So today was a day where I knew I'd be home checking house projects off my list while my wife was out with the baby. Last night I brined a turkey I had defrosted in a mixture of water, salt, honey, vegetable stock, and rosemary. Here she is today patted dry and rubbed with olive oil.
I stuffed the cavity with a sliced onion, sliced apple, rosemary, bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks.
Went into a 400 degree smoker with some cherry wood. Temp dropped to around 310 when I opened the door and put the cold turkey and ran the rest of the smoke between 300 and 315.
Here she is around 140 IT.
So...this is when it all went to hell. While the turkey was smoking I was building furniture for my daughter's playroom/extra bedroom, I ran downstairs to get some tools, while I was down there put on a load of laundry and cleaned out the slop sink in the basement since I dumped the turkey brine in it. Put some soap, ran the hot water, and put on the automatic drain. Phone rang, ran upstairs, then went back upstairs and spent an hour and half or so putting furniture together. Well when I was all done and feeling proud of myself for having a productive day, I walked down to the basement to put all my tools back and noticed that the lower level of my house felt like a sauna. Got down to the basement and to my horror, there is an inch of water on the floor of my basement which has soaked all the laundry that was sitting clean in baskets on the floor. Apparently, I left the damn water running and the automatic drain wasn't sucking the water down, because the plug was in the drain. So for an hour and a half, hot water was overflowing out of the sink all over my basement. I am an idiot,
So 5 hours later it's all cleaned up. Thank god I have inherited 3, wet/dry vaccuums from my dad, as well as a water pump, and a rug shampooer. 5 hours later with the help of my wife, nephew, and my mother in law who watched our 18 month old daughter, it's all cleaned up. We stopped for dinner when the turkey was done.
Pulled at 161 and let it rest. Carrie over to 167. Here it is
Sorry for no sliced or plated pics,...the clean up was still happening so I just snapped a few quick ones. All in all it was very juicy and tender and the smoke was subtle but there. Skin was ehhh. Not rubber, but not crispy. I was shocked that I couldn't keep my propane smoker up around 375-400. Maybe should have preheated to almost 500 before I introduced the cold turkey. Brining turkey is the way to go! Thanks for looking and sorry for all my ranting.
Went into a 400 degree smoker with some cherry wood. Temp dropped to around 310 when I opened the door and put the cold turkey and ran the rest of the smoke between 300 and 315.
Here she is around 140 IT.
So...this is when it all went to hell. While the turkey was smoking I was building furniture for my daughter's playroom/extra bedroom, I ran downstairs to get some tools, while I was down there put on a load of laundry and cleaned out the slop sink in the basement since I dumped the turkey brine in it. Put some soap, ran the hot water, and put on the automatic drain. Phone rang, ran upstairs, then went back upstairs and spent an hour and half or so putting furniture together. Well when I was all done and feeling proud of myself for having a productive day, I walked down to the basement to put all my tools back and noticed that the lower level of my house felt like a sauna. Got down to the basement and to my horror, there is an inch of water on the floor of my basement which has soaked all the laundry that was sitting clean in baskets on the floor. Apparently, I left the damn water running and the automatic drain wasn't sucking the water down, because the plug was in the drain. So for an hour and a half, hot water was overflowing out of the sink all over my basement. I am an idiot,
So 5 hours later it's all cleaned up. Thank god I have inherited 3, wet/dry vaccuums from my dad, as well as a water pump, and a rug shampooer. 5 hours later with the help of my wife, nephew, and my mother in law who watched our 18 month old daughter, it's all cleaned up. We stopped for dinner when the turkey was done.
Pulled at 161 and let it rest. Carrie over to 167. Here it is
Sorry for no sliced or plated pics,...the clean up was still happening so I just snapped a few quick ones. All in all it was very juicy and tender and the smoke was subtle but there. Skin was ehhh. Not rubber, but not crispy. I was shocked that I couldn't keep my propane smoker up around 375-400. Maybe should have preheated to almost 500 before I introduced the cold turkey. Brining turkey is the way to go! Thanks for looking and sorry for all my ranting.
