Thanksgiving meats

[lsmoguy]

Hi all,

With Thanksgiving coming up, I have just reserved an eight pound turkey breast and an eight pound spiral ham.
Both uncooked meat.
My plan is to smoke both and serve for Thanksgiving dinner.

I welcome any and all suggestions for smoking these hunks of meat!

I am curious, should I brine both, or just the turkey breast?

The following is my plan for smoking the meat:

turkey:
-brine for 24 hours
-rinse off, coat with EVOO, rub, then place in plastic wrap overnight
-pull out of smoker when internal temp reaches 160, and let "rest" for 30 minutes
*based on what I have read, turkey takes about 45 minutes per lb, so I can expect to smoke this eight lb breast for about 6 hours.

ham:
-coat with EVOO, rub, then place in plastic wrap overnight
-stand ham up with flat side down placing skewers vertical in meat to hold meat together while smoking
-place ham in aluminum pan to catch juices
-while in smoker, spray ham with apple juice every 45 minutes to keep moist
-smoke until internal temp of 150
-near last 30 minutes, place glaze over ham
-pull ham out of smoker and let "rest" for 30 minutes

I am planning on using hickory chunks while smoking.  Would it be better to use apple, since I will be smoking a ham and turkey?

I have never smoked a ham before, so any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

How long would an eight lb ham take to smoke to 150 degrees?  Would the consistency be like that of a pork shoulder?  Roughly 2 hours a lb?

 

[lsmoguy]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could help out and provide some information for my post.

Thanks!

 

[dirtsailor2003]

What temp are you going to run your smoker at? A turkey breast doesn't take as long as a full bird. My 14 pound whole turkey last year took just shy of 4 hours to hit an IT of 165 (which is the recommended temp by the GOV) running the smoker at 285*. I am doing a six pound bone on breast this year and am planning on around 2-3 hours tops. More like two I hope as I plan on running the smoker around 325*.

Your plan in the ham sounds fine.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

I prefer fruit wools over hickory for both poultry and ham. Apple cherry peach alder pecan all good choices. My favorite blend right now is 50/50 cherry pecan.

 

[lsmoguy]

Thank you for the replies!

When I smoke meats I try to maintain a cooking temp around 230.

I use lump coal, so it is not a problem to maintain the temp.

I feel pretty confident about the turkey breast, but would like more input on the ham as I have never smoked a ham before.

Should I brine the ham, or just rub it and let it sit overnight?
Also, how long should the ham be cooked?
Would it be like a pork shoulder where it should cook until an internal temp of 165, then foil for two hours or until an internal temp around 200?

Thanks agin!