vary in quality I suspect poultry is similar with differing amounts of fat and toughness.
As with any of our Holiday turkeys there are bound to be some leftovers, so I baked some fresh croissant rolls last night (which were a gift - frozen dough from France which I had never heard of before) and placed some of the leftover turkey and mayo inside.
Wow - was that a treat - sweet and buttery with that great hint of apple and peach smokiness! Needless to say we're having the same thing again tonight!!
Hope everyone has a fantastic remainder of this Holiday Season and an excellent 2017!
I wanted to try out the new wheeled base I put together (a mover's wheeled base from Lowe's with a 3/4" plywood piece attached with stainless steel screws) - it worked really well. This allows me to easily wheel it out of the way when not in use. Rather than using the chimney I just placed some firestarter cubes around the top which got a nice even fire and burn going. I also foiled my small pan to catch all of the drippings.
Because of a number of dietary restrictions for some of the guests, I decided to just place some vegetable oil on the skin and use a lot of sea salt (and let the smoke impart the flavor). I didn't worry about injecting or placing anything under the skin as I really wanted to see how this nice one tasted by itself. Having received the iGrill-2 and separate Ambient Probe accessory earlier in the year as a gift, I placed one probe in the breast, one in the thigh, and used the Ambient probe in the middle compartment where I was planning on placing the turkey. When the Ambient temp reached a stable 325 degrees (about an hour after starting the coals) I added a few softball size hunks of apple wood and a handful of peach wood chips, then placed the turkey on the middle shelf and let her go.
Some minor vent adjustments were needed after inserting the large cold turkey but ended up with the following vent settings - top wide open (as always for me) and bottom three about one quarter open (with some minor adjustments along the way for those). Around 4 hours and 20 minutes later it was time to come off, with the thigh at 175 degrees. Not sure what everyone else on here aims for as it seems there are differing philosphies about temp - some recommend taking off when the breast is 160, and some recommend taking off when the thigh is at 180. I wanted to make sure it was thoroughly cooked so I followed mainly the thigh temp, but the breast was at about 172 at the end.
I let it sit tented with aluminum foil for about 30 minutes while getting the meal prepared and calling folks to the table. I had planned on taking some pictures of the meat on the platter but things got pretty hectic around that time and honestly I just forgot.
Without a doubt it was one of the best turkeys I have ever eaten, and others commented the same. As many in my family don't like a strong smoke taste I was really pleased how the apple and peach provided a subtle sweet smokiness throughout. Even with the breast meat at the low 170s it was juicy and cut like a dream without any dryness or crumbling. I'm not sure how much of that has to do with the quality of the turkey itself but I suspect it does. Just like beef rib roasts vary in quality I suspect poultry is similar with differing amounts of fat and toughness.
As with any of our Holiday turkeys there are bound to be some leftovers, so I baked some fresh croissant rolls last night (which were a gift - frozen dough from France which I had never heard of before) and placed some of the leftover turkey and mayo inside.
Wow - was that a treat - sweet and buttery with that great hint of apple and peach smokiness! Needless to say we're having the same thing again tonight!!
Hope everyone has a fantastic remainder of this Holiday Season and an excellent 2017!
