Two Firsts!

[chopper]

First smoke in my new GOSM, and my first turkey! Not very many pics as I had a bunch of other stuff on the go. In the last pics, you will notice lots and lots of liquid. This came out of the bird after I took it off the rack. Is that normal? It tasted great, but there was a lot of moisture lost.

Still, here's what I got:

Bird is in


About halfway


Done like dinner

 

[pignit]

Shweeeeeet!

 

[rivet]

Chopper, that was a real nice looking bird. It looks like you did everything just right.

They will let out moisture ("juice") because almost all retail turkeys are injected with anywhere from 8 to 12 percent solution (a salt brine)...that means the meat is almost over-saturated. It makes for a tender and juicy animal, but the liquid has to have a place to go.

No worries, it's done its job, you didn't dry the bird out.... and there you have it. You can make gravy out of it if you want- since it is basically nothing more than a salt solution plus bird juices at this point.

Nice q-vue!

 

[chopper]

Thanks Rivet. I was worried I had missed a step, and was going to look like "That Guy" who cooks the bird with the bag of giblets still in it :)

btw, I forgot to add, I had great luck with the stock GOSM smoker box. I ran shredded maple to begin with, then when I needed to reload I went to a mix of cherry and apple. It turned out really tasty.

 

[the dude abides]

Mmmmmmmmmmmm That's a good looking turkey.

Way to go. Congrats on a successful smoke.

 

[fire it up]

Looks really great chopper, nice crisp skin.
Was wondering, did you brine the bird? That will always help with the moisture/tenderness level in a bird.

 

[erain]

veryfine looking bird chopper!!! maple wood is good stuff. was wondering what smoker temp you were at and what did you take it up to internal temp. great job!!! thks for sharing.

 

[cman95]

Great job chopper....apple and cherry sounds good. Myself I like apple and pecan mixture but each to his own.

 

[chopper]

I brined it for about 16 hours. I used a mix of sea salt, garlic, and a whole bunch of other spices we had in the cupboard that I don't remember :)

I also mopped every hour with a butter, crushed garlic, paprika and sage mix.

Temp was between 250 and 300. I had some issues keeping temp steady as we are in the middle of our annual "End April Kick in the Groin to Albertans" snow storm.

Internal temp was 85C (185F), then rested for about 30 minutes in foil before carving.

 

[bigsteve]

 

[sumosmoke]

Nice looking job on the bird, wonderful color you got with the smoke! You'll be having some tasty leftovers in your future ...