First turkey X2 - It was a cold, rainy and windy Presidents day.

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bpopovitz

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Jul 29, 2008
243
28
Central Indiana
I had a lady at my dojo contact me regarding smoking some turkeys.  I told her that I'd never done that but I had done some whole chickens, and said if she was will I'd give it a try for her.  She paid me by giving me two turkeys to smoke (one for her and one for me) as well as 2 dozen farm fresh eggs from their own chickens... LOVE THAT...

On Sunday I got both turkeys out of the fridge to get them ready to brine.  I didnt notice the size when she gave them to me a few days earlier still partially frozen.  I just know that the one barely would fit in my smoker.  One was 13.5 lbs and the other was just over 21.  UGH...will they get abouve 140 in time????

So I started with Tip's Slaughterhouse brine except I used some of Emerils Essence (my version without the salt) and I also skipped the celery seed since I couldnt find it in the spice rack.  The only container I had big enough was an old plastic tote that i scrubbed with bleach real well.  I did check the mfg website and said it was foodsafe....  I Started the brining at 11:00 AM Sunday and around 11:00 that night I turned them over since they werent completely submerged.  Also I just forgot I didnt have onion powder so I used dride minced onion.

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On Monday pulled them out of the water, patted them dry rubbed with a bit of olive oil and some more Essence.

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Used some butcher twine to truss them up a bit (only one shown here)..

Both in the smoker. 

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I used Hickory chunks and apple chips and instead of using the chip pan with the lid on it.  I left the lid off and wrapped the chips in aluminum foil with a very small opening for TBS to escape.  In the water pan I used a 50/50 mix of Blue Moon and water.  I tried keeping the temp at 300 but given the wind and rain I had a hard time and it took about an hour to recover after adding the cold birds.

I put the probes in about 3 hours into the smoke and the temp was at 130.... WOW I'll make the 140 mark in 4 hours.... 

First bird (small one) came out 7 hours after starting.  Big bird came out almost 9 hours.  Here's the big bird, It is sitting on a 13*9 glass baking dish....

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I have no money shots on a plate as we didnt eat any of our bird and the other is going back to that wonderful lady at the dojo.  I do have a shot of it all vaccuum packed and frozen for future.

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I kept it real simple, brine, Essence, olive oil, heat & smoke.  I did pick at some of it while carving.  It was juicy and delicious. 

Thanks for looking.
 
Nice work!  The very first thing I ever smoked was a turkey, and it turned out great -- got me hooked on the craft oh so many years ago.  Wait til your family tastes that thing; you're on the hook for Thanksgiving every year from now on!!! LOL!
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If those birds taste half as good as they look ...you will have some great eating there.  
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You make me want to smoke that turkey i have in the freezer SOON.
 
There ya go..was waiting for the Q/view.....look mighty fine from where I'm sitting...hope you made some killer stock outta the carcass
Thanks Chef, I froze the carcass to save for some stock at a later time. 

 


Great job Brian. Those birds look real tasty!
They turned out real good.  I was happy for my first attempt.
 


Nice work!  The very first thing I ever smoked was a turkey, and it turned out great -- got me hooked on the craft oh so many years ago.  Wait til your family tastes that thing; you're on the hook for Thanksgiving every year from now on!!! LOL!
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I'm on the hook for thanksgiving every year anyway.  Even if it's not turkey I did a few fatties for last year and well you guys now how it is with fatties... They are a hit with everyone.
 


If those birds taste half as good as they look ...you will have some great eating there.  
points.gif
You make me want to smoke that turkey i have in the freezer SOON.
Thanks for your kind words.  I have to say I was nervous.  I've done PP quite a few fatties, a few chuckies, sirloin tip roast and some whole chickens but the big birds, well that's a whole new game there. 

If anyone reading this thread has been thinking about a turkey. Well my advice to you is go for it.  Keep it simple and enjoy.  This has got to be the best hobby (if you can call cooking and eating a hobby) of all time.  There are definite zen like qualities with smoking meat, afterall, "it's done when it's done".

Thanks for reading.
 
 
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