Turkey thighs for pulled Turkey

[headgeek]

I found some nice large turkey thighs (3/4#) at my butcher and want to smoke them to make pulled turkey. I have followed the instructions for pulled chicken and it has been excellent but given the small size of the thighs some of the outside meat got a little tough. I tried both skinless and skinned and the skinned were better (although more work) but still didn't pull as nice as what I would have liked. So I want to try the turkey thighs to see if they might be betters. My plan is to follow the same procedure as on the this web site -- brine, smoke to 170 and pull. I think the real question is, is 170 still the best finish temperature. Anybody have any comments or reason this will not work?  Thanks

 

[SmokinAl]

It sounds like a plan to me!

170 is perfect for thighs.

Al

 

[dirtsailor2003]

You should be right in the ball park temp wise. I wouldn't go any higher as you'll dry out the turkey. I have found that chicken thighs pull better than turkey thighs. just my experience. The last batch (chicken) I did I smoked for a few hours then put into my Ogallala Cream can to finish. Came apart so easy there wasn't any pulling required!  So with that said not everyone has a cream can cooker. Smoke for 2 hours, put in foil pan with chicken/or turkey stock. Even better if the stock is made from a smoked bird. Cover and finish that way in a low temp smoker or oven. You'll get the smokey goodness and super tender fall apart meat.

 

[headgeek]

Thanks for the reply. I will give it a try. I have tried smoking the chicken and then finishing it off covered and that worked okay but the smoke wasn't quite as strong as I like. I will see how these turkey thighs work and then maybe go back to chicken as I just got the cold smoker for my MES and it generates more smoke than the built in tray so maybe the finishing in the pan will work better.

 

[gellfex]

I want to try making pulled turkey with drums. My wife currently does this in the pressure cooker to get them tender. The question is how to get them falling off the bone tender instead of tough jerky, but still smoky? I was thinking like 4 hrs of smoke then covering them to get them up to a 180 finish temp. I have an MES with cold smoke generator. Any ideas about what temps, or anything else?