Howdy y'all. Need Thanksgiving help

[bigpapasmokedog]

Hey everybody - just got me an electric master built smoker.  Wanna do a thanksgiving turkey for the family in a few weeks. 

I seen some recipes online, not sure what to trust.  1 say 275 degrees.  1 say 225.  Can't mess this up for the whole family. 

Hoping y'all got some experience and advice. Thank you kindly.  God Bless. 

Big Papa 

 

[noboundaries]

Poultry = high temp.  275F for your equipment. 

 

[figjam]

 
Poultry = high temp.  275F for your equipment. 

+1

 

[mfreel]

Sorry, but I do a lot of turkeys at 225.  I brine mine for a couple days before going in the smoker.  You're going to an internal temp of 165.  Here's a pic of one I did for my dad.  This one was in my MES 30 Gen1.

Turkey.jpeg

• mfreel
• Nov 3, 2015

 

[sunsetbeachsmkr]

That looks great, mfreel.  You can't go wrong with smoking a turkey.  The meat is porous and just perfect for smoking.  225 works but the magic of turkey is you can really bump the temp to do it quick and it comes out juicy.  You have the best smoker on the market IMHO.  You can control the temp and see the internal probe.  Just take it to 165 internal, pull it, sit it and serve.  The family will go ooh ahh like your wife used to do.  My only tip is to get a fresh turkey, a good rub distributed under the skin and put it in the fridge for a day or two.

 

[gary s]

  Good evening and welcome to the forum, from a cloudy and cool day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything. 

Gary

 

[chef jimmyj]

You can smoke a Turkey at any temp 225 or higher. The difference is if crispy skin matters to you. 225 will not give crispy skin as is. The bird will need to see some high heat to crisp things up. The guys that go hot, 275-350, get a one step cook and don't have to finish in the oven. I smoke at 250 in my MES until the IT in the Breast is 155 and then in a 425 Oven until the IT reaches 165 and the skin is crisp. If the skin does not matter, smoke at any temp you wish over 225...JJ